Key events
“I think a big difference with Wood is the way the England management have treated him,” writes James Brough. “Every game he’s played, Stokes has made a point of talking him up, whether he’s taken wickets or not. Compare that with Ray Illingworth describing Devon Malcolm as “a cricketing nonentity.” It’s an area where cricket has made some long overdue strides.
“I remember Illingworth taking over as manager and stating that he didn’t want anyone in his team ‘who needed a shoulder to cry on’ when he explained why he was sacking the team’s counsellor. I also remember him bragging about reducing Graeme Hick to tears while breaking the news that he was dropped or stopping Ramprakash who was on his way out to bat and telling him, ‘Better get some runs – it’s your last chance.’
“Compare that with Stokes talking so openly about the state of his mental health. Cone to that, compare it to Andrew Flintoff in his tv series talking about the anxiety he suffered after his crash. Things have changed. There’s a huge amount still to be done, but it’s a start.”
I’m loath to be too critical of Illingworth, simply because he was representative of the times, but equally that environment (pre- and post-Illingworth too) made it so hard for players to become established. With a few exceptions – geniuses, basically – the professional success of every human being depends on environment. For eg I started as a cricket writer at Channel4 and then at Wisden.com with Tim de Lisle as editor in 2001-02. Had a monkey with a typewriter worked under Tim for six months it would be capable of writing a half-decent OBO.
One thing I find interesting is that, despite all the criticism from Illingworth, Graeme Hick’s best spell in Test cricket – by a mile too – came under him. Another thinkgthat helps Wood is that for most of his career he’s been in a five-man attack. That’s one area where Illingworth was probably right; he was always desperate to have five bowlers and one of the first things he did as chairman of selectors was fast-track Craig White. Turned out White wasn’t ready, and maybe he was never a Test No6, but I appreciate the logic now in a way that I didn’t then.
Lunch
England lost the toss but that was about as bad as it got. Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson reduced Sri Lanka to 6 for 3, Mark Wood almost detonated Kusal Mendis’s thumb and an inexplicable grubber from Shoaib Bashir did for Dinesh Chandimal.
The only slight downside was a nervous return to Test cricket for Matthew Potts, who was successfully targetted by Sri Lanka.
25th over: Sri Lanka 80-5 (de Silva 28, Kamindu 5) Kamindu Mendis, who averages over 100 in his short Test career and 65 in first-class cricket, drives Bashir inside out through extra cover for two. An accomplished shot, though not without risk early in the innings. A bread-and-butter work to leg brings two more, and that concludes a very fine morning for England.
24th over: Sri Lanka 73-5 (de Silva 28, Kamindu 1) De Silva misses a lusty drive at a tempting delivery from Woakes. Even on the stroke of lunch, he has run-scoring in mind.
“As ever, the wonderful robelinda on YouTube has you covered regarding a Malcolm spell without any reward (match figures 2-198) – Perth 1995. He wasn’t helped by England’s mid-90s penchant for butterfingers, though.”
There’s also one at The Oval in 1993: only 14 balls, I think, on the Sunday evening but he reckons it was the fastest he ever bowled. You get a flavour of it here. Malcolm was at least rewarded with a few wickets the next day.
I guess the speedgun also makes it easier to track consistency of pace. For example there might be times when Dev bowled poorly (eg Headingley 1995) but was still bowling rapidly.
23rd over: Sri Lanka 72-5 (de Silva 25, Kamindu 0) Ben Stokes would have been happy with that counter-intuitive bowling change from Ollie Pope, even if it did take a bit of fortune to get the wicket.
WICKET! Sri Lanka 72-5 (Chandimal LBW b Bashir 17)
Fire up the Carl Hooper video! Chandimal has been done by a disgusting grubber from Bashir which rolled along the ground to trap him LBW. Bashir puts his hands over his mouth, and at one point I thought he was going to apologise to Chandimal like a tennis player who benefits from a netcord.
Chandimal reviews – “perhaps it was going under” deadpans Mel Jones on commentary – but he’s out and Sri Lanka have lost another review.
22nd over: Sri Lanka 71-4 (Chandimal 17, de Silva 24) The world’s changing, drugs are changing and so is the captain’s innings. In the 20th century it was all about cussed defiance; the modern captain – okay, most of them because I’ve just remembered West Indies – prefer to go on the attack, especially when their team is in trouble.
Dhananjaya is doing just that and moves to 24 from 20 balls after gliding Woakes for four. Woakes is back on for Wood, who bowled a what’sagoodbloodysynonymofvolanic spell of 4-0-13-1.
21st over: Sri Lanka 66-4 (Chandimal 17, de Silva 19) With the floodlights on, England introduce Shoaib Bashir in place of Matthew Potts. They never miss an opportunity to stick two fingers up at received wisdom. You should hear what they say about Raymond behind closed doors.
The plan almost works when Chandimal inside-edges the last ball onto the pad and up in the air. There’s a short leg in place but this chance loops towards the vacant leg slip area.
20th over: Sri Lanka 64-4 (Chandimal 16, de Silva 18) A bit of extra bounce from Wood has Chandimal moving around like a cat on a volcano. This is exhilarating stuff, almost without precedent in English cricket history.
Frank Tyson in 1954 and 1955 is the obvious comparison but many of England’s fastest bowlers dealt in devastating one-off performances rather than sustained ferocity. Then again, maybe that’s just scorecard bias and I’ve forgotten, say, Devon Malcolm’s equivalent of Wood’s brilliant performance (match figures 2 for 78) at Trent Bridge against West Indies.
What we can say without fear of contradiction is that Wood’s rhythm has never been better than in the past 14 months. It’s to Dhanjaya’s credit that he hasn’t taken a backward step against Wood, at least not metaphorically; he’s looking to score off every ball and has 18 from 15.
The floodlights are on now, such is the Manchester gloom.
19th over: Sri Lanka 61-4 (Chandimal 14, de Silva 17) The ball has stopped swinging, another reason it’s been harder for Potts. But it has just started to wobble a touch, and de Silva has to soften his hands to ensure an edge falls short of slip before running away for four. Potts smiles wryly, knowing it wasn’t a bad delivery at all.
“Greetings from Dublin!” writes Sean Smith. “Just on your Darren Stevens chat, he’ll be a bit busy over here this week (see below). And I absolutely loved watch Graham Thorpe bat, my favourite left-hander behind David Gower. Graham came across as a genuinely nice person also and the tributes today have this Irishman in tears.”
18th over: Sri Lanka 55-4 (Chandimal 14, de Silva 11) Mark Wood goes down in his delivery stride for the first time today; he really should be nicknamed Igby.
Dhananjaya, who has clearly decided to take Wood on, steers nicely past the slips for four and has 11 from 8 balls.
“The OBOccasional cricket team, forged from the very webpages of the Guardian OBO way back in 2013, have just returned from a weekend playing at the Voorburg CC near the Hague in the Netherlands,” writes Matthew Stafford. “Alas we didn’t win but would love for any other overseas readers to get in touch so we can try and organise a tour for next year.”
Surely we have some readers in New Zealand, maybe a philanthropic gazillionaire who’d fly us all over for a month-long sabbatical.
17th over: Sri Lanka 48-4 (Chandimal 14, de Silva 4) The captain Dhananjaya de Silva drives Potts stylishly through mid-off for three. It’s getting a bit gloomy at Old Trafford and there’s a chance of rain as the match progresses.
A very wide ball from Potts, who has looked a bit nervous, is larruped with feeling to the cover boundary by Chandimal. Potts has figures of 4-0-27-0; the rest have combined figures of 13-4-20-4. He’s a good bowler, it’s just a silly phase he’s going through.
If you want a drive…
16th over: Sri Lanka 41-4 (Chandimal 10, de Silva 1) That ball actually hit Kusal’s thumb, not the glove, and may have done some damage. He walked off looking at his thumb almost quizzically, and he already has strapping on that right hand.
WICKET! Sri Lanka 40-4 (Kusal c Root b Wood 24)
My days, that is vicious from Mark Wood. Barely human. The first ball of his second over is a malevolent lifter that Kusal Mendis can only glove gently to second slip. I’m not doing it justice; it was a brute of a delivery. Kusal was playing really well but walked off with the look of a man who knew there was the square root of bugger all he could do. Truly, it’s not your fault.
15th over: Sri Lanka 40-3 (Kusal 24, Chandimal 10) Almost a run-out chance when Mendis and Chandimal do the mid-pitch dance after Mendis slugged Potts to mid-on. Just a single from a good over from Potts, who needed that after an expensive start: his figures are now 3-0-20-0.
14th over: Sri Lanka 39-3 (Kusal 23, Chandimal 10) Here he is, the Ashington flamethrower. Mark Wood’s first ball is a ferocious 93mph bouncer that sits Dinesh Chandimal down. So much for a loosener, though it may well have loosened Chandimal’s… well never mind.
A thrilling first over also includes a cracking delivery that beats Kusal Mendis and bounces just over the stumps. It’s extraordinary that Mark Wood is getting quicker as he approaches his mid-30s. Imagine what he’ll be like when he’s Darren Stevens’ age!
“As a Surrey fan from the 80s onwards, I saw Graham Thorpe on many occasions with my brother Dave at the Oval, as well as all those famous innings for England,” writes Guy Hornsby. “He was a rock in an eventually great Surrey team, and for a lot of the 90s and early 00s, he was England’s batting line up, coming in so many times with early wickets down and steadying the ship.
“So many have called out those highlights, especially that one-legged pull shot. I was a fan of his walking off/cover drive. So in line with everything, so fluent and compact, and there right from his debut century that made the wider world recognise his talent that we already knew. I’ll just remember him as one of the best, the player we’d all want in the team. He’s desperately missed.”
Drinks: Sri Lanka 37-3
Here are the wickets to fall so far.
13th over: Sri Lanka 37-3 (Kusal Mendis 22, Chandimal 9) Kusal Mendis continues his Thorpish counter-attack by steering Potts through backward point for four, then carting another to the cover boundary. He’s such a fun batsman to watch.
Sri Lanka are playing well now, and the three batsmen who have been dismissed must be going through the gears of regret and frustration.
12th over: Sri Lanka 29-3 (Kusal Mendis 14, Chandimal 9) Four to Chandimal, flicked efficiently off the pads when Atkinson errs in line.
11th over: Sri Lanka 25-3 (Kusal Mendis 14, Chandimal 5) Matthew Potts replaces Woakes, who bowled an interrogative spell of 5-2-8-After no boundaries in the first 64 balls of the game, Kusal Mendis hits two in two. The first was guided through the slips with soft hands; the second was slapped in the air past backward point. A bit risky but he got away with it.
10th over: Sri Lanka 14-3 (Kusal Mendis 6, Chandimal 2) “It’s hard to know what to say,” says James Brough. “I watched England play Test cricket through the 90’s and my memory is England have always lost a couple early on. Atherton is holding on at one end, whole Thorpe is thumping cover drives and flicking one-legged pulls like Brian Lara at the other end.
“It’s so sad. I’ve been somewhere similar to where he was, sitting on a bench at a station, waiting for a train and planning to just step in front of it. I was lucky. Someone called me and realised something was wrong and kept me talking for long enough for it to pass.
“I wish there was an easy answer to all this, that I could say, ‘I’ve been there – here’s the answer to it.’ All I can say is – talk to people. Find out how they are. Tell them how you are. Offer support. And don’t be afraid to ask for it. However bad things are, ending your own life is the one way to ensure they will never improve.”
Bloody hell, I’m so sorry; I can’t imagine how it must feel to have experienced that. This isn’t the place for such a nuanced discussion and we should probably knock it on the head after this, not least because I have to describe some cricket. But while I agree with everything you say, I also think society has become complacent about mental health, perhaps because of the prevalence of phrases like “it’s okay not to be okay” and the frequency with which the Samaritans number appears at the bottom of the screen.
Equally, as you say, it is so difficult, probably impossible, to find an answer because every case is different and the modern world needs a 28-hour clock not 24 so there’s barely enough time to check in ourselves never mind anyone else. I guess what we really need is funding to enhance our understanding of the social, cultural and scientific factors.
Right, the cricket, and sorry for any imperfections in the above stream of consciousness. (Mine, not James’s.) Please do continue to send in memories and tributes to Thorpe, I’m just uneasy about discussing mental health while also trying to blog because I’ll inevitably say something inadvertently insensitive.
9th over: Sri Lanka 14-3 (Kusal Mendis 6, Chandimal 2) Kusal Mendis drives Woakes nicely through mid-off for three to continue Sri Lanka’s mini-mini-mini-revival. He looks in good touch and full of intent.
“So choked up watching all the tributes to Graham Thorpe and the interview with Nasser this morning,” writes Steven Pye. “A man loved by so many, his death really hit me hard when I heard about it. It made me realise that some of the stuff I worry about really isn’t important. I know I struggle at times with stuff thrown at me in life, but as my wife wisely said recently: ‘Keep talking’.
”I have a lot of memories of Thorpey as a player. His debut century; two knocks in the 80s during the tour of the Caribbean in 94; that stare after being dismissed during the 46 all out; Illingworth dropping him at the start of the English summer in 94 (a joke); a century at Perth; dropping a catch in the same match and angrily kicking it through the covers for a single.
“His partnership with Nasser at Edgbaston in 97; rescuing England alongside Ramps at Bridgetown in 98; his Pakistan/Sri Lanka masterclasses in the winter of 00/01; a double hundred against New Zealand; a comeback century against South Africa at the Oval; his part in our successes in 2003/04.
”My favourite Thorpe innings? Definitely his unbeaten 119 against the West Indies at Bridgetown in 04. England 119/6 and over a hundred behind the home team but if one man could save the day it was our little genius. Thorpey dragged us up to a lead of two runs and the whole Test changed. Typical Thorpey, a man for a crisis who will be sorely missed.”
It probably wasn’t in his top 20 innings but I like Thorpe’s deliberately rapid 46 in a low-scoring bar-room brawl at Kandy in 2000-01. England were chasing 161 and Thorpe calculated that he had to go after Murali, even on a turning pitch, before Murali got into a groove. He took 20 off Murali’s first two overs, and though Murali got him a few overs later, Thorpe’s 46 broke the back of the runchase. For the rest of the innings Murali bowled 25 overs for 30. Without those 20 runs, I suspect England would have lost the match and the series.
8th over: Sri Lanka 8-3 (Kusal Mendis 2, Chandimal 0) Kusal Mendis scrunches Atkinson through the covers for a couple. He won’t faff around here; he understands Ricky Ponting’s line that, the better the bowling, the more you need to put pressure back on the opposition.
7th over: Sri Lanka 6-3 (Kusal Mendis 0, Chandimal 0) A double-wicket maiden from Woakes, whose figures are a football hipster’s dream: 4-2-2-2.
Gone! Three reds so Sri Lanka lose Angelo Mathews and a review.
WICKET! Sri Lanka 6-3 (Mathews LBW b Woakes 0)
This is seriously good bowling, aided by the overhead conditions. Mathews is beaten by a beauty, then given out LBW after padding up to a big nipbacker. Mathews reviews in the hope it is bouncing over the stumps; we’ll soon find out.
WICKET! Sri Lanka 6-2 (Madushka c Root b Woakes 4)
Nishan Madushka succumbs to England’s water torture. He’d been rendered almost strokeless and threw everything at a surprise fuller delivery from Woakes. Madushka’s shape was all wrong and he snicked it straight to first slip, where Root took the catch awkwardly at the second attempt.
6th over: Sri Lanka 6-1 (Madushka 4, Kusal Mendis 0) Kusal Mendis, a very dangerous player who England would love to get rid of early doors, is beaten by a beautiful delivery from Atkinson. This has been very good from England so far: intense, focussed and relentlessly accurate.
“Really emotional seeing the tributes to Graham Thorpe,” writes Bharat C. “He could switch gears with ease, sometimes within an innings as Gary Naylor said recently in the 80s and 90s Cricket podcast.”
WICKET! Sri Lanka 6-1 (Karunartne c Smith b Atkinson 2)
Goddim! Karunaratne tries to pull a sharp bumper from Atkinson and gets a thin top-edge to Jamie Smith. Not sure whether he was done for pace or whether there was a bit of unexpected lateral movement. Either way, Atkinson has another very good scalp to add to his burgeoning collection.
5th over: Sri Lanka 5-0 (Madushka 3, Karunaratne 2) England are getting closer. Karunartne, trying to flick to leg, edges Woakes just short of Smith. It was a cracking delivery, much fuller and moving away off the seam.
As if to prove that bowling such jaffas isn’t easy, the next delivery barely lands on the cut strip.
“Good afternoon Rob,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “The 80s and 90s self in me has been woken up by seeing Mendis and Jayasuriya in the Lankan team.”
Ah Duleep Mendis, the man who hooked Beefy for three sixes in seven balls at Lord’s in 1984. Imagine the face on Lord Beef as the third one went whistling into the cheap seats.
4rd over: Sri Lanka 4-0 (Madushka 2, Karunaratne 2) Madushka is beaten by a serious delivery from Atkinson that pitches on middle and zips past the edge. Karunaratne then leans into a fuller ball, cautiously driving a couple to get off the mark.
Sri Lanka want to be here for a long time; any good times can come later when they’ve seen off the new ball.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 1-0 (Madushka 1, Karunaratne 0) Madushka gets the first run of the match, pushing Woakes into the covers. England have started well and are making Sri Lanka play as much as possible.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 0-0 (Madushka 0, Karunaratne 0) Gus Atkinson opens the bowling, the correct decision despite the inclusion of Matthew Potts. England want him to get as much new-ball experience as possible before you know what.
Atkinson also starts with a maiden. His line was excellent, very tight to the left-hander, but Karunaratne left well.
1st over: Sri Lanka 0-0 (Madushka 0, Karunaratne 0) Woakes starts with a maiden to Madushka, including a beauty that shapes past the outside edge. There’s a bit of swing but nothing too dramatic.
Cricket goes on – always has, always will – and Chris Woakes is about to bowl to Nishal Madushka.
This is very good from Stuart Broad
“Thorpe was my absolute favourite, Nasser’s interview was a bit of a gut punch,” says Felix Wood. “Now, a cloudy morning at Old Trafford? I can think of one recently retired bowler who may have fancied these conditions. Listening to his interviews he clearly thinks so too, and isn’t thrilled about not being able to take advantage.”
Has Darren Stevens been on the radio?
Now there’s a minute’s applause from both players, with Joe Root looking especially emotional. Just as Keith Fletcher fast-tracked Thorpe into the England set-up and told anyone who’d listen how good he was, so Thorpe did the same for Root.
The players are lining up to watch this tribute to Graham Thorpe. Good luck keeping your eyes bone dry for the next 114 seconds.
“As a 90s kid I always remember Thorpe as a swashbuckling strokeplayer,” writes Matt Storey. “That one-legged pull shot and thrilling cut shots. His hundred at Edgbaston 1997 when we were all tricked into thinking we might actually win the Ashes! He changed over time to be a gritty, no nonsense player protecting his wicket but that was a regeneration of his original game. I like to remember early Thorpe the shot maker. Though any version was amazing.”
That’s my favourite version too, even though he became a more complete player under Duncan Fletcher. Those counter-attacks, which stemmed from watching Brian Lara in 1993-94, were both exhilarating and impactful. Pick an England win against the big three in the 1990s and there’s every chance the match will have been turned by a Thorpe counter-attack. Even at Edgbaston in 1997, Nasser Hussain rightly stole the show with his 207, but it was Thorpe who started it at a time when England were wobbling.
Ben Stokes is chatting to Sky Sports
Feeling good, a lot better than I did when I did it. I went down like a sack of potatoes! It’s good to be back in the gym.
[On his role in this Test] The hardest thing for me is to fill my time and not get bored. I think Marcus Trescothick’s in for a long week with me around!
[On Graham Thorpe] He was the batting coach on my first Lions tour. I was so excited to say I was going to work with Graham Thorpe over the winter. Left-handed batter, I had one of those Kookaburra bubble bats as a kid. Later on I got to know him and he was a great man. He was a huge influenced on my career and I enjoyed every moment I spent with him. He was so good in the dressing-room, he always made people laugh and smile.
Sri Lanka win the toss and bat
Dhananjaya de Silva says the pitch looks dry and may turn later in the game; a cheery Ollie Pope says England were “probably going to bowl first” but that it will be a good pitch for the first half of the game.
The pundits concur that it’s the right decision to bat first, even though it’s a bit cloudy at Old Trafford and the ball should swing.
The teams
Both were announced in the build-up to the game. Dan Lawrence and Matthew Potts return for England; Sri Lanka give a surprise debut to Milan Rathnakeye. Most people expected the rapid Lahiru Kumara to play; maybe Rathnayeke is a better horse for the Old Trafford course.
England Lawrence, Duckett, Pope (c), Root, Brook, Smith (wk), Woakes, Atkinson, Potts, Wood, Bashir.
Sri Lanka Karunaratne, Madushka, Kusal Mendis, Mathews, Chandimal (wk), Dhananjaya (c), Kamindu, Jayasuriya, A Fernando, V Fernando, Rathnayake.
Ollie Pope will captain England in this series but Ben Stokes will be there in spirit (and in the dressing room).
“Talking of Graham Thorpe’s little acts of kindness, did you see Alison Kervin describing how he offered to look after her kid whilst he interviewed Mark Butcher?” writes Andy Banks. “A tiny, lovely little story. I was so sad to hear he had gone.”
Horrible news this morning that Graham Thorpe has died, aged 55.
I interviewed him a million years ago, at the team hotel when my son was just 3 years old. My babysitter didn’t turn up, so I had to take George with me.
After talking to Graham, I interviewed Mark Butcher, and… pic.twitter.com/XEPowew9XF
— Alison Kervin (@alikervin) August 5, 2024
Nasser Hussain and Mike Atherton are paying tribute to Graham Thorpe on Sky Sports. Nasser was choking up from almost the first word. “He was always there for me in my darkest moments, and that’s what I’m saddest about now: I wasn’t there for him in his darkest moment.”
You can always rely on Nasser for bracing honesty. We need to talk about this stuff so much more – not just somebody taking their own life but also the wider social context. That’s the only way things we’ll start to understand this vile illness.
“He was just a really good guy and a great, great player”
Nasser Hussain pays a touching tribute and remembers his friend, Graham Thorpe ❤️ pic.twitter.com/jI9qrptuHX
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 21, 2024
England will wear black armbands in memory of Graham Thorpe, whose death has haunted cricket for the last two and a half weeks. I adored him; you probably did too. As a cricketer he was completely alien, a chameleon who analysed batting forensically and earned the respect of every single bowler in international cricket. As a human being he was totally relatable – flawed, like you and me and everyone we know, but with stratospheric levels of empathy.
Alec Stewart once said that “Thorpey will decide whether he’ll get to know you or not.” It’s a great line, testament to Thorpe’s shyness and especially his bullshit intolerance, but those who did know him speak with rare fondness. It’s hard to recall, certainly for a sportsperson, a series of tributes as raw and emotive as those on Sky a couple of weeks ago.
It wasn’t all sadness. Mike Atherton stressed how much fun they all had, and Thorpe sounds like the kind of drily funny, self-deprecating character we all love to be around. You can imagine his pithy one-liners as he walked out yet again to clean up the mess at 20 for 2. If only there was a record of his internal monologue as he walked off in Trinidad in March 1994, staring at a fixed point precisely a thousand yards in the distance after being bowled by a Ambrose shooter to leave England 40 for 8 at the close.
There are some actors – Kristen Stewart and James Gandolfini come to mind – who can reveal a complex character with just their eyes. Thorpe’s were equally expressive, particularly when he was cleaned up by Ambrose that night. But there were also times when they betrayed a melancholy that was never dormant for long enough.
A recurring theme of the stories about Thorpe are little acts of human kindness towards teammates, always done in private and with no motive beyond compassion and generosity of spirit.
Rob Key tells one in his book. On the South Africa tour of 2004-05, Thorpe went out for dinner with Key, Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison. Key was down because of the death of his grandmother, which was mentioned briefly at the dinner table. When they got back to the hotel, Thorpe knocked on Key’s door with a four-pack and asked him if he wanted to chat. They spent the next hour or two talking about Key’s gran, the mental side of batting at Test level, everything and nothing. As a kid Key idolised Thorpe, so you can imagine what that meant to him.
I didn’t know Thorpe but interviewed him two or three times, once a long chat in person before the 2005 Ashes, which we thought would be his swansong. At the end he said something like “Thanks Rob, that was a really good interview.”
Whether he meant it, who cares; the fact it has stuck with me tells a story. (And not only because it’s probably the only time my ramshackle interviewing style has been praised.)
The thought of the pain he was in, and of his internal monologue on that Sunday morning, is almost unbearable.
RIP Thorpey. Cricket adores you.
Read Ali Martin’s interview
Preamble
Hello, good morning and welcome to the first day of the three-Test series between England and Sri Lanka, a contest that could be a lot more fun than people expect. It’s an historic day at Old Trafford, though it’s not necessarily the good history. This is the latest ever start to a Test series in England, a reflection of a landscape that is shifting with ominous speed.
The series feels low-key and it would be an insult to whatever intelligence we have left to say otherwise. In some ways the most exciting thing is the injuries to Zak Crawley and Ben Stokes, because it means we’ll see something new: Dan Lawrence opening, Ollie Pope captaining, Matthew Potts back in the side. God bless novelty, although maybe not on the eve of the Gabba Test next year.
Sri Lanka may not be a great side but they are never dull. Their squad includes Kavindu Mendis, an ambidextrous bowler who also averages 107 with the bat in his fledgling Test career, while Dimuth Karunaratne is a high-class opener hiding in plain sight. In the last five years he averages 51. Sri Lanka’s experienced top six are the key to their chances of an upset.
All things being equal England will win, probably comfortably. We’ve said that a few times before a match against Sri Lanka, eh.