Right, that’s it from me. Thanks for your company. Be sure to join us again tomorrow for, with a bit of luck, the conclusion.
What does that mean? It means that, weather permitting, England will have 50 overs tomorrow to chase down 240. That’ll kick off at the same time as today.
Play abandoned for the day
As expected, the umpires shake their heads sadly and call things off for today.
So we’ve got about an hour until play has to start. And it’ll take about an hour to get the covers off and the playing surface dried. I’d say this is done and dusted for today.
The weather may be bad in Pallekele but it’s pretty rough up in Scotland too …
We have a #shed on the line just east of #Bowling. Team on way to clear to maintain services #scotstorm Please secure things in your garden
— Network Rail Scot (@NetworkRailSCOT) December 10, 2014
How do you secure a shed to your garden? Surely being secured in one spot is one of the features of being a shed, part of a shed’s innate shedness?
If the players don’t get back out today, England will have 50 overs to chase down 240 tomorrow. And the game will start (oh gawd, here we go again) at 9am GMT (2.30pm in Sri Lanka). The day off I had planned waiting in for the gasman is suddenly under severe threat …
Apologies to anyone confused by the BST/GMT farrago. It’s GMT, of course. So, to clarify, 4.25pm if you’re in the UK, 8.46am in if you’re Los Angeles, 3.45am today if you’re in Adelaide and 12.47am tomorrow if you’re in Beijing. Clear? Good.
In the absence of anything happening here, can I point you in the direction of a couple of places where you can read actual words.
There’s this lovely piece from the Sport Network asking the eternal question: Why do we play cricket?
Here’s Lord Selve on how sledging culture could and should change after the Phillip Hughes tragedy.
There’s John Stern’s report on the truncated second day’s play between Australia and India.
And here’s Andy Bull’s return to The Spin.
The GMT cut-off is actually slightly later than first advertised. They can get a 20-over chase in as long as the players are back out at 4.25pm GMT. Looks unlikely right now, but you never know.
Updated
The bad news is that it is still raining and raining hard in Pallekele. The good news is that it’s not as wet as I briefly thought – it turned out that I had this playing on a hidden tab on my browser:
The answers to those quiz questions from earlier:
1 A green and gold wig
2 A pig
3 109 (Ian Bell’s innings in the Ashes in the UK)
4 One run
5 “c Clarke b Agar 37”
6 Simon Kerrigan
7 False
8 Milk
9 Number of days they had held the Ashes before defeat at the Waca
10 Stuart Broad
This is the current ever-so-slightly damp scene in Sri Lanka:
This remains the scene as we wait for the rain to relent. We'll keep you posted with any developments... #SLvENG pic.twitter.com/12oiAJq05J
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) December 10, 2014
Rain watch: it’s now absolutely hammering it down in Pallekele.
Here’s Mike Daniels: “What more do some people want from Chris Woakes to be convinced that he is a serious cricketer who deserves his place? He may not be the flashest or flashiest of players but he provides consistent performances for the sides he plays for and contributes in all three disciplines. He has shown great development over the past couple of years and has more to come.
“Flashy cricketers can be a flash in the pan (see Stokes) but Woakes gets the job done with the minimum of fuss. He is surely nailed on for the World Cup as third seamer/all-rounder batting at No8 or 9.
“Don’t let the quest for perfection blind you to the very good.”
Good advice for us all there.
Ians Ward and Botham report that there’s still light drizzle falling in Pallekele. The former tells us that we have an hour of buffer so, no overs will be lost until 2.12pm GMT. Even though we have a reserve day, they will try to squeeze the game in today even if it’s a 20 over run chase. That has to start by about 4pm BST.
Updated
There’s no official word about a delay as of yet. The players are supposed to be back out in 10 minutes or so, but that seems pretty unlikely.
The covers are going on all over the playing surface, so we should be back on fairly swiftly once the rain eases. In the meantime, I’ve been digging out some questions for our annual quiz of the year and part of the process is copying and pasting and changing a few words taking a look at previous quizzes we’ve put together and using them to help generate a few ideas. Here are the Ashes questions from our 2013 quiz. Twelve months ago I’d have backed myself to get 10. Now? Five or six at best. Have a go, but don’t phone it’s just for fun:
1) What item of ‘clothing’ was believed to be the cause of the Walkabout wallop that David Warner gave Joe Root?
2) What arrived at the Gabba dressed as a baby in a pram?
3) What is the missing number in this sequence: 25, 109, _____, 74, 60, 4, 6, 113, 45, 17?
4) How many runs were scored off the first delivery of the Ashes in 2013?
5) The history books record Stuart Broad’s knock in the second innings at Trent Bridge as “c Haddin b Pattinson 65”. What should they say?
6) Whose debut Test figures read 8-0-53-0?
7) True or false: since the Trent Bridge Test no Australian batsman has been dismissed lbw, bowled Jimmy Anderson
8) Several entire centiletres of which foodstuff was shamelessly and with malice aforethought ‘borrowed’ from the honest hard-working OBO writers between day one and day two at the Gabba?
9) 1,577 and out: what is the significance of this number (1,577 that is) for England?
10) Who is the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket in 2013?
Thanks Nick. I can confirm it’s wet and it’s falling from the sky. But it’s not torrential.
And with that, I’ll hand over to John Ashdown, who will describe some rain for you. Cheers.
Word from Sri Lanka is it’s raining and the covers are on. Wonder whether a shortened game would be good news for England - after all, that lefty trailblazer they have at the top of the order who came back into the team today will get some quick earl...oh.
Despite those impressive figures for Woakes (8-0-47-6), Gareth Fitzgerald - or Gareth Fitzgeraldy - isn’t convinced he’ll be in the team for much longer: ‘He’s still not going to the World Cup is he? Jimmy and Broady and Finny and Stokesy and Jordany will be going.
‘I’d imagine if he doesn’t open the bowling (and why would he with Jimmy and Broady and Finny and Cooky and Mooresy around) he wont be much cop. Shame - just to be contrary I quite like him.’
I’d say that Stokesy’s chances of going are pretty slim now, as he’s not scoring runs and not taking wickets (22 of the former and zero of the latter in three games in this series), which opens a spot for Woakesy.
England require 240 runs to win
Well, oddly you suspect both sides will be relatively pleased. England have bowled Sri Lanka out and aside for a couple of overs when they were slapped around a bit, were pretty good. Those wides (15 of them, in all) are still a big worry though. Even so, they still require a record score on this ground to win, and with the phalanx of tweakers on a decidedly tweaky pitch...well, it’s going to be tricky.
WICKET! Mendis b Woakes 0 (Sri Lanka 239 all out)
Five for Woakes now, and that call that he won’t be going to the World Cup from earlier...may have been a little premature and...oh, there’s another! Full and straight, Mendis vaguely offers a bat and there go his stumps.
WICKET! Perera c Root b Woakes 27 (Sri Lanka 238-9)
Woakes begins by following Perera as he backs away, but it’s too short and there goes wide No.14. Perera tries the same trick but Woakes goes the other way and bowls a bit wider, Buttler can’t gather a scuffler and they take a bye. Prasad then tries to guide one with an open face, but doesn’t get all of it and Buttler dives to his right, just getting a hand to it but can’t hold on. Would’ve been a blinder if he had, mind. Perera is back on strike and hammers the thing down the ground for four, then another short one is again signalled a wide (15), but that was hugely harsh - it very nearly hit Perera on the shoulder. Perera then swings from his heels, gets hold of one that looks like it was going to go miles, but in the end it finds Root out at cow corner and his pouches the catch.
48th over: Sri Lanka 230-8 (Prasad 3, Perera 23)
Ach, there’s some rain in the air, and the groud staff are loitering near their plastic sheets. Prasad gets a single, the Perera plays an appalling-looking shot, but still manages to slap it over straight cover for four. He then plays a similarly unattractive stroke, but this time gets absolutely loads of it and it gaily sails over the mid-wicket fence for the first six of the match. A few singles, another wide from Jordan (the 13th of the innings, no less), and a good over for Sri Lanka, 15 from it.
Updated
47th over: Sri Lanka 215-8 (Prasad 1, Perera 11)
Good bowling from England th...oh, Woakes bowls his first ball to new batsman Prasad and it’s a high and wide stinker, then the second is slightly less whiffy but is also a wide, this time past his legs. Prasad scores his own first run with a dabbed single, and we’ve got three overs to go.
WICKET! Senanayake b Woakes 0 (Sri Lanka 212-8)
Perera greets Woakes on the first ball of this over by whopping a cut through the covers and to the fence. He then gets away with one as he top-edges an attempted pull, but it lands between mid-wicket and his deep counterpart, falling in for a single. Senanayake has a look at one, then comes down the pitch and plays down entirely the wrong line, misses and the ball thuds into the stumps.
46th over: Sri Lanka 207-7 (Senanayake 0, Perera 6)
Jordan starts off with a couple of short ‘uns to Perera, who impotently pleads for one of them to be given a wide, but no dice there. There’s nearly a run-out after some indecisive running, but Jordan missed the stumps with the throw after retrieving the ball, then another short one is a little wider and Perera can free his arms a little and slap one just wide of third man for four. He flicks the last ball of the over over mid-wicket, and it falls just in front of Root in the deep.
45th over: Sri Lanka 202-7 (Senanayake 0, Perera 1)
After all that, here’s the score at the end of the over.
WICKET! Mendis c & b Woakes 12 (Sri Lanka 202-7)
Oh man. First ball, Perera dabs down to third man, they get one and Mendis tries to come back for the second, but is belatedly sent back and he should be run out by two or three yards, but Buttler lost the ball in transferring from throw to stumps. Oi vey. More overthrows the ball after, as a nasty throw eludes Buttler (not his fault that time). Then, a short one flies in the air and is caught by Woakes, but it’s not immediately clear whether it was just off helmet or bat too. Understandably, everyone checks Mendis is OK (looks like he was cut after his helmet was forced back into his forehead), but somewhere in there Woakes appealed, and when it was turned down, called for the review...and eventually it’s given. Quite a passage of play.
WICKET! Sangakkara c Root b Woakes 91 (Sri Lanka 199-6)
Cook turns to Woakes, and he begins with a leg side wide that Buttler does well to snaffle, preventing any further damage. Sangakkara then backs away and slaps a shorter one off the back through the covers for four, taking him into the 90s. But he doesn’t get any further than that, pulling straight out to Root in the deep, at straightish mid-wicket. The umpire bafflingly asks for the no-ball to be checked, despite more of Woakes’s foot being behind the line than in front of it. Smashing innings though, from a smashing man. I’d like to be his pal.
44th over: Sri Lanka 194-5 (Mendis 10, Sangakkara 87)
Sangakkara flips another over mid-wicket, which Taylor misfields allowing them two runs, leading to the Notts man being unceremoniously hooked from his position, with bowler Jordan thoroughly irked by the whole affair. Some more singles, one from a flukey inside edge from Mendis, before Jordan follows Sangakkara with a short one that he flaps out to deep mid-wicket for one.
43rd over: Sri Lanka 189-5 (Mendis 9, Sangakkara 83)
Mendis laps a couple round the corner for two, then gets himself into a ghastly mess trying a big reverse sweep/switch hit thing, and is lucky to stay on his feet/in his ground. He then gets a thickish edge that Buttler doesn’t have time to react to, and collects two. That’s it for Tredwell, who was superb, figures of 10-2-33-1.
42nd over: Sri Lanka 185-5 (Mendis 5, Sangakkara 83)
Mendis knows his place, bunting one into the leg side to give Sangakkara the strike, which he duly uses to advance and once more casually launch the thing over mid-on for a one-bounce four. A few more singles and a two from Mendis means that’s ten runs from the over, and Sri Lanka are (perhaps a little belatedly) picking up the pace now.
41st over: Sri Lanka 175-5 (Mendis 1, Sangakkara 77)
Jeevan Mendis is the new man, and Tredwell greets him with a belter that rips and misses the edge. Buttler whips off the bails and half-heartedly requests the third umpire takes a look, which he does, but that was surely more out of politeness-Mendis hadn’t left his ground. Lovely stuff this from Tredwell - he’s currently on 9-2-29-1. Remember, this was a man not picked in the previous two games.
WICKET! Thirimane lbw b Tredwell 8 (Sri Lanka 173-5)
...but to no avail. That was hitting in line with off, and heading for the top of middle stump. Good call.
REVIEW!
Tredwell continues, Thirimane plants his foot, it hits the front pad and the finger goes up, but he was far enough down the track to warrant a review, which they duly request.
40th over: Sri Lanka 172-4 (Thirimane 8, Sangakkara 75)
Moeen’s back on, replacing Finn, and Sangakkara flays his first ball, but straight to the man in the deep so there’s only a single to be had. A single for Thirimane, before a superbly flowing hoik by Sangakkara over what mortals would call cow corner for a boundary. Sweet fancy Moses, he’s good. Another single, and that’s the over.
Updated
39th over: Sri Lanka 165-4 (Thirimane 7, Sangakkara 69)
Tredwell continues, and gets one to stop on Thirimane, who prods at the thing off the back foot, it loops up in the air but falls just in front of a diving Morgan at short cover. Sanga gets a single, then Thirimane plays his first convincing shot by getting down low, low, low and cutting a sort of wide one past a flailing point for a boundary.
38th over: Sri Lanka 159-4 (Thirimane 2, Sangakkara 68)
Finn’s on, Sangakkara takes a massive hoy at a ball outside off stump, which looks like it took an under-edge and thus evades Buttler for a single, but a bye is given. Thirimane takes a single, then Sanga is back on strike to belatedly get this powerplay going by skipping down the track and in the most relaxed manner possible, airily launches a four over the covers. The next ball nearly does for him, clipping the ball high over mid-wicket and Taylor, on the fence, doesn’t quite pick it up in time and it bounces just in front of him. Two runs scored.
37th over: Sri Lanka 151-4 (Thirimane 1, Sangakkara 62)
Tredwell has the ball: the spinner on in the powerplay is a move not used enough, particularly given how well he’s bowled and how far the thing is spinning. And he proves as much with a terrific over that Thirimane struggles to get off the pitch, never mind the square. It’s a maiden, with a half-decent lbw shout thrown in there for good measure.
36th over: Sri Lanka 151-4 (Thirimane 1, Sangakkara 62)
Batting powerplay now, so this drip, drip, drip of singles will probably end. And right on cue, Sangakkara throws his hands at a vaguely wide delivery from Jordan, zooting the thing in the gap between point and third man, and to the ropes. Sanga then plays a couple of handsome - even by his standards - straight drives, but both are stopped by Jordan. Under the circumstances, a pretty decent over for England, that.
Consensus seems to be that something in the 230-240 range will be a very good score for Sri Lanka, particularly with their spinners and England, well, being England. If this innings progresses as is, they’ll get at least that.
35th over: Sri Lanka 147-4 (Thirimane 1, Sangakkara 58)
Root is bowling still, and Thirimane nearly gets the men in the middle into some sort of running snafu straight away, but he’s set right by Sangakkara. A few more singles, but again a perfectly acceptable over from Root.
34th over: Sri Lanka 144-4 (Thirimane 0, Sangakkara 56)
That was the end of the over, Thirimane is the new batsman.
WICKET! Mathews c Woakes b Jordan 40 (Sri Lanka 144-4)
Sangakkara is sent back with some urgency by an alarmed-looking Mathews after the leftie tries for a single, which was, it’s fair to say, not there. A single later, and Jordan beats Mathews’ outside edge, with the batsman on the walk a bit. Mathews then plays a deeply curious shot that might have been an attempted paddle-pull sort of thing, but it caught the top edge and sails into the air, with Chris Woakes dashing in from fine leg to pouch the catch. An odd end to a good innings by Mathews.
Updated
33rd over: Sri Lanka 143-3 (Mathews 40, Sangakkara 55)
Root continues, and fires in a fairly rapid one that Sangkkara misses with a sweep. Then a single, then another wide, which is England’s ninth of the innings. Shoddy, that - they’d conceded nearly double the number of extras as the Sri Lankans before this game.
32nd over: Sri Lanka 139-3 (Mathews 40, Sangakkara 53)
The age of spin is over, with Chris Jordan back to bowl for the tourists. And some tight bowling it is, until Mathews loses patience and throws everything at a drive that goes straight back at Jordan with quite some oomph behind it. Jordan gets a hand to the ball, but shouldn’t beat himself up too much as it would’ve been a blinder of a catch to have stuck. Of course, Mathews grinds in some salt by perfectly timing a lovely cut to the fence, just in front of third man.
31th over: Sri Lanka 135-3 (Mathews 36, Sangakkara 53)
More singles than a cautious drinking binge here. Three in the over, then Sangakkara sweeps for a couple, ruining things rather. This is all just waiting, waiting, waiting until the big hit out. Like in Jurassic Park when they’re waiting for the T-Rex to eat the goat.
30th over: Sri Lanka 130-3 (Mathews 34, Sangakkara 50)
Moeen kind of gets away with a shortish, quicker one that Sangakkara cuts straight to a fielder. There’s a chap in the crowd with a sign commemorating Sangakkara’s number of ODI half-centuries, which is a bit odd but there’s another one for the tally as he goes through for a single. Mathews laps another sweep for another single. Twas ever thus. Drinkies, and Sanga is taking on some pills too. Painkillers, one would think. Perhaps echinacea.
29th over: Sri Lanka 128-3 (Mathews 33, Sangakkara 49)
Bad timing all round as Sanga throws plenty at a drive but doesn’t get hold of it, then Morgan dives over the ball to give them a single. Another big (ish) turner goes down leg where Buttler does well to snaffle it, but tis still a wide. Mathews then belts a sweep but can only get one, and Sanga rounds things off with one more. This is all fairly economical from England, but these two batsmen know exactly what they’re doing.
28th over: Sri Lanka 124-3 (Mathews 32, Sangakkara 47)
There’s that lap sweep again as Mathews dabs another single, then Sanga rather jerkily pushes one just backward of point for one of his own, dashing through for the rapid single. Decent remainder of the over from Moeen though.
27th over: Sri Lanka 122-3 (Mathews 31, Sangakkara 46)
A bowling change, and it’s more spin for England with Joe Root. His first is a proper stinker, short and wide outside off, that Mathews snaffles as a pig would a truffle, cutting emphatically to the fence. One more single from the over.
26th over: Sri Lanka 117-3 (Mathews 26, Sangakkara 46)
Moeen starts with another wide down leg, then a firm single down to long on, then a delicious ball that beats Sangakkara’s outside edge. He then gives one a bit of air, and Sanga opens his body as quick as a flash, gently lofting the thing over the covers and to the boundary. What a spiffing shot that was.
Updated
25th over: Sri Lanka 111-3 (Mathews 25, Sangakkara 42)
Tredwell is round the wicket to Mathews now, and pitches one on leg stump that turns, is given a wide and eludes Buttler so they amble through for an extra run. Another single each for the batsman, and that’s halfway. Sir Lanka will presumably be fairly comfortable with this, as they have two of their best batsmen in and set, with a few wickets in the hutch.
Updated
24th over: Sri Lanka 107-3 (Mathews 24, Sangakkara 41)
‘Not sure about the exact provenance of that piece of Richie commentary,’ guffaws Gary Naylor, ‘but I think this was the fielder.’ Very good, Gary.
I think we’ve very much reached the ‘ticking over’ stage of this innings, as the Sri Lankan batsmen get three uneventful, safe singles from that Moeen over.
Updated
23nd over: Sri Lanka 104-3 (Mathews 22, Sangakkara 40)
Sangakkara flicks a single, then Mathews is warms to the paddle sweep, and gets down to lap another single down past the short fine leg. Tredwell then nearly gets one through Sangakkara, but the great man inside edges it through his own legs and gets himself a single, and Mathews closes the over by coming down the track and pushing one more down to long-on.
22nd over: Sri Lanka 100-3 (Mathews 20, Sangakkara 38)
Another decent over for England, as Moeen keeps the batsmen to a single each.
21th over: Sri Lanka 98-3 (Mathews 19, Sangakkara 37)
Big, big lbw shout as Sangakkara goes forward to Tredwell, which umpire Palliyaguruge takes ages before turning down. The replays show a pretty clear inside edge, but boy that was close. A leg-bye and a single complete the rest of the action from that over.
Updated
20th over: Sri Lanka 96-3 (Mathews 18, Sangakkara 37)
A couple of singles, then Mathews gets down and paddles a sweep very fine for four, that Bopara can’t save.
While I’ve got you here, I thought I’d try a spot of shameless crowd-sourcing. I’ve been trying to remember a piece of Richie Benaud commentary, I think from the one-day series in the 1997 Australia tour, but could have been another time, but definitely at Lord’s. He was explaining why a team had positioned a man about three-quarters of the way back at deep square-leg, saying that it was there for the top-edge. He was saying this while the bowler was running up, and sure enough the ball went straight up, dropping neatly into the hands of said fielder. At which point Richie said “...just like that.” Anyone remember it? Any idea which game it was from?
Updated
19th over: Sri Lanka 90-3 (Mathews 14, Sangakkara 36)
Just tried to convince a colleague that Jordan getting Dilshan out by setting him up with a rancid long-hop was a plan. A bit like Shane Warne setting up Alec Stewart with a short one then a flipper, all those years ago. Wasn’t all that convincing, really.
Tredwell bowls his first bad one, a little bit short and wide, which is all Sangakkara needs to carefully cut to the ropes. Tredwell then bowls his second bad one, a full toss that Sanga ambles down the track to and clips through straight mid-wicket for four more.
Updated
18th over: Sri Lanka 81-3 (Mathews 12, Sangakkara 28)
Two spinners on, with Moeen into the attack, so they’ll rattle through ‘em now - good for England’s over rate, bad for OBOers with moderate typing skills. A few singles from the over, with another that ripped past Mathews’ pads, but because he was so far across the stumps no wide was given.
17th over: Sri Lanka 77-3 (Mathews 10, Sangakkara 26)
Mathews puts his foot so far down and to the off side that he’s damn near on another strip, and laps a single. Tredwell then bowls an absolute ripper that pitched leg, and missed Sangakkara’s outside edge by a few inches. What a ball that was, but the coterie of Sri Lankan spinners will be licking both lips and spinning fingers after that one. Two singles from the over.
While the players are quaffing their energy drink of choice, have a read of this, an extract from the latest edition of the Nightwatchman, about why we watch cricket and how we’d explain it to aliens:
Let’s imagine a group of ultra-intelligent extra-terrestrials who visit Earth and find themselves at a cricket match. I’d submit that, given sufficient time, they would be able to deduce the rules of the game in their entirety (even the lbw law) from direct observation, without the aid of a native interpreter. The mechanism of the competition would become intelligible to them: runs and wickets, overs and innings, the ten ways of getting out, the no-ball, the draw.
What would remain a mystery to them is: why? Why did earthlings expend so much time and passion on this apparently pointless exercise? What purpose did it serve?
16th over: Sri Lanka 75-3 (Mathews 9, Sangakkara 25)
No boundary since the 12th over, and in looking for one Mathews throws his hands at a pretty wide one, and it flies through roughly where gully’s chest would have been. Sangakkara chops one into the ground and it just goes a bit above Morgan, although he launches himself into the air and gets a hand on the thing. Mathews repeats that flay, which this time bounces a couple more times before going to third man for one. And everyone has a wee drink.
15th over: Sri Lanka 71-3 (Mathews 7, Sangakkara 23)
A change, with doughty old boot James Tredwell into the attack. He goes up for lbw second ball as Mathews props forwards: not a bad shout, but that hit him a hair outside off stump. A couple more very half-hearted lb shouts go up in the rest of the over, but there are no runs: a maiden, if you can imagine such a thing. Just five runs in the last three overs, which is decent going by anyone’s standards.
14th over: Sri Lanka 71-3 (Mathews 7, Sangakkara 23)
A Finn fumble gives a single to Mathews, before Jordan drifting onto Sanga’s legs offers another. Jordan is a v v v v promising player, but those leg-stumpers - and indeed wides - are a problem, a point he emphasises as I type that by sticking another one on Mathews’ pads. Just the one though, and that over wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been for England.
Christopher Dale has a word about England’s slowers: ‘Can’t get my head around England’s selection of spinners. Good limited overs bowler, particularly in English and sub-continental conditions, but surely there must be concerns around how he’ll perform in Australia given he’s a conventional, right arm offie with neither great turn, dip, or bounce. As this tour is a prolonged warm-up for next Spring, wouldn’t the seven matches have been better used giving Adil Rashid an extended run?’
Updated
13th over: Sri Lanka 68-3 (Mathews 5, Sangakkara 22)
More overthrows from a rebound off the stumps, as Morgan flings the thing when Sri Lanka weren’t running. Luckily for England, some indecisive calling keeps it down to one, when two were probably available. Morgan tries another silly shy a few balls later, before Mathews flips one into the leg side for the only ‘proper’ run of a decent over from Woakes.
Meanwhile, Kevin Wilson writes: ‘Just throwing this out there - all the talk is that if Cook was dropped then Morgan would be brought in as captain. But Morgan’s own form has been as iffy as Cook’s recently. I wonder whether some of the bright bods in the ECB fancy giving Root the one day job as he’s clearly going to be groomed for the test captaincy. I don’t think they should do it, but it might be tempting (and probably ruin him).’
12th over: Sri Lanka 66-3 (Mathews 4, Sangakkara 21)
Sam Cottis is straight in on partnerships: ‘Believe there’s only one partnership with more runs (Ganguly & Tendulkar) but at the risk of offending half the world - they weren’t nearly as beautiful as Jaya & Sanga, not even close!’ Damn right, Sam.
Jordan is round the wicket to Sangakkara, coming pretty close to a back-foot no-ball, but manages to keep his foot in play enough to deliver a legal ball, which Sanga guides down to third man for two. Another single gets Mathews on strike, and Jordan bowls a rancid ball down the leg side, with the slip in place, which Angelo gleefully clips fine for his first boundary.
11th over: Sri Lanka 59-3 (Mathews 0, Sangakkara 18)
‘I told you Woakes is USELESS!’ announces the prophet, Andrew Hurley. Woakes welcomes the Sri Lankan skipper Mathews with another jaffer, moving away from off stump and beating the edge, just to force home the point.
Updated
WICKET! Jayawardene c Jordan b Woakes 2 (Sri Lanka 59-3)
Finn has a blow, and Woakes, with those ruddiest of cheeks, has the ball in his hands again. Another single for Jayawardene, before Sangakkara takes advantage of the angle from the round the wicket delivery to clip away for a two, then another one. Jayawardene then chases a wideish, fullish one and gets a thickish edge to Jordan at fourthish, fifthish slip, perhaps a gullyish. Ish. Actually, not ish - that was out.
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10th over: Sri Lanka 55-2 (Jayawardene 1, Sangakkara 15)
So then, Jayawardene and Sangakkara are back together. Has there been a better pair of batsmen to watch play together in recent years? I can’t think of one - perhaps there have been partnerships who have scored more runs, but more attractive players? Surely not. Jayawardene gets off the mark with a nurdled one.
WICKET! Dilshan b Jordan 35 (Sri Lanka 54-2)
Hmmm. Moeen is out of the attack after one over, with Jordan in, who starts with a big offside wide. The next is also short and wide, which Dilshan gets plenty of but a diving Morgan at backward point takes the sting out of, and they collect two. Dilshan has a fairly ghastly go at a cut but that one zips past his inside edge, but then waits carefully on what looks an awful lot like a slower ball long-hop outside off, and cuts for four. However, the next one is a bit quicker and fuller, Dilshan tries to play the same shot and inside edges onto his stumps.
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9th over: Sri Lanka 47-1 (Dilshan 29, Sangakkara 15)
Stop this...
Two tickets to the gun show. @finnysteve celebrates dismissing Perera #SLvENG pic.twitter.com/I6ZEN1pV58
— England Cricket (@ECB_cricket) December 10, 2014
Those guns produce a pretty tight over, ruined rather when wee Jimmy Taylor hurls at the stumps from point, ricocheting off the stumps with Sangakkara well in his ground, so an overthrow is collected. Dilshan then jumps on a short one from Finn and gets plenty of it, but Moeen gets smartly round on the deep backward-square fence to save some runs.
8th over: Sri Lanka 45-1 (Dilshan 28, Sangakkara 14)
Bowling change, with Woakes invited to leave the attack and Moeen Ali coming on instead. Second ball, Dilshan plants his front foot and hoiks one of those slog-sweeps that makes it look like he’s yanking a troublesome tent rope from the ground, over the top for four. Moeen then gets one to rip a mile, but unfortunately it pitched around middle so that’s a wide, before Dilshan shows his sensitive side with a delicate nurdle for two, which is dragged back from the boundary by Jordan. Another leg-side wide completes the over.
7th over: Sri Lanka 37-1 (Dilshan 22, Sangakkara 14)
Woof. Sanga hoys an ostensibly relatively ugly shot through straight mid-wicket, but as we’ve established there’s nothing ugly about Kumar, so it was in fact a lovely shot. Like when President Nixon said that if the president does it, it’s not illegal, if Sanga does it, it’s not ugly. That’s the only significant action of the over. I mean, I could make something up, but that would be dishonest, and I’d hate to lie to you all.
6th over: Sri Lanka 33-1 (Dilshan 22, Sangakkara 10)
England appeal for a leg-before after it strikes Dilshan halfway up his thigh, but no dice there. Woakes them offers another four to Sangakkara with a short and wide ‘un, then goes away to think about what he’s done.
5th over: Sri Lanka 26-1 (Dilshan 22, Sangakkara 4)
‘I was feeling chipper until I saw there was no exclamation mark after the result of the toss,’ writes Ian Copestake. ‘What would Opta say about this? Disappointed.’ Apologies, Ian - at the innings break I’ll retire to the same self-flagellation room in which the people who designed the shiny new Guardian Sport website have been beating themselves silly because some very cross people have been very cross about it in the last couple of days. Sangakkara gives Dilshan the strike, and he celebrates with a two then helps himself to an invitation of a half-volley from Finn, clunking the thing to the ropes. He hits the final ball of the over just as cleanly, but that one goes straight to extra-cover. Finn falls over, which along with Sanga being handsome and Dilshan smacking everything that moves, are all signs that the world is in balance.
4th over: Sri Lanka 19-1 (Dilshan 16, Sangakkara 3)
Sangakkara does more handsome work with a nudge to fine leg for one, before Woakes acts as a 80-odd mph bowling machine by offering Dilshan some cutting practice - and the old boy gobbles another four runs up. ‘Where in the world have the England selectors got the idea that Chris Woakes is a ODI bowler, and an opening one at that?’ asks Andrew Hurley, and it’s a reasonable point. One suspects he might not even be in the World Cup squad if he continues like this, with Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad set to come back into things. Another couple of singles in the over.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 12-1 (Dilshan 11, Sangakkara 1)
Sangakkara handsomely gets off the mark with a nurdle to the on side (it wasn’t an especially handsome shot, but Sanga is so damn handsome it imbues pretty much everything he does), then Dilshan does manage to find the meat of his bat by larrumphing one past a baffled cover to the ropes. Finn comes back with a woof of a ball just outside off that beats Dilshan. Decent start from both sides, this.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 7-1 (Dilshan 7, Sangakkara 0)
It’s Chris Woakes to bowl the second over, and he opens with one very vaguely short of a length, but Dilshan both rocks back and pulls off the front foot, if that makes sense, and spanks the thing just backward of square for four. Woakes gets away with another iffy ball, a half-volley on middle and leg, which Dilshan mistimes to short mid-wicket. It’s a similar story for the rest of the over, with a few choppy shots going straight to assorted fielders.
Does anyone want to provide a pithy summary for Lennie Lenford? He writes: ‘As this is a one day series, in Sri Lanka during the rainy season, I don’t have Sky and its not on the Long Wave I have managed to miss this whole series. Have I missed much?’
1st over: Sri Lanka 3-1 (Dilshan 3, Sangakkara 0)
Ooof. Sangakkara comes to the crease, greeted by calls from the commentary box for the whole England team to assemble in the slip cordon, and second ball he bloody nearly chops the thing onto his stumps. A good start from Finn, the only errant delivery that first one that was clipped for three.
WICKET! Perera c Jordan b Finn 0 (Sri Lanka 3-1)
Sri Lanka are sharply away, Finn drifting onto Dilshan’s pads and he clips the ball towards the square leg ropes, where four is saved by a diving Moeen Ali. That brings Kusal Perera on strike, and he blocks the first ball but wafts airily at the second, the ball flies off his edge and rests betwixt the palms of Chris Jordan at second slip as if it belonged there. Good start for England
Updated
The teams are out, I’ve got a pain au chocolat: let’s do this.
While we’re waiting for the start of this whole hoopla, here’s word of Michael Clarke scoring a pretty emotional century for Australia against India.
The Sky bods are talking about how unfortunate Alex Hales is to be left out of the side, but discussing his place along with Moeen Ali and James Taylor. “He’s unfortunate in that the captain has come back in,” said Matt Prior, which is a large part of the problem.
Alastair Cook has scored one century since June 2012. He has one 50 in the last 18 months. In the time since that last 100, he has an ODI average of 31.45 at a strike rate of 72.25. These are, by no means, calamitous numbers, but ones that guarantee a place in the side? Well, clearly not.
E Morgan's 62 from the 4th ODI - SR was 131. In 89 ODI innings, Cook's SR has been better than that three times (scores of 4, 5 and 64).
— Ryan Keaney (@RyanKeaney) December 10, 2014
Updated
Any day we can watch Mahela is a good day....
16 - M. Jayawardene needs 16 runs to pass J. Kallis as the 4th highest international run-scorer, all formats. Style. pic.twitter.com/jK99xCr7a8
— OptaJim (@OptaJim) December 10, 2014
Teams, toss
England have won the toss, and will bowl
Sri Lanka
Dilshan, Kusal Perera, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Mathews (c), Thirimanne, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Senanayake, Prasad, Ajantha Mendis.
England
Cook (c), Ali, Taylor, Root, Bopara, Morgan, Buttler, Woakes, Jordan, Tredwell, Finn
Updated
Preamble
Morning everyone. Great news - great news - everyone. Sometimes, you feel directionless in life, that you’re not sure where you’re going. You need a firm hand on your tiller (leave it), someone to guide you through the dark night, to show you how it’s done and tell you that everything’s going to be OK.
And this is where the great - great - news comes in, because England, so often fumbling, directionless without him, will once again be lead by Alastair Cook today. What larks! How valuable his 32 (51) may prove to be. Cook - or ‘Chef’ as he’s known to the people who managed to think of the worst nickname in sport since Kevin ‘The Artist’ Painter - is back, back, back after suspension for tarrying with the old over rate, with Alex Hales the man likely to be hoofed out to accommodate the England skipper. Because, after all, if two games aren’t enough for you to register a convincing score, then it’s in the bin with you.
Actually, far more interesting than the return of Cook could be the availability once more of Sachithra Senanayake, his action now given the thumbs up by the ICC pencil-lickers, leaving him free to resume Mankaddish hostilities with Jos Buttler. Please, if there truly is anyone up there, directing things, telling us all what to do and deciding our fates, please let that happen again.
Anyway, the toss is at 8.30 GMT, so we’ll have news of that and the teams for you very shortly indeed.
Updated
Nick will be here shortly. Meanwhile, read Vic Marks on who England will leave out to accommodate the return of Alastair Cook:
Whatever the characteristics of the playing surface England cannot afford to leave out James Tredwell any longer. He has missed the last two games and in both of them the England captain has been fined 20% of his match fee and the players 10% of theirs. So the fiscal argument for a Tredwell recall is incontrovertible. He bowls his overs so much more quickly than whoever replaces him.
There is also a sound cricketing argument for his return: even if the ball may not spin as much here Tredwell has a damn good idea where it’s going to land when he is bowling. Sadly the same cannot be said of Ben Stokes at the moment. So Tredwell for Stokes is an obvious change even though it is not an exciting one as solid, virtuous pragmatism replaces wayward, elusive potential.
Then there is the thorny question of who leaves the team to allow Alastair Cook back. Given that England have been stressing the “knockout” nature of this match and the fact that the series is still alive, expect Alex Hales to give way.
