Internet Desk: Suranga Lakmal rocked England with a double strike shortly before lunch as Sri Lanka fought back on the first morning of the third Test at Lord’s today. At lunch, England, who had been 56 without loss, were 71 for three after paceman Lakmal (two for 22 in seven overs) had accounted for both Nick Compton (one) and Joe Root (three).
England captain Alastair Cook, who won the toss in ideal sunny batting conditions and on a placid pitch, was 48 not out, with James Vince unbeaten on three. England had already won this three-match series at 2-0 up.
In the build-up Cook insisted they were determined to correct their habit of losing ‘dead’ Tests in series they’d already won following heavy defeats at the end of victorious campaigns at home to Australia in 2015 and away to South Africa earlier this year.
Fielding an unchanged side from the team that thrashed Sri Lanka by nine wickets in the second Test at the Riverside, England made a serene start. Sri Lanka, who retained Shaminda Eranga in their side despite the paceman being reported for a suspect action after concerns emerged in the second Test, made little impression as Cook and Alex Hales compiled a fifty stand in 74 balls.
Left-hander Cook, presented with a commemorative bat before play to mark his achievement in becoming the first England batsman to score 10,000 Test runs — a landmark he reached at the Riverside — leg-glanced Eranga for four.
Meanwhile, Hales cover-drove Lakmal for a resounding boundary. But Rangana Herath succeeded where the pacemen had failed when, with just his fourth ball, the left-arm spinner had Hales (18), slogging across the line of a ball that turned, caught by Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews at slip.
By his own admission, Compton was playing for his Test place. But on his Middlesex home ground he fell when he was caught behind after failing to get to the pitch of a gentle Lakmal away-swinger. Lakmal then made it two wickets for two runs in five balls when he had Root (three) lbw, hitting across the line, although Sri Lanka needed to review Australian umpire Rod Tucker’s original not out decision.
Jonny Bairstow, looking more imposing and battle-hardened by the month, completed his third Test hundred in eight innings to rouse England from a problematic opening day in the Lord’s Test. For Bairstow, it could not be a more perfect treble: Cape Town, a maiden hundred where his father ‘Bluey’ spent his winters; Headingley, his home ground, an outpouring of Yorkshire pride; and now Lord’s, where a Test century is regarded as the greatest gift of all.
Bairstow’s hundred came 11 balls from the close when he tucked Rangana Herath through square leg and emitted what has now become a recognisable primeval roar, his rugged beard caked with sweat, not the sort of sight you would want to encounter on a foggy night on Baildon Moor. Not the sort of sight, if you are a Test attack looking for just rewards, that you particularly want to meet at Lord’s either.
Bairstow, the ginger energiser, rode his luck at times. He should have fallen on 11 when Shaminda Eranga spilled an inviting chance at midwicket off Nuwan Pradeep, a chance which, if taken, would have left England 102 for 5. He also survived Sri Lanka’s lbw review, on 56, by the width of a single thread of seam after the umpire, Sundaram Ravi, had initially turned down the appeal. The bowler was Eranga, desperately unfortunate to be denied the chance to put right his blemish in the field.
But it was Bairstow’s desire and the equilibrium of his captain, Alastair Cook, that allowed England to escape to 279 for 6 on a day when Sri Lanka’s seam attack, led by Pradeep, drew more encouragement than might have been expected on what appeared to be a bountiful batting surface and the tubby left-arm impresario Herath again revealed a charming ability to kill with kindness.