By Chris Stocks
After establishing a 1-0 lead in this series with the most understated win of the Bazball era, England will this week aim to do something they haven’t achieved for 33 years – beat Sri Lanka at Lord’s.
Victory in Manchester last Saturday was, as Joe Root admitted afterwards, “ugly”. England were nowhere near their best in the first Test as they grafted to a hard-fought win in four days.
The absence of captain Ben Stokes, and the inexperience of his stand-in Ollie Pope, was part of the reason for the lack of their usual aggression and swagger. A low, slow Old Trafford pitch was another, particularly during a long, drawn-out chase of 205 that required all of Root’s nous to get his team over the line.
The series-ending injury to Mark Wood that robbed the hosts of their fastest bowler for the final day didn’t help either. But the manner of victory was not what England fans have become accustomed to in the two years since Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum took over the team with an attacking philosophy that has produced some of the most exhilarating Test cricket of the modern era.
Lord’s is, of course, where Bazball started back in 2022, with Root again the man who got England over the line in a tense run chase against New Zealand.
From humble beginnings, the team grew under the leadership of Stokes and McCullum. Overall there have now been 18 victories from 27 Tests – an impressive win percentage of 66.66.
Yet this team is changing. It might have only been a little over two years ago but there are just three survivors from that first Bazball Test playing this week: Root, Pope and Matt Potts.
Stokes and Zak Crawley are injured but others, notably wicketkeeper Ben Foakes and Jonny Bairstow, have fallen out of favour while Stuart Broad and James Anderson, England’s two greatest bowlers, have retired.
An attack this week of Potts, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Olly Stone and Shoaib Bashir will have to work hard for the 20 Sri Lankan wickets England need to wrap up the series.
But history is not on England’s side given they have not beaten Sri Lanka at Lord’s since 1991. Back then Graham Gooch, Robin Smith, Ian Botham and Phil Tufnell were part of an England team that won by 137 runs.
In five Tests since, England have drawn a blank – with every match finishing in a stalemate, most recently in 2016.
England v Sri Lanka, Lord’s
Match: Second Test
Date and time: Thursday 29 August, 11am
Coverage: Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket from 10am.
Teams:
England: BM Duckett, DW Lawrence, OJD Pope (captain), JE Root, HC Brook, JL Smith (wicketkeeper), CR Woakes, OP Stone, AAP Atkinson, MJ Potts, S Bashir.
Sri Lanka: D Karunaratne, N Madushka (wicketkeeper), P Nissanka, A Mathews, D Chandimal, D De Silva (captain), K Mendis, P Jayasuriya, V Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, M Rathnayake
Umpires: P Reiffel (Australia), C Gaffaney (New Zealand).
TV umpire: J Wilson (West Indies).
Weather: 23 degrees, sunny with some cloud.
Other than their 43-year drought against Australia at Old Trafford, where they have not won in eight games stretching back to 1981, it is England’s longest winless run at a single home ground against any opponent.
While history will not determine the outcome of this second Test, Sri Lanka will take confidence from their proud Lord’s record – losing just two of eight Tests overall – and from the way they battled so hard in Manchester after losing a clutch of early wickets in both innings.
It suggests that they may take this game