Key events
And now it’s over to Andrew Miller for the weather
International cricket lost a bit of charm overnight when Moeen Ali announced his retirement from all forms. His England career is hard to summarise, isn’t it? He could exhilarate and frustrate in equal measure; he was England’s most elegant left-hander since David Gower; he was too unselfish for his own good; and he was – for richer and poorer – a beacon of humanity. Moeen has an endearing honesty and self-awareness, as shown by his own assessment of his career.
I hope people remember me as a free spirit. I played some nice shots and some bad shots, but hopefully people enjoyed watching me.
He wasn’t a great player, but he leaves cricket in a better place than he found it. And the extent of his influence on British-Asian cricketers may not become apparent for another 10 or 15 years.
Ali Martin’s day two report
The lower order clearly had licence to thrash and Sri Lanka, re-energised after that tricky first day, were getting the old ball to swing. But among the array of swipes that accelerated things was a curious innings from Harry Brook. So often appearing already set when he arrives at the crease, Brook was instead jumpy here, surviving one howling drop in the deep by Asitha Fernando on 12 before crashing a wide ball to short cover.
Preamble
Shall we try that one again? England were very poor yesterday, but they are still in a reasonable position to complete a clean sweep. Sri Lanka will resume on 211 for 5, a deficit of 114, with Dhananjaya de Silva on 64 and Kamindu Mendis on 54.
Let’s talk about Kamindu. Apart from Adam Gilchrist, has there been a better regular No7 in Test cricket? By that I mean the quality of the player when they were a regular No7. You can make a case for Ian Botham in the late seventies and early eighties and also Quinton de Kock, but Kamindu is in the conversation. And while Gilchrist is the best, Kamindu is probably the most classical No7 we’ve seen.
While he is at the crease, assumptions of an England victory – and they are widespread, even among those who were most criticial of England’s confused, slightly indulgent performance yesterday – look dangerous.