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England had a strong first day after winning the toss and electing to bat first, and Sri Lanka will need to turn things around early on Day 2. Join The Roar for live scores from 8pm (AEST).
England reached 6 for 310 at the end of Day 1 after electing to bat on a pitch that looked like it would be more suited to bowling first. That was even more so the case given the way Sri Lanka’s batting line-up was dismantled twice in 80 overs during the first Test.
Things weren’t looking all that positive for England when they were reduced to 2 for 64, but a fantastic partnership between Alex Hales – who posted a big score in the first Test – and Joe Root saw the English advance to 3 for 160.
Hales kept to his usual, aggressive mindset but played a very controlled innings for his 83 from 145 balls. Once Hales was dismissed, Root continued on for 80 and was joined in the middle to lower order with useful contributions by youngster James Vince (35) and Jonny Bairstow (48).
After the first Test where it was only Hales and Bairstow scoring runs, with most of the other batters in single figures, it was incredibly positive for England to see contributions coming from everyone.
At stumps, Moeen Ali was not out on 28, joined by Chris Woakes on eight.
From a Sri Lankan point of view, they didn’t use the new ball as well as they would have liked – which was important, taking 14 overs to pick up the wicket of Alistair Cook who was first to fall.
Neither of their opening bowlers, Shaminda Eranga or Suranga Lakmal bowled all that well, picking up a combined 1 for 125 from 37 overs with Nuwan Pradeep being the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 69 from 19 overs.
For a team who are heavily reliant on their bowlers, the pressure is going to be right on Sri Lanka. It has been a long time since they have scored a lot of runs in Test match cricket, and you would have to think, judging by the way the pitch has played and the fact that it should again suit James Anderson down to the ground the score England have may already be beyond them.
Sri Lanka must dismiss the England tail first though, and do it quickly.
England have plenty of time up their sleeve, and with Moeen Ali and a tail that knows how to handle the bat they could aim to add plenty more runs yet.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of the second day’s play from 8pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde