The "Pane" of a Draw

Lord's- England vs Sri Lanka- fifth day- a possibly exciting if England could get a move on and score quickly to see if they could enduce another Cardiff-esqe collapse.
England resumed 149-2 with Alistair Cook and Kevin Pietersen batting. They started brightly enough mainly thanks to the continuous no-balling from Suranga Lakmal and Chanaka Welegedara. 48 runs came from the first eight overs and a big total and declaration looked likely. KP was scratchy but was scoring runs but these dried up with the introduction of Rangana Herath at the Nursery End who bowled a tight line.
The partnership passed 100 and then Herath stuck with an unplayable ball which gripped and spun from leg past Pietersen's forward jab and onto the off stump to bowl him for 72. This brought Ian Bell in who promptly smashed 15 off the last over before lunch bowled by Dilhara Fernando to leave England 260-3. Cook, mysteriously, had only scored 22 in the whole session which was odd given the position of the match.
After lunch, both batsmen started to go for more shots as the score raced past 300, helped out by poor fielding as Bell was dropped at long off. Cook then reached his 18th test 100 with a four before being stumped for the first time in first-class cricket for 106 off Herath. A collapse then ensued as quick runs were the order of the day as Eoin Morgan smacked one four before being caught at mid off. Matt Prior then came in and after a mix up with Bell was run out from a direct hit from Prasanna Jayawardene. Bell then reached his fifty off 40 balls before reverse paddling a four of Herath before Fernando got rid of Broad caught behind at which point the declaration came at 335-7, leaving Sri Lanka needing 343 off 59 overs, or just not to collapse to defeat.
With Dilshan injured, Sangakkara opened the batting with Tharanga Paranavitana. Sanga hit two fours off Chris Tremlett before carving one to point where Morgan took the catch, a collapse may ensue perhaps? Mahela Jayawardene saw things through to tea.
England came out on full attack but they failed to dislodge the pair, until Broad induced a poor shot from Jayawardene who was well caught by Pietersen to his left at fourth slip. This kept things interesting and England could have had another wicket but Thilan Samaraweera reviewed an lbw shout by Graeme Swann that wasn't ever going to hit the stumps.
Jonathon Trott proved an unlikely success when he came on to bowl and in his 2nd over, Paranavitana was stuck in line and after a long, pleading, appeal was given out, he reviewed it, but was sent packing for 44, a grittyeffort when the team needed it.
After that the game ground towards a draw and apart from a five wides ball from Steve Finn and a one-minute over from KP the draw was confirmed just after 6pm with Sri Lanka 127-3.
The unlikely moment of the day came after Prior was run out, he stormed into the dressing room and a few seconds later there was a crash of glass as a dressing room window was broken. Prior had to apologise to the members before England went out to field and an ECB statement first said it was his glove that broke the window before eventually admitting it was his bat.

Oh Lord, What a Day

So, to Lord's for the 2nd day of England vs Sri Lanka. There was almost a full house to greet Stuart Broad and Matt Prior as they resumed with England on 342/6. Almost immediately the pair set about frustrating the bowlers by launching two fours in the first over as runs arrived easily, showing that some of the England wickets were due to bad batting rather than good bowling. Broad reached 50 off 47 balls before Prior went to his hundred off 107 balls to a standing ovation, albeit slightly lucky, having been dropped by Mahela Jayawardene on 94 and again on 99. Finally a wicket came as Chanaka Welegedara trapped Broad LBW for 54. In the eight overs 68 had come off 49 balls. Graeme Swann fell in the same over, however, for four to leave England 414-8.
Chris Tremlett joined Prior and they hit their way along merrily and the 450 arrived then Prior attempted to mow Rangana Herath into the Tavern Stand, and was bowled for 126. The last wicket still eluded them as Steve Finn joined Tremlett and they hit England to 486 and on the stroke of lunch Finn went the same way as Prior for 19, leaving Tremleet unbeaten on 24, Welegedara finishing with 4-122.
After lunch it was Sri Lanka's turn and Paranavitana and captain Dilshan, led a responce with the help of a mis-firing England attack. Paranavitana blocked and Dilshan playing loosely, didn't quite find the edge, although a top edge just evaded the sub fielder and went for six. Nothing went England's way and this was summed up when Finn finally found an edge of Paranavitana, only for Cook to spill a simple catch at third slip. Dilshan went to 50 off 58 balls and the hundred was up at tea with Sri Lanka 101-0.
After tea, Dilshan then proceeded to smack Swann for his 2nd six into the pavilion, felling a spectator. More of the same as none of Broad, Tremlett, Finn, Swann or even Kevin Pietersen, couldn't find a way through the openers. The aerial bombing approach of three tall bowlers wasn't working at all due to a poor line and a lifeless pitch as Paranavitana reached his 50 off 141 balls. Then Dilshan smacked one through the covers off Finn as he went to his first hundred as captain off only 129 balls.
With England running out of ideas, Dilshan inside edged the ball past the stumps for four off Finn, but his luck would finally change. In the next over from the Nursery end Pranavitana, on 64, edged again, and this time it flew to Andrew Strauss who clung on for his 99th test catch to break the partnership at 207, a record for Sri Lanka against England.
Sangakkara and Dilshan saw out the last nine overs so that Sri Lanka closed on 231-1, still 255 behind, but with lots of batting still to come, the match could have an interesting finish.

A Straussgo Saturday

The first day of the Sri Lankan tour was an interesting day in wilds of Uxbridge. Middlesex won the toss and batted but arrived late at the ground to see that Robson had already gone caught behind. There was a Tamil protest outside the ground that kept up vocal criticism well into the afternoon session.
A good chunk of the home team was 2nd XI players so the game may not be that competitive, but nevertheless Strauss and Housego decided to make Dilshan's first day as captain a major headache. The two batted on and on, Strauss feeding off loose balls from Welegedera and Lakmal. Five of Sri Lanka's squad are still playing in the IPL meaning that Farveez Maharoof, who was the most consistent of the quicks, has been called up as cover. The mystery bowler Mendis had his variations ruthlessly thrashed by both players. They batted on until tea with Middlesex on 237-1 with Strauss reaching his hundred. Strauss finally fell for 151, with Middlesex 272-2. Housego then reached his hundred then fell to Herath.
This post-tea fightback by the Sri Lankans also acquired them the wickets of Rossington and Dalrymple. captain Malan and Simpson were left unbeaten with Middlesex on 321-5 from 93 overs.
This sets up an interesting next couple of days with Middlesex having to declare at 100 overs.