First Test day two updates from the series opener at Lord's
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4.53pm BST
18th over: Sri Lanka 81-1 (Sangakkara 15, Silva 27) Thanks Ashers. Something I never thought I'd write first: Liam Plunkett to continue. I'm surprised to see that he's only 29 years old it means that he was only 22 when he was discarded, seemingly for good, which sounds a touch unfair on the then-kid. He's going around the wicket to Sangakkara and banging it in at around 88mph back of a length. On Sky, Michael Holding is bemoaning England's length, saying it needs to be fuller with 500+ behind them. I can see why they're going short on a hard, flat dry pitch that's lost all of the grass that was there on day one, but Michael Holding has a better record as a fast bowler than me. Sangakkara works two, then one off his pads before Plunkett fires down a wide to Silva. The extra delivery is much better, beating the opener's prod.
4.48pm BST
17th over: Sri Lanka 77-1 (Sangakkara 12, Silva 27) A leg-stump full toss from Jordan Sangakkara effortlessly whacks it square for four. He's look utterly untroubled thus far. The same cannot be said for Silva, who has just edged short of the slips.
Right, that's it from me for now Dan Lucas will guide you through to the close.
4.44pm BST
16th over: Sri Lanka 72-1 (Sangakkara 7, Silva 27) Here comes Liam Plunkett, then, for his first bowl in an England Test shirt since June 2007. His first is a wild loosener that flies down the leg side, but he's quickly on the money, fizzing one past Silva's outside edge.
4.40pm BST
15th over: Sri Lanka 72-1 (Sangakkara 7, Silva 27) Sangakkara languidly pushes the ball straight for three as Jordan charges in once more. And Broad comes to the rescue in the covers when he overpitches a sumptuous drive from Silva is stopped in its tracks thanks to the tumbling fielder. Prior goes up with England hoping for a leg-side strangle. The umpire shakes his head, and England opt not to review. Rightly so as it turns out. Silva, unperturbed, from the last ball does puncture the covers with a drive and picks up three.
4.35pm BST
14th over: Sri Lanka 64-1 (Sangakkara 4, Silva 22) Broad strays on to Silva's pads and gets flicked down to fine leg for four. Broad responds by beating his outside edge. Six from the over.
4.31pm BST
13th over: Sri Lanka 58-1 (Sangakkara 4, Silva 16) Graeme Swann, my colleague Dan Lucas points out, also got a wicket with his third ball in Tests. That brings the great Kumar Sangakkara to the crease. Jordan welcomes him with a half-volley that is punched into the on side for four.
4.27pm BST
Time for a change Chris Jordan replaces Jimmy Anderson at the Pavilion End. Karunaratne picks out the man at point with a thunkingly good cut. But next ball Jordan gets him! It was a tempter just outside off, Karunaratne went for the drive but could only feather an edge through to Prior. Jordan picks up a wicket with his third ball in Test cricket.
4.24pm BST
12th over: Sri Lanka 54-0 (Karunaratne 38, Silva 16) Shot! Karunaratne, veering rather wildly from the sublime to the ridiculous, cashes in on some width with a beautiful back-foot drive square of the wicket. And he brings up the Sri Lanka 50 with a tickle off the hip to fine leg for four more. Three more from the next take him to 38 from 35 balls.
4.18pm BST
11th over: Sri Lanka 43-0 (Karunaratne 27, Silva 16) Anderson slants one across Karunaratne and has him fishing outside off. Somehow the ball evades the edge. An attempted inswinger is then clipped away for three.
Here's Kieron Shaw: "I was once told this by Dr Peter Jones, former Head of Classics at Newcastle University and celebrated etymology raconteur he's the Peter Ustinov of grammatical pedantry on the grammatical pedantry circuit: Fetus and apparatus are both fourth-declension Latin nouns. Hence their correct plurals are fets and apparats (pronounced to rhyme with 'loose'), which makes them very pleasant to say out loud.
4.14pm BST
10th over: Sri Lanka 40-0 (Karunaratne 24, Silva 16) Broad sends down a maiden, the first of the innings, to Silva.
4.11pm BST
9th over: Sri Lanka 40-0 (Karunaratne 24, Silva 16) Anderson struggles to get Karunaratne to play and then, when he does, gets driven sumptuously for four. Super shot. The last ball, though, is edged but it drops just short of the slips.
"Robin Hazelhurst (10:59 this morning) seems to be some sort of Nostradamus," writes Sam Fox.
4.06pm BST
8th over: Sri Lanka 36-0 (Karunaratne 20, Silva 16) Broad continues after the break. Karunaratne steers him away for a single and Silva stays watchful.
4.00pm BST
The over rate today has been appalling.
Fewer than 49 overs in two full sessions of play in perfect weather - that is ridiculous and unfair on a crowd paying plenty @John_Ashdown
3.44pm BST
Sri Lanka will be delighted to have reached the interval without loss, but England won't be too disheartened both Broad and Anderson have looked dangerous.
3.43pm BST
7th over: Sri Lanka 35-0 (Karunaratne 19, Silva 16) Anderson rediscovers his accuracy and tests Silva outside off, but the fifth delivery strays a little too straight and gets flicked away to fine leg four four. And that's tea.
3.40pm BST
6th over: Sri Lanka 31-0 (Karunaratne 19, Silva 12) Broad continues to probe Karunaratne's defences, but without success on this occasion.
"Ant should be relieved he hasn't had the opportunity to use saunat," writes Bob O'Hara. "He'd probably screw things up by using the nominative plural when he should have used the partative singular 'saunaa', which would 'express the possibility that there may be more than one' sauna. (The quotation is from a book about Finnish grammar, translated from the Swedish by one of the world's experts on the word 'the')."
3.35pm BST
5th over: Sri Lanka 29-0 (Karunaratne 17, Silva 12) Anderson charges in again, with four slips poised. They're not in business this over, though, with Anderson just struggling for accuracy a tad. The batsmen manage to milk six runs in ones and twos.
3.31pm BST
4th over: Sri Lanka 23-0 (Karunaratne 14, Silva 9) Karunaratne is living dangerously here. Broad finds the edge with his first ball and this time it does carry to the slip cordon. Somehow though, it manages to find a gap between Jordan at second slip and Ballance at third. He picks up four and then celebrates the reprieve by guiding a half-volley wide of midwicket for four more.
"As the word 'sauna' is of Finnish origin, I'm very careful to pluralise it as 'saunat'," writes Ant. "Unfortunately, I rarely find myself in a situation in which more than one sauna is on the cards, and I fear my grammatical pedantry might have something to do with it."
3.26pm BST
3rd over: Sri Lanka 15-0 (Karunaratne 6, Silva 9) "I have always found octopodes the plural of octopus a useful antidote to those octopi pretenders," writes David Goodman. There's always something satisfying about 'sheep and 'cannon' too. Silva deftly guides Anderson away for four wide of gully.
3.22pm BST
2nd over: Sri Lanka 10-0 (Karunaratne 5, Silva 5) Broad gets the new cherry at the Nursery End. He has Silva in trouble on a couple of occasions, but the last is driven sweetly through the covers for four.
"The best plural is Syllabontes for more than one Syllabus," reckons Ben Dorning not unreasonably.
3.18pm BST
1st over: Sri Lanka 6-0 (Karunaratne 5, Silva 1) Well, what a start.
This is the real fulcrum of the day though. How will Eng bowl on this pitch now the green has long since departed.
3.17pm BST
Incredible. It pitched in line which was presumably behind the review but Hawkeye shows the ball going over the top of the bails. There's no way Karunaratne reviewed that on height, but he survives!
Drama of DRS! Anderson's LBW appeal overturned...millimeters in that. pic.twitter.com/xHQmIdKczN
3.16pm BST
Anderson finds the edge with his first delivery! The left-handed Karunaratne, groping a touch outside off, is relieved to see it hit the turf a yard or two in front of Chris Jordan at second slip and then fizz away for four. Silva looks to get off the mark immediately with a drop-and-run single. A direct hit from Plunkett has umpire Reiffel asking for the third umpire to take a look. He's safe by mile. But Karunaratne is in trouble. Anderson zaps him on the pad. Reiffel's finger goes up. Karunaratne reviews. This looks out
3.10pm BST
England stride out then go into their familiar huddle. The Sri Lankan openers, Kaushal Silva and Dimuth Karunaratne, aren't far behind.
3.03pm BST
So Joe Root walks off unbeaten on 200. Not a bad start to the Test summer for him. It was a lovely innings, almost under-stated in a way, which feels a strange thing to write about a double hundred. Anyway, England have a mini-session before tea in which to get stuck into the Sri Lanka top order.
3.01pm BST
131st over England 575-9 (Anderson 9, Root 200) Root whips Herath's first to midwicket for one, which leaves him standing anxiously at the non-striker's as Anderson faces the spinner. He squirts an edge away just and from the next ball Root paddle-sweeps for two runs that take him to a first Test 200. He's still got his bat aloft when Cook signals for the declaration.
2.57pm BST
130th over England 571-9 (Anderson 8, Root 197) Pradeep offers Root free runs with a half-tracker on the hips. The batsman gratefully clips it away for four to fine leg. That takes him to 196 and a single from the penultimate delivery means Anderson has only to survive the one ball. And he does. Cue cheers from the stands.
"Pluralising words is one of my favourite things," writes happy-go-lucky funster Andy Lathbury. "The plural of coccyx is coccyges and it is one of my favourite plurals. Along with stadia."
2.53pm BST
129th over England 564-9 (Anderson 8, Root 190) Root slog-sweeps, looking to deposit Herath into the terraces at cow corner. He doesn't quite get all of it and the ball drops five yards short of the rope. Still, four more to the tally, four closer to that double hundred. If he doesn't get there it may well be down to Anderson, who is looking decidedly shaky. An edge finds the gap between the Jayawardenes behind the stumps. Mahela, at slip, might have actually done a little better there that was a chance.
2.50pm BST
128th over England 555-9 (Anderson 5, Root 184) Anderson looks to late cut low through the slips, gets it wrong, and is perhaps a touch fortunate to see the ball plop safely into the turf a couple of yards in front of the cordon. And from the last ball he survives an lbw shout as Pradeep smites him on the back leg in front of middle-and-leg. I think it must've pitched outside leg. The umpire thinks so, but Sri Lanka opt optimistically for a review. And it has indeed pitched an inch or two outside the line.
2.41pm BST
127th over England 554-9 (Anderson 5, Root 183) This is extraordinary. Jimmy Anderson has just reverse-swept Herath for four. What a shot. And a few singles mean, according to my colleague Dan Lucas, that this is now England's highest score against Sri Lanka.
2.37pm BST
126th over England 547-9 (Anderson 0, Root 181) Anderson, England's one-man tail, strides out. In fact, this England XI doesn't really have a tail. More a coccyx.
2.34pm BST
Plunkett goes! The pull shot has brought him plenty of runs today, but it's been his undoing here. He mistimed it as Pradeep dug another one in short and the ball spooned straight to midwicket.
2.31pm BST
125th over England 547-8 (Plunkett 39, Root 181) Sri Lanka are sitting back and waiting for the declaration, while England quietly accumulate.
2.29pm BST
124th over England 543-8 (Plunkett 38, Root 178) Shot! Pradeep overpitches to Plunkett and gets thwocked wide of mid on for four.
"Was/is there a back story to that incident? Kapil looks pretty fired up," notes Martin Crofts. There's a piece on the Cricket Country blog here that explains some of it.
2.24pm BST
123rd over England 536-8 (Plunkett 33, Root 177) Up on the England balcony Jimmy Anderson has his pads on, suggesting the declaration isn't exactly imminent. Root, who is perhaps being given the chance to make his 200, sweeps Herath neatly away for four.
2.19pm BST
122nd over England 528-8 (Plunkett 31, Root 171) Pradeep and his glorious Def Leppard hairdo return to the attack. The batsmen milk a few singles.
2.14pm BST
121st over England 523-8 (Plunkett 30, Root 167) A dinky little sweep gives Root a couple more off Herath.
The game is in a bit of a lull. So, apropos of not very much, here's Kapil Dev mankading Peter Kirsten:
2.11pm BST
120th over England 521-8 (Plunkett 30, Root 165) The increasingly erratic Eranga digs one in and gets carted away for four by the pulling Plunkett. He follows it up with a no ball that gets the same treatment. And the last ball of the over is similarly dispatched to the rope at cow corner. That was a tired, tired over.
2.05pm BST
119th over England 506-8 (Plunkett 17, Root 164) Herath looks to create a new problem by switching to over the wicket. Plunkett, though, is continuing to make batting look very comfortable. Three singles from the over.
2.00pm BST
118th over England 503-8 (Plunkett 15, Root 163) Eranga switches to round the wicket and looks to apply some of the leg theory that did for Prior this morning. England's No10 simply pulls economically for a single. Root tickles yet more leg-side dross away to fine leg for four, then brings up the England 500 with a push into the on side. The last 100 has come off just 97 balls.
1.55pm BST
117th over England 493-8 (Plunkett 11, Root 157) Herath. Two singles. Over.
1.53pm BST
116th over England 491-8 (Plunkett 10, Root 156) Eranga's radar has gone haywire since lunch. He's looking to tuck the batsmen up, to cramp them for space, but he's just not being accurate enough. A Root dink to leg for a couple is the only scoring shot of the over, though.
1.49pm BST
115th over England 489-8 (Plunkett 10, Root 154) Herath continues and looks to give the ball a bit of air on this occasion. Plunkett bottom-edges a thunk wide of midwicket for four more.
1.46pm BST
114th over England 484-8 (Plunkett 6, Root 153) Jayawardene, who has kept scrappily throughout, fumbles a leg-side Eranga delivery and allows the batsmen through for a couple of leg byes, and probably ought to do better a couple of balls later when another misdirected delivery pings off his fingertips and away to the rope. When Eranga finally gets his line right, Plunkett simply straight-drives for four more. Fine shot.
1.41pm BST
Out come the players after their triangular sandwiches and orange squash. England are in see-what-happens territory but anything north of 500 will be satisfying enough for them.
1.40pm BST
Or, as Dan points out, we could just scrap the minimum match requirement altogether, in which case Marvin Attapatu's average of 465 in Bulawayo presumably wins.
1.31pm BST
Afternoon all. Apologies for the radio silence Ricky Ponting has just been giving a fascinating batting masterclass on Sky. I know we always say it, but cricket really does lend itself to this sort of rigorous self-analysis. And I'll never tire of listening to players who know their game and the game in general inside out dissecting the way cricket is played.
Anyway. "Carrying on the mornings work and taking the classic variant of Batting Average less Bowling Average with a minimum of 3 matches at a single ground," begins James Crowder, "a certain Durham fast bowler comes in at 8 on the list! Stand up Mr S J Harmison with his record at The Oval reading a batting average of 131 and a bowling average of 25.64. A stunning variance of 105.36!"
1.07pm BST
England scored at 5.38 an over in a fantastic session for them. Root continued to plunder while Jordan and Broad had a bit of fun. You would imagine they'll aim to get to 500 and as far beyond that as possible in the next session barring something remarkable from Plunkett I don't see a declaration coming. John Ashdown will be the man to guide you through that session, but I'll just mention before I go that several of you have noticed Steve Harmison's average of 131 at The Oval!
See you this evening. The man to email now is john.ashdown@theguardian.com. Or rather, that's the man's email address.
1.02pm BST
113th over England 473-8 (Plunkett 2 Root 152) Herath to bowl what I suspect will be the final over before lunch. There are just a few clouds coming over Lord's now, although I dare say that it'll be a good place to bat for a fair while yet. Root turns one to short leg whence Silva throws to the keeper, who removes the bails, but I think Root had turned and dived back in time. We'll have a review and while a direct hit would have done for him, Root is not out comfortably. The session's penultimate ball is turned to deep mid-wicket for an easy two before the final ball is whipped through mid-on to take Root past 150. And that's lunch.
12.58pm BST
112th over England 468-8 (Plunkett 2 Root 147) Pradeep continues and Root milks him for two then one into the on-side, before Broad launches a short one straight to deep mid-wicket. Plunkett, who himself can smack them, is a very decent number 10 to have and he gets underway with a couple to Herath at square leg. He then flicks the simplest of chances to short mid-wicket, where it's dropped quite dreadfully by Eranga. It was a nice height, slightly to the fielder's left but at a gently pace. That's a very poor drop.
12.55pm BST
Broad hoiks it straight to the man in the deep having done a decent job, although England would have been hoping to be closer to 500 by the time he got out.
12.52pm BST
Sorry folks, could you all manually refresh the page just to correct the score and number of overs.
12.51pm BST
111th over England 463-7 (Broad 47 Root 144) Stumping appeal against Broad as Herath gets one to drift past his outside edge. Jaywardene takes the bails off and Bowden calls for the review. Broad has nonchalantly replaced the bails but this is mighty, mighty close. He's... not out! Crikey, there were perhaps millimetres of rubber from his boots behind the line.
Furthermore, on players at one ground...
@DanLucas86 Bradman? Pah! Look at Steve Waugh at the same ground: http://t.co/nWstZALXs1 (full list - qualification 3 matches or more).
12.47pm BST
110th over England 462-7 (Broad 47 Root 143) Broad steps back and looks to swing over mid-off, but doesn't quite connect fully and only gets two for his troubles. They're the only runs off of a disappointingly quiet over. BOO!
John Ashdown has other batsmen thriving at particular grounds: Lara averaged 78.57 at The Rec in Antigua, Mahela Jayawardene 77.08 at Colombo and Jacques Kallis 72.70 at Newlands.
12.43pm BST
109th over England 460-7 (Broad 45 Root 143) Herath returns in a bid to stem the tide. Broad takes a single from the 28th ball he's faced, ensuring that Ian Botham's record for the fastest ever Test 50 for England remains intact.
12.38pm BST
108th over England 456-7 (Broad 44 Root 140) Broad absolutely slams Pradeep's overpitched, wide delivery up the hill and through extra cover for four more, then repeats the trick with a slightly more uppish shot the very next ball. This is wonderfully entertaining stuff from England, who may have 500 on the mind now. The 50 partnership is up too, from 33 balls.
In response to Neil Withers, my colleague John Ashdown has the answer: Bradman averaged 192.6 at Headingley.
12.34pm BST
107th over England 444-7 (Broad 33 Root 139) Root comes down the track to Kulasekara and punches him through point for a single. Broad then gets nicely on top of a telegraphed bouncer and pulls it behind square for four more. This bowling is as dangerous as Limp Bizkit. The final ball of the over to Root keeps low and the batsman does very nicely to rock back a long way and run it down to the third man boundary. England have scored 40 off the last four overs and are past 100 for the session already inside just 18 overs.
"Jos Buttler (See over 101) would have tried to hook everything for six," writes Chris Bourne, "and consequently be on 186 or 12 when he got out. Nevertheless, there must be a slew of unpicked batsmen grinding their teeth right now: neutral bowling they could milk for boundaries before going back to the hotel to listen to their favourite indie band." I see what you've done there.
12.29pm BST
106th over England 434-7 (Broad 28 Root 134) It's a double bowling change as Pradeep returns to the attack. Root takes a quick single off the first ball brining Broad back on strike. There are three fielders out on the hook but it's a double bluff and Broad wafts at a fuller one outside off-stump. The following ball, Stuart Broad clearly unable to see as far as the boundary rope pulls a short one up in the air and fortuitously into the vacant region at mid-on. Broad doesn't seem to be enjoying the short stuff all that much, but hooks the final ball, a poor one miles down the leg side, around the corner for another four. This is starting to run away from Sri Lanka.
12.24pm BST
105th over England 425-7 (Broad 22 Root 132) This is good batting from Broad as he drives the returning Kulasekara through the covers on the up for another four runs. He follows this with a lovely punch straight back down the ground for another boundary. The Sri Lanakan opening bowler is sending them down at a sub-Paul Collingwood 70mph and Broad fancies some runs here. He drops short and another boundary, driven off the back foot through point. 12 from the over.
12.19pm BST
104th over England 413-7 (Broad 10 Root 132) Nasser Hussain asks if Michael Holding ever tried bowling bouncers from around the wicket, which is an utterly terrifying thought. In fact is there any scarier image in sport than Michael Holding in his pomp wanging a ball from outside your eyeline at your head? Broad inside edges for a rather lucky four. More convincing is an authoritive pull off the front foot over mid-wicket for four. It's one thing bowling bouncers to the shorter Matt Prior, far more difficult to trouble 9'8" Broad. Eranga switches to around the wicket, but the line he's bowling is going to open up scoring opportunities on the off-side for the left-hander. England's run-rate is touching four-an-over again.
12.12pm BST
103rd over England 404-7 (Broad 1 Root 132) Stuart Broad, a very handy batsman to have at number nine, strolls to the crease. It looks as though Jordan got caught in two minds as to what to do with that ball. I don't think any of us were expecting England to get bounced out by this Sri Lankan attack but it's what's happening. Herath continues and the batsmen exchange singles.
Neil Withers argues the case for Joe Root being the greatest player of all time "...at Lord's. He currently averages 107 with the bat...and 4.50 with the ball! Can any of the OBO readers with time on their hands (sorry, should take that for granted) find a player with a better all-round ground record??"
12.08pm BST
102nd over England 402-7 (Broad 0 Root 131) Short and wide from Eranga and Jordan misses out with a hard cut shot that takes the bottom edge into the ground. The Sussex man gets a bit lucky hooking a bouncer high into the air and Pradeep at backward square leg entirely misjudges it, allowing the ball to land safely behind him and bounce over the rope for four runs. Better next up from Jordan as he drives through extra cover off the back foot for another boundary and get the party poppers out England reach 400! But then the fun comes to an end. Bah!
12.07pm BST
Eranga's persistence with bouncers pays off as Jordan, like Prior, gets tucked up by a short one dug into the ribs and it catches the shoulder of his bat. Prasana Jayawardene completes the job.
11.59am BST
101st over England 392-6 (Jordan 9 Root 131) "Can I just say that Jos Buttler would have hooked it for six?" asks S Ward, provocatively, of the Prior wicket. Jordan shows his class by using his feet well to get to the pitch of the ball and whip Herath classically through the gap at mid-on for four. That was sweetly timed from Jordan.
11.58am BST
Oops, pushed the wrong button there.
11.56am BST
100th over England 386-6 (Jordan 4 Root 130) With Prior gone, Eranga comes back over the wicket to Root. His first ball keeps a little bit low and Root's bat wafts harmlessly over it. Root them calmly knocks a single into the on-side and brings Jordan back on strike. Eranga switches back round the wicket and immediately gets the debutant in the ribs as the batsman looked to pull hard. A yorker is then driven down the ground into the vacant space at long on and Jordan gets off the mark in Test cricket with an all-run four. Which I would guess might well be a first. Eranga comes back with a bouncer and Jordan absolutely murders a pull shot on the bounce to square leg you won't see a more aggressively played dot ball than that.
11.50am BST
99th over England 381-6 (Jordan 0 Root 129) That wicket had been coming. It may have been negative stuff but it's paid off. He could have done better with that ball though; he ducked away from it but kept his bat up in the air and only had one hand on it. Still, it brings Jordan to the crease and he's on strike for the second ball of Herath's over after Root pushes a single to cover. Jordan will, you assume, look to score quickly, but he can't afford to be reckless as England aren't assured of reaching 400 just yet.
11.47am BST
98th over England 380-6 (Jordan 0 Root 128) Short from over the wicket from Eranga at 82mph. Joe Root swivels and pulls neatly through square leg, where a lazy dive can't prevent the ball going for four. Eranga switches back to around the wicket for Prior though and you can see why, as the batsman misses completely with a big swish. Prior isn't in the least bit comfortable here and, with the final ball of the over, the plan pays off.
11.46am BST
Prior gets tied up by the short one dug into his ribs and fends it tamely up in the air. Silva takes the simplest of catches at square leg and Sri Lanka's bodyline theory pays off.
11.40am BST
97th over England 375-5 (Prior 86 Root 123) Time for a change in the bowling and it's Herath coming on. There may be a little bit more for him in the pitch than there was yesterday, but it'll be negligible spin still I'll wager. The Lord's slope and his drift will be the main weapons for him, as we saw with Moeen's wicket yesterday. He's bowling from the other end at the moment, mind. It's good to see Root using his feet to get down the track to him, although Prior is staying back in his crease and looking to play it late... as he does nicely with the final ball, slammed through cover point for four.
11.37am BST
96th over England 370-5 (Prior 82 Root 122) Two more to Root, driven to deep extra cover, then a single hooked to fine leg. Sri Lanka's attack looks utterly innocuous and this leg-side short stuff suggests that Angelo Mathews is deeply regretting his decision to bowl first and is now just hoping for England to make mistakes as they look to force the issue. It's understandable, if negative, cricket, and Prior doesn't look entirely comfortable as he takes one low in this ribs.
"Morning Dan," writes Phil McBryde. "Sad news about Don Bennett. We had a brilliant run of success under his coaching and he'll be forever part of the Middlesex fabric."
11.32am BST
Our very own Mike Selvey has just sent this missive. A lovely tribute to Don Bennett.
In an age where coaches were becoming level this and level that, Don Bennett was a simply brilliant spotter of talent for Middlesex and a great mentor to them. It is a simple quality but ought never to be underestimated. We were very lucky to have him.
11.31am BST
95th over England 365-5 (Prior 80 Root 119) Thanks to my off-duty colleague Daniel Harris, who knows how to take a screenshot (I don't), to allow us to point and laugh at these guys. Prandeep then finds his edge but the slip is too far back and collects on the bounce. That's a much better over from Sri Lanka.
People. pic.twitter.com/nmwlYGyAaG
11.26am BST
94th over England 360-5 (Prior 80 Root 114) Jayawardene's return reaps early benefits as Prior hooks a stray Eranga bouncer around the corner and the keeper's dive keeps him to a single. Still, that takes Matt Prior to 4,000 Test runs at 41, which ain't half bad for a wicketkeeper. It's also the 150 partnership. Sri Lanka are bowling bodyline here, sending in bumpers from around the wicket. I'm not sure what Harold Larwood would think, seeing them bowling at 80mph, mind. Root flicks another single to fine leg.
Steve Anthony has emailed to ask why the Sri Lankan's are wearing black armbands. I had assumed it was a tribute to Don Bennett, a show of support for Middlesex, but Steve has found the answer for himself before I could check: "The Sri Lankans are wearing black armbands because of the death of Champaka Ramanayake's wife - Ramanayake was the team's bowling coach and still does a lot of work with the attack."
11.20am BST
93rd over England 358-5 (Prior 79 Root 113) The good news for Sri Lanka is that Jayawardene has returned from having a scan on his hand at hospital and has resumed his position behind the stumps. Root and Prior exchange singles into the leg side, before Pradeep switches to around the wicket. The Middlesex flag at Lord's is flying at half mast today in memory of Don Bennett, the former player and coach who died last night.
Ranil Dissanayake offers us a Sri Lankan perspective: "Morning Dan, Yesterday taught Sri Lanka fans what it's like to be English didn't it? A moment of hope in the first session and then a slow, painful crushing of said vile emotion. I'm afraid Sri Lanka just aren't very good at bowling in test matches anymore. Erganga has some potential, as terrible as he's been so far, but that's about it. The worst thing is that none of the potential replacements are much different to the guys on the field."
11.15am BST
92nd over England 356-5 (Prior 78 Root 112) A misfield by Herath at mid-on, not his first of the match, gives Root four runs that his defensive nudge really didn't warrant. That rarest of things, an all-run four there. Oh and then four more to Root as he top-edges a woolly hook and Silva, the replacement keeper, can't get anywhere near it. I'm not convinced Prasana Jayawardene would have got there, but he'd surely have made a better fist of it than that. Sri Lanka are trying bumpers at Root here and given the lack of venom in their attack I'm not convinced that's the best idea. A single from the last ball makes nine from the over.
11.10am BST
91st over England 347-5 (Prior 78 Root 103) First run of the day goes to Joe Root, dropping Pradeep into the off-side and getting a quick single. One of the impressive things about England yesterday was how they kept the run-rate up by knocking the ball into the gaps regularly and running hard despite the heat. Speaking of which, Prior turns the ball to deep square leg and runs two from the final delivery. This partnership of 138 is now England's highest sixth-wicket partnership against Sri Lanka in Tests.
"You could suggest to Stuart Cherry that he try TuneIn Radio online. They have Radio 5Live/Radio 4 for TMS," writes Graham Smart.
11.04am BST
90th over England 344-5 (Prior 76 Root 102) Eranga, who was poor yesterday, opens the bowling to Matt Prior. The England keeper was excellent yesterday after being fortunate to survive a second-ball LBW shout, although Sri Lanka's bowling fed his strengths outside off-stump รก la Australia at Sydney in 2010. Prior tries to thrash the second ball through point, but it's well stopped there on the bounce. The pitch looks to be an absolute road to me, drier than an OBO entry. Still, it's a maiden.
I should note that Prasana Jayawardene has picked up a hand OUCH! in the warm-up and as such Silva has the gloves. Dinesh Chandimal is the sub fielder.
10.59am BST
With five minutes until play begins, time for a few quick emails.
"Hi Dan," writes Robin Hazelhurst. "I'm going to vote for scenario three in which nothing of note happens today, England get an ok-ish score and Sri Lanka make a solid response. But then tomorrow, SL rack up a massive lead and England collapse in the second innings, New Zealand rack up a 30-point winning margin in Dunedin, England do that not-very-good thing they do at kickball, and Chris Froome crashes and breaks his collarbone in the Dauphine, ruling himself out for Le Tour. Four serious losses in four sports all on one day - what an English summer of sport!"
10.52am BST
A crowd update comes from Gary Naylor.
@DanLucas86 About 20% full at Lord's 10 mins before the start. If people have somewhere better to be right now, it must be bloody good.
10.46am BST
And from Daniel Beckell, some Neutral Milk Hotel love. "Paraphrasing Neutral Milk Hotel, one of the best under-rated/unknown albums going good work, and unexpected. Scenario 2, by the way."
Daniel's not the only one.
Loving the un-subtle shoehorn of Neutral Milk Hotel into cricket talk @DanLucas86. When NMH fever takes over, the world hast to know!
10.45am BST
A reader request, courtesy of Stuart Cherry: "Hi Dan. Do any of your readers know where I can find a radio stream on the internet that I can listen to here in Belgium? TM Special is geo-blocked and TM Sofa appears to be dead.The BBC and ECB don't want to tell me where I can listen."
10.44am BST
"Since it is only day two of a Test summer," writes Matthew, the most optimistic man in Baltimore since Jimmy McNulty, "I must remain hopelessly optimistic and vote for Scenario One. Of course I'm an optimistic American so may not possess the necessary English disposition!"
10.36am BST
The good news for England is that they do bat deep and they bat aggressively. Jordan, Broad and Plunkett are all in that category of tailenders who don't so much bat as hit fours, and do so with aplomb. On Sky, Mikey "Michael" Holding thinks that England need to be aggressive. They've certainly got the lower-order batting lineup to do that.
10.34am BST
Musical interlude:
10.28am BST
If you're from Sky Sports cricket and reading this can you please unblock me on Twitter? This is rather bizarre.
10.24am BST
Scenario two
England remember that they're the England Test team and there are certain expectations. Root is mankaded in the first over of the day and they are bowled out for 380 inside the first 15 overs. Sri Lanka's openers each hit dashing 50s before Sangakkara and Jayawardene then settle in for the day. Sri Lanka close on 290-2.
10.22am BST
Scenario one
England pile on the hurt for Sri Lanka's wearied dibbly-dobblers. Prior races to 130 by just after lunch with Joe Root anchoring the innings and adding another 60 to his score. England declare at around 600 and the remaining grass on the wicket provides zip for their seamers as Broad, Plunkett and Jordan decimate Sri Lanka's top order to leave them 120-8 at the close.
10.04am BST
Preamble
Morning folks. Well wasn't yesterday lovely? Enough wickets fell to keep things interesting, yet England scored 344 runs and gave themselves enough of a platform that they are well positioned in this Test. Winter has come and gone and while the scars of THAT Ashes debacle run deep, day one of the summer felt like a soothing balm that helped ease the pain. Yes, for the first time in a hell of a long time, watching England play Test cricket was languid and enjoyable.
10.04am BST
Dan will be here shortly.
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