First Test: Sri Lanka v England in Galle, 6/11/18.

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2015, Pallekele....

Khan ...150* , Misbah 59*.... chased just under 400 for 3 down.

Was referring to same test. Didn't recollect individual player correctly. Should have said Younis special backed with a ton by Shaan and 50 by Misbah.

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Out of Keaton's 146 runs, 128 have come against spinners. Should not be surprising though because spinners will bowl majority of overs here.

What is interesting though is that 59% of runs on off-side and 41 % on leg. Due to lot of reverse sweep runs (iirc he played at least 11 reverse sweeps after he reached 50), the wagon wheel is off side dominated. The leg side runs as a result are going into off side, hence the lesser percentage of leg side runs.

I think he even bettered Andy Flower in the count of reverse sweeps played against us in 90's. Did he get coaching by Andy when he may have been England or domestic team coach.

[andy]

he's referenced to the lions tour to Dubai with Flower and Thorpe both excellent players of spin who helped him against spin, good knock, fair play to him

[sussexpob]

he's referenced to the lions tour to Dubai with Flower and Thorpe both excellent players of spin who helped him against spin, good knock, fair play to him

Maybe that lbw he got away with will be like langers v India in the late 90s. Not given, scored 200, selectors didn't drop him (which was a certainty had it been given)....rest is history

[Durhamfootman]

Jennings may have technical flaws (who doesn't?), but I've never doubted his temperament. This will do him a lot of good

[GGAS]

Great knock by Jennings - who saw that coming?

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he's referenced to the lions tour to Dubai with Flower and Thorpe both excellent players of spin who helped him against spin, good knock, fair play to him

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Jimmy to start the day. 3 slips for him.

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Good over by Jimmy. Maiden.

Sam takes over from other end.

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Good over by Sam too. He has bowled a much fuller length than Jimmy did.

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So far Lankans batsmen have shown correct approach. No recklesness, cant' afford any actually.

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3 slips in 14th over. Standing up considering lesser bounce.

[alfie]

Unusual to come on here and find people questioning whether England declared too early

Fair point re the basically sound pitch ...but the odd ball has done enough to keep all the spinners interested and you'd think 460 is an ample cushion. True the seven overs last night didn't get any joy , but it might well have done against tired openers : worth a try , I think. I imagine Joe Root has an eye to the possible weather issues...

The psychological gain from making 400 might have been nice but I reckon reaching the scores they did with practically no contribution from Root or Moeen will have given them plenty of heart anyway. Who could have predicted England being in this position after three days in Galle - especially with a couple of debutants and the failures of key batsmen ?

Job not done yet , of course. Sri Lanka will surely bat better this time around and the English bowlers will need to stay patient...another test for Root's captaincy as he's tended to lose the plot a bit in these second innings situations when things don't go to plan. He certainly can't complain about lack of variety in his attack - only lacks a 95mph paceman.

Quiet first half hour . Anderson has found a couple of edges but they've gone quickly to ground : think the spinners will need to do most of the work today - though I wouldn't rule out the quicks collecting a couple of lbws later in the innings. Sri Lanka will be happy not to have lost any early wickets this time around.

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Finally Jack into attack in 17th over of this innings. Settles easily to proper line.

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SL openers have done really well. Yes, this is nowhere near Asian 4 day wicket but still 466 is huge pressure for second innings. Not even one half chance given by Lankans. Well batted.