Second Test. England v Sri Lanka at Riverside. 27/5/16.

[KipperJohn]

Just about to congratulate Cook and the w-fi drops - more drops than England lately!

Well done Cook - tremendous achievement.

Anyone remember Silk - he'll be chuffed no doubt and rightly so.

Cook is one of those batsmen that realises that it's what's in the scorebook that counts.

[Aidan11]

I think the crowd were cheering the sun coming out.

[alfie]

Wonder if Compton would prefer to bat again? Probably not as there aren't enough runs left to get a major score but enough time to get out.
Think he's safe for at least one more test regardless.

Unless this big hundred from Borrthwick today has convinced the selectors to change for Lords.

Yes. There is an argument for bringing in a newbie against SL rather than wait for the much tougher games against Pakistan.

Yes. Might not hurt that he picked up five wickets - albeit apparently when Notts were going the slog : he doesn't really bowl enough ; but England just might fancy having a wristy option to add to their attack...Certainly if you believe in picking a player when he's in a run of form then Borthwick is ticking all the boxes.

[Aidan11]

Terrible from Hales.

[Aidan11]

Nick Compton in now.


"Hey Nick. Nick. Have you seen how Borthwick is doing?"

[Durhamfootman]

congrats to Cook on his landmark achievement

doubtless he'll be glad to get there, as he can now concentrate on just playing cricket for the rest of the summer, without all the knackers that approaching a major landmark brings

[hopeforthebest]

Interesting that the two players under pressure for the next test at Lords are both Middlesex players. That fact might be in their favour when the selectors meet.

[captaincolly]

Interesting that the two players under pressure for the next test at Lords are both Middlesex players. That fact might be in their favour when the selectors meet.

They have both survived. Unchanged squad for the final test.

[Aidan11]

Anderson gets MoM. Thought it might have gone to Moeen Ali.

[Gingerfinch]

Well done to England, and Cook. 10,000 test runs is a mammoth effort. Sri-Lanka at least gave some fight in the 2nd innings, so credit to them.

[hopeforthebest]

The BBC cricket site tells us this game is at close of play with England leading by 2 runs. I guess their computer doesn't recognise a victory unless someone tells it.

[Dr Cricket]

Likely one of the last. Now can he get the rest he needs to retire as the highest run scorer in test cricket.

doubt he would do it since would take another 50-70 test for him.

Scoring another 6K runs is massive amount for him still, especially at a time when bowlers and teams have worked him out and scoring runs for him is far harder than it was say 4-5 years ago.

[Durhamfootman]

The BBC cricket site tells us this game is at close of play with England leading by 2 runs. I guess their computer doesn't recognise a victory unless someone tells it.

there were no championship scores at all on Saturday. Presumably no-one realised that 4 matches were starting a day early...... or the BBC isn't allowed to pay someone a day's overtime to work on a Saturday

[Making_Splinters]

Likely one of the last. Now can he get the rest he needs to retire as the highest run scorer in test cricket.

doubt he would do it since would take another 50-70 test for him.

Scoring another 6K runs is massive amount for him still, especially at a time when bowlers and teams have worked him out and scoring runs for him is far harder than it was say 4-5 years ago.

Given his general fitness and the fact he only plays one form of international cricket, there's little reason he couldn't play another 6 years unless his form goes south again. He'll definitely get past Ponting, and there's a decent enough chance he could be very close to Tendulkar by the time he retires.

[Dr Cricket]

Reckon if he gets close to Tendulkar would depend on how the next ashes goes.
No way is he surviving a poor Ashes and another Ashes defeat.

Especially with him facing India in the Winter where it would be impossible to score runs off, SA next summer where he generally struggled against and then the Ashes.
if he has another poor barren period not sure he would survive it.