Second test: Sri Lanka v England in Kandy, 14-18 November

[Arthur Crabtree]

Jos seems to have mistaken the first test for the only one, and now thinks the T20s have started......you could complain about that, but hes might be the only bat to get a 50.

Nice to see Stokes try to hit the cover of the ball, coming in at 1-1....

Like Botham who after Headingley 81 decided every situation could be remedied by some heavy bat heroics but rarely was.

JB2 top scoring though so it's working today. Probably worth inking him in at five now (which is a better idea than batting him down at seven as a specialist) which leaves JB1 and Foakes competing for one place.

[Durhamfootman]

lets hope that the par score is a little over 200

[Arthur Crabtree]

England only start batting at five down- like SA in the nineties.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Curran has batted for 90m. Needs to get on with it now Jimmy the Saint is in the middle.

[sussexpob]

Curran has batted for 90m. Needs to get on with it now Jimmy the Saint is in the middle.

Just took a single first ball of an over

Jimmy could have been out first two balls, not sensible at all

[sussexpob]

Curran's had enough....two maximums get dished into the crowd. He's way too good to be batting at 8.

250 will be competitive on this pitch, especially not.batting last

[Arthur Crabtree]

He's way too good to be batting at 8.

Another number six?

Batting down at eight for England and not playing in the CC potentially cuts off any development as a top order bat. It'd be good if he could play in the top order for Surrey.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Handy last wicket partnership. 22 now.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe swap him and Mo.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Four sixes for Curran and even Anderson has found the ropes. 39 for the last wicket. Bit of a killer for SL.

[Dr Cricket]

Akila Dhanajaya must be easily the worst spinner ever for a subcontinental side.
Can anyone think of a contender beside him lol.
10-49-2 is shocking stuff at this deck.
he bowls too much dross and doesn't even really look that threatening either lol.
blessing for sri lanka that he won't be picked for the 3rd test.

[Dr Cricket]

akila 2-75 such an awful spinner.

[sussexpob]

I'd be surprised if Sri Lanka make that. The deck here produces very low average scores, the late order once again make England favourites

[Dr Cricket]

Sussex you seen a worse spinner than Akila from an asian team yet.
he pretty much allowed england to score 350 in the last test as well.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Akila's got the best SR of any Asian spin bowler ever to take 19 or more wickets.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=bowling

The best for any team is the legendary Bernard Bosanquet. Followed by the unremembered underarm bowler George Simpson-Hayward, who according to WIsden was a handy full back too. Then Akila.