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

[backfootpunch]

Amazing from Vince to even get a hand on that

They are standing very close

[Aidan11]

SL will be looking to get three figures.

The ultimate embarrassment when a full team combined can't score more than Moeen Ali.

[The Professor]

Feel this is a bit like bullying now

[Arthur Crabtree]

As clueless as England in SL in the nineties?

If England do bat, it's going to be a slow day at the Riverside tomorrow. Declaration batting is dull at the best of times, and this would be one ofthe most extreme examples ever.

[hopeforthebest]

They must bat again to give Cook another chance to get to 10,000 runs. Having done that they must bat on to try to disguise that that was the reason to bat again.

[Gingerfinch]

With the sun shining, I was expecting them to bat a bit better than Headingley. I expect England to bat again. Compton will be hoping so.

[mikesiva]

Well done to Moeen.

Second ton scored from number seven in the series.

Moeen's 155 not out might end up being more than the entire SL first innings....

[Arthur Crabtree]

Terrible drop off him early doors though. But not as bad as the spill off Woakes.

[The Professor]

Many people saying that this is testament to Woakes' inclusion - I still think he is not of Test standard. It's just that Sri Lanka are so poor that he looks good.

[Arthur Crabtree]

He's more likely to get further chances having taken wickets.

But it's only one spell, even given it's against a troubled batting side.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Hard to believe that Cook's lack of runs in this series are to to with the looming milestone. Cook's all about mental strength, ambition and determination. It's unlikely that being a few nurdles off the hips from 10000 runs is likely to be an impediment.

It is though, another slump in form. Only Broad, out of the batters to have played all six Tests since the tour to UAE, has fewer runs (Compo has 40 more, and he's seen as a dead man walking). And Cook has one ton at home in the last three years (since start of 2013 Ashes).

[Arthur Crabtree]

Of all the batters to have scored a thousand runs in England as an opener, only Athers, Gavaskar and Strauss have worse averages than Cook.

Surprised Gavaskar is down there.

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

As I suggested in an earlier post, stats don't suggest it is harder to bat in England at the top of the order than anywhere else.

Yet stats say Cook is the best opener of all time in Asia, the best average ever of anyone to have scored 1000 runs, and with eight tons in 42 innings. Maybe it's not that surprising that he's making hard work of getting runs on the board in England. But expect him to score heavily in India this winter.

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

[bigfluffylemon]

Can't believe they'd even think about batting again with a lead of 400. Unless Sri Lanka's tail has some unexpected resistance (Thirimanne is still in and a specialist batsman, so anything's possible, even if the two tailenders are pretty hopeless), England will only have bowled about 50 overs in the first innings, and they only bowled about 40 last week. They really shouldn't need a rest. Besides, they'll have had a night's rest - it's not as though they've been toiling away for a whole day in the hot sun. Besides, I thought there was a risk of showers on Monday.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Moeen said they would enforce the follow on, in interview on C5.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Other odd Cook stats. His average is only 40 for the first innings of the match, and 35 for the last innings. But over 50 for the second and third.