The pitch has not been the seam-friendly surface Alastair Cook might have anticipated but it stretched his captaincy as England’s bowlers strived to find a way through
Andrew McGlashan at Lord's14-Jun-2014There was a power cut at Lord’s on Saturday – apparently caused by too much weight on the Nursery Ground – as Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene were building their 17th century stand in Test cricket. It prompted Russell Arnold, the former Sri Lanka batsman turned TV commentator, to say on air: “It’s so like Colombo – sun shining, power cut in media centre and a 100 partnership by Mahela and Sanga.”The pitch was docile, too, if not quite in the league of the SSC in Colombo. England did not want the ball to scuttle through at ankle height, or not even reach the keeper. They did not want the pitch to sap the life out of deliveries hurled down by their four fast bowlers. Not that it should always be about what England want (although what is wrong with home advantage?) but there was certainly no early helping hand for the beginning of England’s era where pace bowling will need to dominate for them to find success.In the days leading up to this Test, Alastair Cook said he had never seen a pitch so green at Lord’s and England would have been encouraged by what they saw. However, it is not so much the colour of the grass that matters – although English quicks will never bemoan a nice emerald surface – but the pace and carry which means edges carry and techniques are tested, especially for Asian sides.The MCC, as the independent arbitrators of the game, do not see it as their role to offer any side a particular advantage but they want to produce pitches that are good for Test cricket. It remains debatable whether this is leaning too far one way.England’s end result of six wickets in the day was a commendable effort, reward for unstinting toil, and leaves open the possibility of a result if Sri Lanka’s tail folds quickly on Sunday. James Anderson was superb, especially in his first spell of 7-3-12-1 and then his working over of Lahiru Thirimanne, but it was the stamina of Liam Plunkett and Chris Jordan, particularly the former in a nine-over spell late in the day, which was praiseworthy.A look at Plunkett’s figures without seeing the context of the day could easily lead you to question the value of his effort: 30-2-113-1 is hardly flattering. However, he performed the role Cook asked of him.Either side of lunch he targeted Jayawardene’s gloves and ribs from around the wicket – there was barely a delivery in Jayawardene’s half of the pitch, although he said he was “quite happy” with England’s tactics instead of pitching the ball fuller – and on a surface with a touch more pace it would have been harder for Jayawardene to withstand the assault. In his final over the day he was still pushing the speedgun to 90mph.Liam Plunkett continued to charge in and battle a moribund surface late into day•Getty Images”We were saying to the bowlers just now what a good effort it was, they’ve run in and kept going,” Paul Farbrace, England’s assistant coach, said. “I think Liam’s performance at the end there, a nine-over spell, and in his last over clocking 90-93mph sums up the performance of the day. It is an unresponsive pitch but the key today is making sure that we don’t get into the frame of mind of talking about no pace, no bounce, just maintaining a good plan. We talked about using the short ball well and got our just rewards tonight.”
There was a late, much deserved, wicket for Plunkett as Prasanna Jayawardene flicked to leg slip. Luck was involved, yes, but Cook had the man in the right position
Last season England were happy, almost gleeful, at grubby, slow pitches that would offer turn for Graeme Swann and scuff up the ball for reverse swing. That was good for England, but not always good for the cricket on display. In theory, the switch of modus operandi to a pace-heavy attack, forced by Swann’s retirement, should encourage the production of pitches with more life: it could be mutually beneficial.”Bowlers always want more pace and bounce,” Farbrace said. “The key is it’s what we’ve got and we’ve got to get on and play. We’ve got to make sure we bowl according to the surface you have. You will have different surfaces around the world. You don’t always get what you want. There’s been no moaning, they’ve just got on with it.”To be fair to Mick Hunt, the groundsman, draws at Lord’s have been a rarer species of late (and, who knows, this might not be one yet) after a period of six consecutive stalemates from 2006 to 2008. The previous one was in 2011 when Sri Lanka previously visited. There are notable similarities to what has emerged here: England made a big total, 486 on that occasion, after being in some bother at 22 for 3 and 201 for 5 before the lower order rallied, then Sri Lanka replied with 479, which virtually killed off the contest although a delayed declaration by Andrew Strauss also played a part.If England do secure a handy lead the way they play their second innings will be another good test of Cook’s captaincy. The side as a whole, from the moment they went at four-an-over in the first session of the match, have played with positive intent in this match. It was instructive to watch Cook in the field today. Occasionally a deep point was in place – some habits die hard – but neither was he afraid to think more out-of-the-box.There was not a line of attack that England did not try and Cook tried plenty with his field, too. He certainly got funky at times, although whether being off the field when Sangakkara edged Moeen Ali can qualify is probably stretching things.When Plunkett came around the wicket after lunch there was one man in front of square on the off side and that was the captain himself at silly point. Elsewhere there was a slip, a leg slip a short leg, and two men out on the hook. When Sangakkara was on strike, there were three men in a line from short leg to deep square-leg.In the last over before tea there were six men on the leg side, no conventional slips and Cook wandered backwards towards a deep fly slip. Then there was Plunkett’s late, much deserved, wicket as Prasanna Jayawardene flicked to leg slip. Luck was involved, yes, but Cook had the man in the right position. Whether it was funky captaincy or not, he will need some more of it to conjure a victory.
