Speaking with the tourists one for no loss following on after being bowled out for 91, Anderson put his figures of five for 16 down to a change of plan from previous summers, with new-ball partner Stuart Broad himself picking up four for 21.
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England resumed their first innings on 171-5 but, when Alex Hales departed for 86 off the bowling of Rangana Herath, the wickets fell in quick succession for the hosts.
“We’ve hated the place for nine years so we just thought we’d give it a go”.
But the opener’s dismissal sparked a collapse that saw England lose three wickets for nine runs as they slumped from 224 for five to 233 for eight. With England three down at lunch, Sri Lanka had pressed home their advantage with the removal of Vince and Stokes.
Both sides are in a state of transition particularly in terms of batsmen with England only have two experienced, settled Test batsmen amongst the the top six with Bairstow, Hales and Compton having less than 40 caps between them and Hampshire’s James Vince making his debut.
Bairstow should have been dismissed on 70, offering a straightforward caught-and-bowled to Nuwan Pradeep, but he survived to reach his second Test ton on an overthrow and was 103no at lunch. Anderson picked up five while Broad had four wickets to his name.
“The rationale is that the game of cricket is evolving unbelievably quickly, and I think we feel responsibility to ensure the worldwide game develops”.
“If you look at the last two series we played – against South Africa we would have lost the Super Series in the final Twenty20, and against Pakistan in the UAE we would have won the Super Series in the super over in the final Twenty20”. When it’s swinging like that, I find it my ideal conditions.
Yet it was Hales, whose place came under pressure following a disappointing debut series last winter in South Africa, where he averaged 17, who gained most from a rain-curtailed first day in Leeds.
“What I worry about is people just sitting there saying “It’s going to be all right” and not doing anything about it”.
He went on to score his second Test hundred and first in England. “I guess so”, he said.
Asked if he can see any way of escaping with a draw, he said: “We’ll just have to bat really well”.
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“On a pitch that’s helping the bowlers, conditions helpful for the bowlers, cloudy all week – not nice for batting – so those two guys deserve a lot of credit for getting us into the position we got into and then all four seamers did a fantastic job”.
