Cook falls short of century as England stutter

LONDON: Alastair Cook fell short of a 29th Test century as Sri Lanka hit back just before tea to leave England on 165 for five on the first day of the final Test at Lord’s on Thursday.

Captain Cook and Jonny Bairstow seemed to be steering the hosts away from trouble after Sri Lanka had reduced them to 84-4 shortly after lunch, but Cook was undone by a beauty from seamer Nuwan Pradeep after reaching a serene 85.

Angling one in, Pradeep trapped Cook plumb lbw to swing the day back towards the visitors who are trying to avoid a 3-0 series whitewash after heavy losses in the first two Tests.

Cook, who struck nine boundaries, had put on 50 with Bairstow who looked in good nick on 44 not out.

It was Pradeep’s second wicket of the day after he had bowled James Vince in the fourth over after lunch for 10.

England won the toss on a beautiful sunny morning and elected to bat on a pitch that looked ripe for scoring.

Cook, presented with a silver bat before the match after becoming the first English batsman to reach 10,000 Test runs, made batting look easy as England eased through the opening hour with barely a nervous moment.

Sri Lanka looked headed for a hard day when Cook and Alex Hales eased to the 50 mark in the 12th over.

By lunch the hosts were 74 for three though, after Sri Lanka’s endeavour was rewarded with the wickets of Hales, Nick Compton and Joe Root.

Sri Lanka’s slow left-armer Rangana Herath and medium pacer Angelo Mathews strangled the scoring rate to a trickle and Hales lost patience after failing to score for 22 deliveries, swinging wildly across the line and edging Herath to a grateful Mathews in the 19th over with the score on 56.

Compton walked in under pressure to score runs after a torrid series so far but lasted only 11 balls before edging a full delivery from Suranga Lakmal to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal having scored one.

Compton has managed only 32 runs in four innings despite England’s dominating the first two Tests and his future in the team is now in serious doubt.

The morning got even better for Sri Lanka when Lakmal trapped Joe Root lbw for three — the decision going to the third umpire after Root was originally given not out.

After Vince was out Cook steadied the ship in his own unflustered way although Bairstow was lucky when he was dropped by Shaminda Eranga at mid-wicket when he had made 11.

England had named an unchanged side from their nine-wicket win at Durham while Sri Lanka made one change — Kusal Perera returning after six months out fighting doping allegations.

Score Board

England won toss

England 1st Innings

*A N Cook lbw b Pradeep     85

A D Hales c Mathews b Herath        18

N R D Compton c Chandimal b Lakmal       1

J E Root lbw b Lakmal         3

J M Vince b Pradeep  10

†J M Bairstow not out          44

M M Ali not out         1

Extras (lb3)    3

Total (5 wkts, 58 overs)      165

To bat: C R Woakes, S C J Broad, S T Finn, J M Anderson

Fall: 1-56, 2-67, 3-71, 4-84, 5-164

Bowling: Eranga 14-2-38-0; Lakmal 11-1-38-2; Pradeep 14-4-48-2; Mathews 7-5-6-0; Herath 12-2-32-1

Sri Lanka team

F D M Karunaratne, J K Silva, B K G Mendis, †L D Chandimal, *A D Mathews, H D R L Thirimanne, M D K J Perera, H M R K B Herath, R A S Lakmal, R M S Eranga, N Pradeep

Umpires: S Ravi (India) and R J Tucker (Australia). TV umpire: Aleem Dar (Pakistan). Match referee: A J Pycroft (Zimbabwe)