21st June 2014
England v Sri Lanka
(Second Day of Second Test)
It had only been ten months since I last saw England play,
but in that period almost half the side had gone. I do appreciate there had been the disastrous
Ashes Series in Australia
(and all the associated blood-letting) since, but even so this did appear to represent
a significant changing of the guard.
Nothing wrong with that I reflected - all very good to allow
a few young English-born players the opportunity to play for their country and
progress. Except I noted that three of
the new faces Sam Robson, Gary Ballance and Chris Jordan first saw the light of
day in Australia, Zimbabwe and Barbados respectively. Up and coming home-grown players must occasionally
wonder why they bother.
This transitional England
side had nevertheless made a reasonable start to the Brave New World, with perhaps
only a slightly conservative declaration preventing them winning the First Test of this two match series with Sri
Lanka.
And in the opening day of this (the second test of the
series) England
had dismissed the tourists for 257, and had successfully batted themselves
for a spell in the evening. This it was, this second day saw England resume on 36/0.
The home side began to nibble into this lead,
but goodness me it wasn’t half hard going to begin with, with a mere 29 runs being
added during the first hour.
However the
run-rate inexorably picked up and England even survived the early
loss of Captain Alastair Cook as the aforementioned Robson and Cook resolutely
stuck to their task. Robson eventually
attained his maiden test century just after the tea break, with England eventually
closing the day on 320/6; a modest lead of 63.
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Headingley, Leeds - Yorkshire CCC |
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Headingley, Leeds - Yorkshire CCC |
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What do you mean, you do not have a favourite radiator !! |
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This, I assume, is the press box. |
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The Carnegie Pavillion, Headingley. |
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The Old Pavillion |
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Headingley, Leeds - Yorkshire CCC |
This was the first time I had been to Headingly and was
intrigued to see what sort of monkey business the (once notorious) West Stand fancy-dress
brigade would get up to. But everything appeared
to be all rather good-humoured across there.
They entertained themselves by wolf-whistling the busty girls charged
with the task of collection the empty plastic glasses, constructing the
traditional snakes from those glasses they succeeded in hiding from the girls, initiated
the dreaded Mexican Wave, and occasionally watched some cricket.
In what was a diverting rather than engrossing day’s sport,
I noted other individuals took different approaches to dealing with the occasions
where interest waned during Robson’s grinding Boycott-esque efficiency. Some filled in Sudoku grids whilst others simply
nodded off.
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When interest waned some had a nap............ |
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............and others turned to more cerebral pleasures. |
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No shortage of umpires at Headingley. |
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It's a BIG one !! |
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I assume you need a snake-builder at either end? |
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Gary Ballance - England v Sri Lanka June 2014 |
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Gary Ballance - England v Sri Lanka June 2014 |
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Rangana Herath bowls to Sam Robson. |
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I am fairly sure this was Gary Ballance as well. |
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This rather unorthodox-looking shot brought up Sam Robson's century. |
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Sam Robson accepts the applause after his 100. |
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England v Sri Lanka - Second Test June 2014 |
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Behind one of the stands can be found The Headingley Carnegie Stadium - home of Leeds Rhinos rugby union club. |
Headingley, Leeds - Yorkshire CCC
Update: England posted a first innings total of 365, which was trumped by Sri Lanka's second innings 457 all out (which included 160 by Angelo Mathews). Chasing a total of 350 run to win, England fell short by exactly 100 runs.
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