Sri Lanka v England: first Test, day three – live!

Over-by-over report on the opening Test in GalleEngland in charge as Foakes continues to impressEmail Simon with any thoughts or predictions

9.32am GMT

The players are back out. Can Jennings tiptoe his way all the way to 100? We’re about to find out!

9.27am GMT

“Am as appalled as you are by Sky’s ice cream nonsense,” nods Kim Thonger. “But porridge is not the answer. The fried egg and peanut butter sandwich is. Ideally use Burford brown eggs. These rare birds originally from Patagonia were crossbred to create generations of pedigree hens that to this day lay beautiful, colourful, hard-shelled eggs with deep yellow yolks. Keep yolks runny. Lots of black pepper. A little salt. Skippy peanut butter if poss. The breakfast of double centurions.” I have never tried, or even glimpsed, a fried egg and peanut butter sandwich and the very idea does seem purgatorial, which I suppose is exactly what we’re looking for.

9.12am GMT

And that is tea. 101 runs and a single wicket in that session, another fine one for the tourists. I’ll be back in a little bit.

9.11am GMT

73rd over: England 212-4 (Jennings 98, Buttler 14) Buttler hits Denanjaya’s first delivery for a single, giving Jennings five balls to get the two runs he needs to shuffle into triple figures. After four ambition-free dots he goes for a reverse-sweep off the last and pings it ... straight to a fielder!

9.07am GMT

72nd over: England 211-4 (Jennings 98, Buttler 13) Tea hoves into view, with Jennings still on the precipice of a century, as he has been for about 45 minutes.

9.02am GMT

71st over: England 209-4 (Jennings 97, Buttler 12) Ooof! De Silva bowls to Jennings and the ball unexpectedly goes straight on, towards middle stump. The batsman thrusts his bat towards it and just about gets there in time. A pretty free-scoring over by recent standards, three singles off it.

8.58am GMT

70th over: England 206-4 (Jennings 95, Buttler 11) So Buttler came out of his shell, and was promptly pushed right back into it again. Then he faces only a single delivery of Herath’s over, and he’s beaten again! It was a poor shot, as he waved his bat limply at a ball that missed it by a smidge.

8.56am GMT

69th over: England 205-4 (Jennings 94, Buttler 11) Crack! Buttler charges down the wicket and thwacks the ball down the ground for six! Whoops! Buttler tries to repeat the dose off the next ball, gets a gentle nick into his front pad, off which it deflects just to the right of Dickwella, who neither takes the catch nor completes the stumping! A very sharp chance, given the ball’s sudden change of direction off Buttler’s pad, but a chance nonetheless.

8.53am GMT

68th over: England 198-4 (Jennings 93, Buttler 5) I barely noticed over No68, I must admit. It wooshed past, with the addition of one run.

8.48am GMT

67th over: England 197-4 (Jennings 92, Buttler 5) Jennings continues his calm stroll towards a century. He tickles the final ball of Perera’s over fine for three, the ball crawling past a vacant slip cordon and rolling gently down the ground for a bit, before stopping to wait for someone to come and pick it up.

8.45am GMT

66th over: England 192-4 (Jennings 88, Buttler 4) On Sky they are debating whether now would be a good time for an ice cream. Totally inappropriate breakfast-time broadcasting and very poor dietary advice. Sure, they’re in a different time zone and enjoying significantly warmer weather than anyone in Britain, but the British are their key target audience and do not require ice-cream-based discussion before the clock has struck nine. By way of revenge, I suggest immediately serving them a nice, warm bowl of porridge.

8.41am GMT

65th over: England 191-4 (Jennings 87, Buttler 4) A maiden over from Perrera, which Buttler can’t quite make anything of.

8.38am GMT

64th over: England 191-4 (Jennings 87, Buttler 4) The paragraph I quoted a couple of overs back was absolutely and totally wrong. Here’s the actual, pertinent bit of the rulebook, with 22.1.3 in bold:

22.1 Judging a Wide

22.1.1 If the bowler bowls a ball, not being a No ball, the umpire shall adjudge it a Wide if, according to the definition in clause 22.1.2

22.1.4 For bowlers whom umpires consider to be bowling down the leg side as a negative tactic, the strict limited over Wide interpretation shall be applied.

8.34am GMT

63rd over: England 190-4 (Jennings 87, Buttler 3) Shot! Perera bowls, and Jennings hits a reverse sweep with perfect timing, the ball pinging enthusiastically to the boundary.

8.33am GMT

62nd over: England 186-4 (Jennings 83, Buttler 3) There’s a bit of umpire-captain chatter before Herath’s over gets under way, the speculation being that the officials are unhappy with the leg-side bowling. Sky say they have been quoted law 22.1.3, which reads as follows:

[Random bit of totally wrong law removed from here. See over 64 for details]

8.27am GMT

61st over: England 182-4 (Jennings 81, Buttler 1) The wicket-taking delivery was a beauty, and Stokes got absolutely nowhere near it. “Am finding it very disturbing waking up these days,” writes Kimberley Thonger. “Normally when England are on tour I emerge from slumber to the news that our top order have collapsed to 38 for 6. How am I to deal with this new reality? Coffee doesn’t seem appropriate. Should it be champagne and oysters for breakfast? Or am I actually still asleep and in the middle of a dream?” England did lose three wickets for 14 runs, something of a micro-collapse. Does that count, or does the calm run-accumulation that has followed - Stokes’s departure notwithstanding - expunge it officially from the memory banks?

8.24am GMT

Perera has sent a few balls of late just down the leg side, and this one starts off in the same direction before turning off the pitch, past the bat and into off stump!

8.20am GMT

60th over: England 179-3 (Jennings 80, Stokes 61) Hello world! So it appears that my arrival has been timed perfectly to coincide with a noticeable acceleration from England and in particular Ben Stokes, after an extremely pedestrian start to the session. He comes down the track to Dananjaya and hoists the ball down the ground for a third six, and then tries to reverse sweep the next only to miss it entirely.

8.10am GMT

59th over: England 171-3 (Jennings 78, Stokes 54) Stokes skipped a few gears during that fifty. His first 25 runs came from 66 deliveries, the second 25 from 16. Right, that’s it from me. Simon Burnton will update you for the rest of the day - you can email him here. Thanks for your company, bye!

8.06am GMT

58th over: England 168-3 (Jennings 77, Stokes 53) Stokes hits his second six, slog-sweeping Dhananjaya high over midwicket to take England’s last past 300. A cut through extra cover for four takes him to an increasingly authoritative fifty from 82 balls. Well played.

8.02am GMT

57th over: England 154-3 (Jennings 77, Stokes 39) Now that’s what I call Ben Stokes. He jumps down the track to drive Perera for a beautiful straight six, the first of the innings. After a tricky little spell against Dananjaya, he is in control now.

“Evening Rob,” says Phil Withall. “I’ve often wondered how OBO guardians cope with early starts and slow play. I get up at four each morning and, if work is slow, really start to struggle as the day progresses. Any tips?”

7.55am GMT

56th over: England 145-3 (Jennings 76, Stokes 31) Jennings reverse sweeps Dhananjaya into the ground, from where it bounces over gully’s head for four. That’s only his second boundary of the day, I think, but he looks in total control here and should, all things being equal, make a hundred. He’s 26 away.

7.51am GMT

55th over: England 138-3 (Jennings 70, Stokes 30) A maiden from Perera to Jennings, who starts to feel for a spitting delivery before aborting the stroke. The pitch is just staring to deteriorate as we expected.

7.48am GMT

54th over: England 138-3 (Jennings 70, Stokes 30) A couple of no-risk singles take Jennings into the seventies. Though it hasn’t exactly been epiphany-inducing to watch, he has played extremely well.

7.44am GMT

53rd over: England 135-3 (Jennings 68, Stokes 29) Stokes reaches outside off stump to slam a sweep to the midwicket boundary off Perera. That, in the face of admittedly minimal competition, is the best shot of the day so far.

7.41am GMT

52nd over: England 128-3 (Jennings 68, Stokes 23) Jennings is inching, via the medium of singles, towards a second Test century. Another one takes him to 68 and then Stokes defends the rest of the over. Of course he does.

7.37am GMT

51st over: England 127-3 (Jennings 67, Stokes 23) Perera replaces Dhananjaya and serves up a piece of filth that Stokes flays through extra cover for four.

7.33am GMT

50th over: England 122-3 (Jennings 66, Stokes 19) Stokes, sweeping vigorously, is beaten by a good delivery from Dhananjaya. This is Dhananjaya’s best spell of the match, with Stokes looking increasingly uncomfortable. It’s a maiden.

7.30am GMT

49th over: England 122-3 (Jennings 66, Stokes 19) There have been two boundaries all day. Is this a satirical response to their first-innings batting?

7.27am GMT

48th over: England 119-3 (Jennings 65, Stokes 17) It’s a good thing we haven’t been up since 3am or this passage of play would be in serious danger of putting us to sleep. Jennings is getting ’em in singles; Stokes is getting ’em in dot balls; Sri Lanka look resigned to a slow death.

7.23am GMT

47th over: England 117-3 (Jennings 64, Stokes 16)

7.22am GMT

46th over: England 116-3 (Jennings 63, Stokes 16)

7.18am GMT

45th over: England 112-3 (Jennings 61, Stokes 14) We still haven’t reached the halfway point of the match, which shows how much time England have to take care of business. You never know what the weather will do, mind you, so I’m sure they will kick on at some stage. For now progress is slow - they’ve scored 74 runs in 33 overs today.

7.15am GMT

44th over: England 112-3 (Jennings 61, Stokes 14) It’s Akila Dananjaya from the other end, and he beats Stokes with a cracking delivery which dips, curves and spits past the edge. That was a good over.

“Is this game demonstrating another case of TIC - Third Innings Conundrum?” wonders Brian Withington. “Context: your team is decently ahead at the halfway stage but then things start getting a little sticky on the second dig. Hypothesis: is this a reassuringly positive sign that the first innings lead is becoming more valuable with the passage of time and the wearing of the wicket. Or evidence of frailty at a key juncture of proceedings? In essence, cause for hope, or despair? Conclusion: ask Rob to reach out to Professor Ian.”

7.12am GMT

43rd over: England 111-3 (Jennings 60, Stokes 14) Peep peep! Dhananjaya de Silva begins the second third of the third day, bowling a maiden to Ben Stokes. The boys in the Sky studio think Stokes should play with a bit more of a strut. Since he came back into the Test team in New Zealand his strike rate is 40; before that it was 64.

6.34am GMT

Lunchtime chit-chat

“You get the feeling Root has not done justice to his talent ever since that almost double century in his first innings as captain,” says Abhijato Sensarma. “Whether it might be because of his captaincy duties or not is another topic of discussion. While the form has seemingly come back in the ODIs, and he is one of the classiest people on the planet whenever he bats, his numbers have fallen behind the likes of Kohli and Smith. Williamson had a legendary run in the IPL, but the lack of international cricket has hampered his flow.

6.33am GMT

42nd over: England 111-3 (Jennings 60, Stokes 14) That’s lunch. In isolation it was a good session for Sri Lanka, who took three wickets for 73 runs, but England are still in total control of the game. They lead by 250. Keaton Jennings played the spinners expertly and needs 40 runs to make his second Test century. That would, if not exactly silence his doubters, then at least give them a couple of seconds’ pause for thought before they resume their ignorant, narcisstic, misanthropic spoutings. See you in half an hour for the afternoon session.

6.26am GMT

41st over: England 110-3 (Jennings 60, Stokes 13) Jennings survives a really big shout for LBW, this time from Dhananjaya de Silva. That was really close. He squeezed it but it was definitely pad first, and I’m surprised Sri Lanka didn’t review that. Indeed replays show that, had they done so, Jennings would have been given out by the third umpire.

6.23am GMT

40th over: England 106-3 (Jennings 58, Stokes 11) Jennings has reverse swept confidently all morning, and does so again to get a single off Herath. He’s proving again that he’s one of England’s best players of spin. Stokes, probably their most improved player of spin, cuts a couple to move into double figures. England have restored calm after that dodgy little spell either side of drinks. They lead by 245.

6.20am GMT

39th over: England 103-3 (Jennings 57, Stokes 9) “Moeen needn’t worry about the unknown knowns, it’s the unknown unknowns that turn round and bite you on the bum when you least expect it, as they just have,” says Andrew Benton. “He’s a totally excellent bowler, and all he’s doing at three is proving he shouldn’t be there.”

I think we can all agree that he’s in no position to go into the unknown not knowing. (NB: Clip contains lively language.)

6.17am GMT

38th over: England 101-3 (Jennings 56, Stokes 8) A single from Jennings brings up England’s hundred. They’re still in a great position despite a slightly disappointing morning.

“As we all know,” assumes Ian Copestake, “a key feature of modern poetry is the line-break which also allowed the use of a fancy French word (enjambment) to describe how make poetry can further confuse Mac users but delight others:

Oh, Mo.

England are two

6.15am GMT

37th over: England 97-3 (Jennings 53, Stokes 7) A long hop from Akila is dismissed through midwicket for four by Stokes. That was imperious. He could do with some runs here, too. He’s not under pressure for his place, not yet, but the less he bowls, the more runs he needs. Things are getting very congested in that middle order and I’m not sure anyone is completely safe moving bloody well forward.

6.11am GMT

36th over: England 92-3 (Jennings 52, Stokes 3) “Rob,” writes John Starbuck. “Lord Snooty should forget about F5 anyway. On the Mac, you simply go back to the saved favourite Cricket/Sport...The Guardian and then click on the ‘England v Sri Lanka - Live!’ heading to get the refresh going. It’s an Apple device, so you are expected to work these things out, not have it all done for you.”

Yes, I should have explained. If we update an existing entry the auto-refresh doesn’t work. That’s why often we have that ugly business of the wicket in one entry and then the description above it. But it looks so much better to describe the wicket as part of th same entry in which you annouce the wicket. I thought I could get away with it this morning as I assumed nobody was reading.

6.06am GMT

35th over: England 85-3 (Jennings 50, Stokes 2) Perera is replaced by Akila Dananjaya. After missing a couple of attempted sweeps, Jennings gets one away to reach a serene and important half-century, his first in 20 innings. He’s played really nicely.

6.03am GMT

34th over: England 84-3 (Jennings 49, Stokes 2) Herath, bowling around the wicket to the left-handes, has consecutive LBW appeals against Jennings turned down by Marais Erasmus. The first was outside the line; the second was closer but probably pitched outside leg.

5.59am GMT

33rd over: England 81-3 (Jennings 47, Stokes 1) Things are happeing out there, Tony. Things. Jennings, beaten by a lovely delivery from Perera, responds by punching an excellent extra cover drive for four. That’s the first boundary of the day.

“On Mac, all that pressing F5 does is dim the screen,” says Lord Snooty. “Please advise.”

5.56am GMT

32nd over: England 76-3 (Jennings 42, Stokes 1)

5.54am GMT

Beautifully bowled! Herath gets Root for the second time in the match with a classic dismissal: accuracy, curve and just enough turn to take the edge as Root pushed forward defensively. Dickwella took a smart catch behind the stumps. England lead by 213. Should.

5.51am GMT

31st over: England 73-2 (Jennings 40, Root 3) Smart bowling from Perera, who skids one on that almost gets through Jennings’ cut stroke. Jennings played it well enough in the end, cutting a single to move into the forties for the second time in the match. He’s been excellent.

Meanwhile, here’s Ian Copestake. Dr Ian Copestake to you. “Does Mo have a Test average of 14 in the top three because he knows he has that average and now associates those positions with a poor average which renders him unable to escape the reality of a perception of reality rather than him making a new reality?”

5.48am GMT

30th over: England 71-2 (Jennings 39, Root 2) “Well, instead of just ‘Oh, Mo’ in the commentary, how about actually telling us how he was dismissed!” sniffs Lord Snooty.

I did. You have to press F5 to read it. Or would you like me to do that for you as well?

5.47am GMT

29th over: England 70-2 (Jennings 39, Root 1) “Afternoon Rob,” says Phil Withall. “The Ali experiment, has it run its course? I can understand the reasoning behind his move to three but, in a position that is pretty vital to the building of an innings, I suspect now is not the time for him to play that role.”

I can also understand why they are doing it – somebody has to bat there – but I’m not sure it’s right for him. The problem England have is that five of this XI, plus Jonny Bairstow, would ideally bat at No6 or No7. For this series you could move Stokes or Buttler up to No3, though they probably aren’t long-term options.

5.42am GMT

28th over: England 68-2 (Jennings 38, Root 0) If Sri Lanka are going to pull of a miraculous victory, this is the time to strike. Herath and Perera are bowling in tandem, and two more wickets before lunch might cause England to start thinking the unthinkable.

5.41am GMT

27th over: England 67-2 (Jennings 37, Root 0) The new batsman Root survives a big LBW appeal after missing a sweep. He was miles outside the line. That Moeen dismissal was exasperating, but I do have some sympathy for him because he shouldn’t really be batting in the top three. He has a Test average of 14 when he does so.

5.36am GMT

Oh, Mo. England are two down. Moeen Ali falls to a poor shot, driving Perera straight to Herath at mid-on. Herath, never the most agile fielder, just about held on to the catch as he collapsed towards the ball.

5.30am GMT

26th over: England 66-1 (Jennings 36, Moeen Ali 3) The retiring Rangana Herath comes into the attack to replace Suranga Lakmal. England take a couple of singles from his first over to complete a quiet first hour - 28 runs from 14 overs with no boundaries and the wicket of Rory Burns, who was frustratingly run out for 23. That’s drinks.

5.27am GMT

25th over: England 64-1 (Jennings 35, Moeen Ali 2) A jaffa from Perera spits past the edge of Jennings, who smiles a little wryly. There was nothing much he could have done about that.

5.23am GMT

24th over: England 63-1 (Jennings 35, Moeen Ali 1) Moeen gets off the king pair by defending his first delivery from Lakmal, and then off the pair by dragging a pull for a single. England’s lead clicks up to 200.

“When I umpired (as a No11, I did the first ten overs so I could have a beer or twelve in peace on the boundary) I thought that if any part of the ball hit the pad in line with the stumps, it satisfied that element of the LBW law,” says Gary Naylor. “The DRS protocol suggests I was wrong. Good job I never gave anyone out then.”

5.19am GMT

23rd over: England 60-1 (Jennings 33, Ali 0) That was the last ball of the over. Moeen Ali is the new batsman, and he’s on a king pair.

5.17am GMT

Ach, this is a frustrating dismissal. Rory Burns takes a quick single to mid-on off Perera and is just short of his ground when Karunaratne’s throw hits the base of the stumps. It was a lovely, smooth pick up and throw, but Burns will feel he’s left plenty of runs out there in this match.

5.13am GMT

22nd over: England 58-0 (Burns 23, Jennings 32) Burns looks much happier against Lakmal and flicks a pair of twos into the leg side. England’s lead is 197.

5.07am GMT

21st over: England 52-0 (Burns 18, Jennings 32) Burns survives another big shout for LBW from Perera after missing an attempted sweep. He was just outside the line, and he gloved it as well. This is a nice test of Burns’ temperament because Perera is all over him at the moment.

5.04am GMT

20th over: England 51-0 (Burns 17, Jennings 32) Lakmal moves over the wicket to Jennings, who has had trouble with that angle of attack against seamers like Philander and Bumrah. The ball isn’t moving in the air or off the pitch here, however, and Jennings plays out another maiden. We’ve had 13 runs from eight overs this morning.

4.59am GMT

19th over: England 51-0 (Burns 17, Jennings 32) England’s average opening partnership in Tests this year is 24, their lowest for any wicket except the tenth, so this is a welcome stand. Burns misses a vigorous reverse sweep at Perera and then gets a leading edge that falls well short of extra cover. All of a sudden he’s looking a little jittery.

4.57am GMT

18th over: England 50-0 (Burns 17, Jennings 31) Burns mistimes a hook off Lakmal which goes high in the air and plops safely in the vacant midwicket region. A single from Jennings brings up a rare fifty partnership for England’s first wicket.

We’ve had 12 runs in the first six overs, all singles. Not the most mind-altering of starts, but a decent one for England. Jennings in particular looks excellent. I wonder whether the day will come where someone like Jennings is an automatic pick in Asia and an occasional pick elsewhere.

4.49am GMT

17th over: England 45-0 (Burns 15, Jennings 29) Burns survives a big LBW shout from Perera - but Sri Lanka are going to review. This looks close. It skidded on to hit the pad as Burns pushed defensively outside the line. The only thing that will save him is if he was outside the line. Here comes the replay... he’s not out. It was close, but the point of contact was ‘umpire’s call’ and that meant Burns survived.

4.45am GMT

16th over: England 42-0 (Burns 13, Jennings 28) “Morning, Rob,” says John Starbuck. “Can you tell us a bit more about in-out field placings for spinners, please?”

It’s both attacking and defensive, with two or three close catchers but also a few boundary riders. The downside is that it can give the batsmen easy singles but stopping boundaries is clearly important for the confidence of Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid in particular.

4.41am GMT

15th over: England 40-0 (Burns 12, Jennings 27) The first bit of turn for Perera, who beats Burns outside off stump during another maiden. England have started slowly, with two runs from the first three overs. That’s understandable - both these batsmen know that, if they get in, they have a great chance of making a half-century at least.

4.37am GMT

14th over: England 40-0 (Burns 12, Jennings 27) Suranga Lakmal, the only seamer in this side, starts at the other end with a harmless maiden to Jennings. There have been no early terrors for England.

4.33am GMT

13th over: England 40-0 (Burns 12, Jennings 27) Dilruwan Perera opens the bowling to Rory Burns, who tucks the first ball of the day off his pads for a single. Jennings, who has a fledgling average of 48 in Tests in Asia, gets his first run of the day with a cut through the covers for a single.

4.23am GMT

Moeen Ali speaks “We’re very, very pleased. The seamers were fantastic yesterday and then the spinners bowled quite well. We want to play the long game and stay in control, which is why we’ve had in-out fields [for the slow bowlers]. If we’re not hit for boundaries then it doesn’t knock our confidence as it has previously in the subcontinent.”

4.20am GMT

A bit of news Jimmy Anderson has been given a demerit point for his contretemps with the umpire Chris Gaffaney yesterday. That’s his second demerit point - if you get four within a two-year period, you are banned for a Test.

4.13am GMT

Some pre-play reading

Related: England’s spin trio leave Sri Lanka reeling as Foakes continues to impress

Related: Jack Leach delight after Test wicket marks friendship forged at Somerset

6.51pm GMT

Morning. England don’t win many Tests in Asia, and they certainly don’t dominate many as they have so far in Galle. They will start day three on 38 for none, a lead of 177 on a pitch that is likely to get worse, and it’s increasingly hard to imagine a scenario in which theyt do not win this first Test.

If they do, it’ll be a major achievement. Sri Lanka have won their last eight Tests at home to non-Asian opposition, most by thumping margins, while England haven’t won a Test overseas for two years. It’s a good time to be an England fan, even at 4am.

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