Alastair Cook © Getty Images
Alastair Cook © Getty Images (File Photo)

 

Jun 15, 2014

 

Catch Live Scorecard of the England vs Sri Lanka 1st Test here

(Catch live cricket score and updates of the fourth day’s play between England and Sri Lanka here)

So England are firmly in command thanks to Gary Ballance’s superb knock. Sri Lanka will need a miracle to win, and a supremely good effort to draw this game. It was a pleasure taking you through the day’s play. Have a good evening/ night! We’ll be back tomorrow for what promises to be an engaging day’s cricket.

Herath to continue. HE’S GOT HIS MAN! That’s the end of Broad’s cameo. Plunkett is the new man in. Six off the over though. Kula brought on. Three runs off it. Anxious moments for Ballance! This will now be the final over of the day’s play. Herath will bowl, Ballance on strike. He’s on 97. And he gets to a hundred with a six! Maiden Test match century for Gary Ballance, and its at the Mecca of cricket. Terrific knock, given that England were really struggling earlier. Eight off the over, and it will be stumps on Day 4. England lead by 389 runs.
OUT! S Broad 24(18) c & b Herath
Pradeep again. Six comes off that one. Eranga to continue. And that’s a maiden over from him. Herath on now. Broad hits a boundary through square leg. And now Ballance gets four more through point (where else?) to enter the 70s. And three more off the last ball to make it 12 off that over. A big one for England. Can they start the charge now? Eranga now. And Ballance hits another four, this time through covers. And now Broad hits one through mid-off to make it 11 off that one. Herath now. Broad slog sweeps off the last ball to make it nine off that one. Eranga to bowl over 66. Ballance hits another boundary (guess where) and follows it up with a pull shot for four! My word, he’s actually played this one on the leg side! He’s into the 90s now!
Eranga, Pradeep and Herath all try their wares but the duo of Ballance and Jordan are unshakable. Both batsman have done really well for England, and Sri Lanka’s shoulders have begun to droop. Herath now to bowl the 60th over. AND HE STRIKES! Finally the partnership has been broken. Jordan gets a leading edge and is taken at mid-off by Sangakkara. England go past 200 though.
OUT! C Jordan 35 (50) c Sangakkara b Herath
Eranga again. Six off that over. Herath to continue. Just three off the over. Eranga continues. Five off that one. England are inching closer and closer to safety. Sri Lanka will want to get another wicket or two! And now its Nuwan Pradeep to continue. Ballance gets four more. Again on the off side. He really loves the area between point and covers. Four off the 51st over.
Herath will continue now. And it’s yet another maiden over. Shaminda Eranga now comes on. He was the main wrecker in the post-lunch session. Can he continue his magical spell now? APPEAL FOR CAUGHT BEHIND! Umpire says not out, but Mathews chooses to go for a review. Nothing on it, Ballance survives. Three off that over. Herath again. Three more off that one. And in other news, India have beaten Bangladesh quite easily in the first of three ODIs. Comeback man Robin Uthappa scored a half century as did his opening partner Ajinkya Rahane. More on that on the other live blog!
Herath again. Just one off that over. Kula now. Ballance cuts and cuts hard! Four more! (that was homage to Tracer Bullet in case you missed it). Five off that over. Herath goes for three in his next over. Kula continues. And its a maiden. Herath to continue. Jordan gets four off the last ball to make it six off the over. Kula again. Joran hits another last-ball four to make it seven runs off that one.
So the final session of the day begins with Herath bowling to Ballance. This is a crucial session and could well decide the fate of the match. Four runs come off that over. Kulasekara continues now. AND HE’S STRUCK IMMEDIATELY AFTER TEA! That’s the end of Prior. He steers that one right into the hands of the man at gully. Early success for Lanka, this is just what they wanted.
OUT! M Prior 16(26) c Thirimanne b Kulasekara
Pradeep continues. And it’s another maiden. Now Herath. Five off that one. Pradeep again. Just one off it. Intense period of play right now. England need to score a few more runs to be out of the woods, but the Lankans aren’t letting up at all. Just a run off Herath’s next over as well. Prior hits the last ball before tea for a boundary as England head to tea at 117 for five.
Pradeep now. And its a maiden. Herath continues. And so does the procession of English batsmen! Moeen Ali had hit him back over his head first ball for a four, but WHAT a comeback from Herath! Spins this from the footmarks and knocks his stumps down. Matt Prior is in now.
OUT! M Ali 4(2) b Herath
So after a marathon 10-over spell, Eranga is finally out of the attack. Nuwan Pradeep comes back on. Three off his first over. Herath will continue. Four off the first five balls. OH HE’S BROKEN THE STAND! That’s the end of Lord Root. He’s out LBW to a peach from Herath! Was that the arm ball? The other debutant Moeen Ali walks in.
OUT! J Root 11(9) LBW b Herath
Kula to Ballance. Ballance hits one through point for four. Five off that over. Eranga continues. And after what seems like a decade, a run is scored off his bowling. Just one off that over. And it’s the first bowling change now, in comes Rangana Herath. And he starts off with a maiden. Eranga again. Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles! He gets hit for four. Who else but Lord Joe Root to hit it? It was a good ball though, but very well played. Soft hands allow it to go through gully and into the fence. Oh and another boundary off the last ball for Root! 12 runs off that over, and Eranga’s figures are doubled. Herath again. And this time Ballance cuts it away four.
Sri Lanka have sniffed blood, can they pounce? Kula again now. Nine runs come that over, as Bell hits a boundary off the last ball. Eranga, who has figures of 6-4-11-2 so far, will continue. And he bowls his fifth maiden in 7 overs! Kula continues. Bell hits another four. Six runs off that one. Here comes Eranga. AND HE STRIKES AGAIN! Bell nicks one onto his stumps as he tries to drive. Very similar to the way Robson was dismissed. Brilliant bowling from Eranga! That’s a wicket maiden for him. He is looking unplayable at the moment. Joe Root comes in. Will his love affair at Lord’s continue?
OUT! I Bell 9(17) b Eranga
Kula continues to Robson. He gets a boundary off the third ball, but its off the outside edge wide of the man at slip. Four off that over. Eranga steams back in. OH BOWLED HIM! Robson’s unflattering debut continues. Bowled off the inside edge, that was a good ball from Eranga, but a poor stroke from Robson. Ian Bell comes in.
OUT! S Robson 15(41) b Eranga
Nuwan Kulasekara will continue. Cook breaks the monotony of the dots by hitting two consecutive boundaries off the fourth and fifth balls of the over. One was streaky and could have been caught at slip, the other was a beauty that could be framed. Oh well, that’s cricket. Eranga again. And four more to Cook now, he’s looking quite good at the moment. Eight came off that over. Kula will continue. And it’s a good over, just two off it for Robson. Eranga continues. AND HE’S GOT HIS MAN! Cook edges behind to Prasanna. Gary Ballance walks out to the middle now.
OUT! A Cook 28(40) c Prasanna b Eranga
Welcome back to the post-lunch session. I’m Shiamak Unwalla, and I’ll be taking you through proceedings for this session. Angelo Mathews will have his tail up after a brilliant ton, but England are still firmly ahead in this game. Shaminda Eranga will bowl the first over after lunch. Alastair Cook will face. It’s a maiden over.
England end the first session on 27 for the loss of no wickets. They have an overall lead of 149 runs on the board. It is Cook and Robson who will resume the batting during the second session. Sri Lanka need a few wickets in the second session tostall things for a while, as England will look to push on.
Alastair Cook plays one of those rare drives through covers off Pradeep’s bowling. It tells perhaps tells you that he may just be finding his touch here. Robson too gets a boundary. England have started on a positive in the second innings.  Sri Lanka will look to slow things down from here.
England start their second innings. It is Sam Robson and Alastair Cook who open the batting for England. Kulasekara and Pradeep open the bowling for SL. It is Kulasekara who bowls short and wide and Cook doesn’t need a second invitation and thrashes it for a fine boundary.
Pradeep is the final man out. He is out hit wicket to Chris Jordan in a bizarre fashion. The bowler bowled short to him and the batsman fell and his bat hit the wicket. The debutant gets his second wicket now. Sri Lanka are bowled out for 453. England lead by 122 runs.
N Pradeep b C Jordan 4(6)
With Eranga coming into bat, England are on the attack. Angelo Mathews is now closing in on a century at Lord’s. Now that would be a great achievement for the captain of Sri Lanka. Angelo Mathews finally reaches his century before getting out to Plunkett. England will look to bowl out Sri Lanka soon.
A Mathews lbw b Plunkett 102(172)
Mathews continued to show stubborn resistance. He even was able to shield Herath from facing Anderson for a while. England aren’t helping themselves by being defensive. However that is something England like to play with. Perhaps they can use the bouncer more as a surprise weapon. Anderson finally got a chance to bowl at Herath and cleans him up. Full and straight works for good old Burnley Bullet.
R Herath b J Anderson 2(17)
Sri Lanka started steadily on the fourth day against England. Both Angelo Mathews and Rangana Herath looked to play cautiously. Mathews is also nearing his century. Anderson bowling a good line for England. Stuart Broad too has started well as they look for early wickets in the piece to bowl out Sri Lanka in their first innings.

Hello and warm welcome to the fourth day’s play of England versus Sri Lanka match. This is Bharath Ramaraj and I will do the live updates for the day’s play. The first Test match played between England and Sri Lanka at Lord’s is heading for a draw. England will look to bowl out Sri Lanka on the fourth day. But even if they bowl them out, they need to bat well in the second innings and then again take 10 wickets in the second innings. It won’t be easy as the deck is flat. For Sri Lanka, Kumar Sangakkara was in great form and he went onto amass a century. Even Angelo Mathews, the skipper made a hundred.

For England, James Anderson bowled well, but didn’t get much support from others. Liam Plunkett struggled for control. Chris Jordan bowled well in patches. Earlier, Joe Root made a double ton and that helped England to get 575 for the loss of nine wickets on the board. It was his first double hundred in his Test career. For Sri Lanka Shaminda Eranga and Nuwan Pradeep bowled well in patches.

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