The Lord's Test: Day Three

Day three started off much the same way that day two ended, with Sri Lankan batting dominance. England continued with their wayward bowling, feeding Dilshan juicy leg side volleys for him to just help to the boundary. Once again, the debate of whether or not England should continue with their four paced attack and add an extra bowler to the team has started to rage. If you're after that kind of debate on this blog, it's probably better to wait until the Test matches are over, because it's pretty much going to be all pictures until June 20th...

The Sri Lankan captain continued in the same vain as the previous day. He reached a superb 150 with a single off Swann.

He celebrates and is well truly deserved of his place on the Lord's honours board.

England wait for the new ball, hoping that it will provide a breakthrough otherwise Sangakkara and Dilshan will bat until the cows come home to cow corner. Luckily for England, Tremlett manages to snare Sangakkara. 

He edges behind to Prior as he goes for 26, certainly not the best of starts to his tour of England.

England celebrate as Sangakkara trudges off with Sri Lanka 288-2. 

 

Broad takes the new ball from the other end, but Dilshan tucks into him with a cracking onside drive.

It beats mid on and goes to the boundary for four. Broad begins to simmer. 

Things get worse for Broad, and for Graeme Swann who was hit on the wing yesterday, Jayawardene edges into the slips...

Leaving Swann with a rather dashing bruise on his leg and Broad with no wicket as the ball did not carry. (I'm an expert at stopping a ball hit off the bat with a shin, but then I've sprained my ankle roller skating before so I'm fairly accident prone...)

England, forgetting that they're bowling to Mahela Jayawardene and not some guy from a village in the nets, continually forget where the off stump is...

Prompting Jayawardene and Dilshan to rack up the boundary count. 

Finn, perhaps the most guilty party, feeds Dilshan a couple of freebies, until...

Finally he is bowled for a fantastic 193. The ball slips between his guard and his his upper duck thigh leg and cannons into the off stump.

England celebrate his crucial wicket, but Dilshan, having broken the very tip of his wing after a Tremlett bouncer yesterday, and then being hit on it again before getting out, takes a deserved standing ovation and finds his name on the board in the dressing room. Sri Lanka are 370-3 as Dilshan walks off.

England almost get Jayawardene as the cloud cover is building, but he does not get an edge on a cracking Broad delivery. 

Then, midway the Broad over, the rain begins to fall, prompting play to be suspended and the 'state-of-the-art hover cover' (shown in fantastic and accurate detail here) comes on. Broad takes cover under his jumper, because, despite being a duck, he's not a big fan of water.

An early tea was taken, but after only five balls the players came off again after a mixture of bad light and the impending doom from above. Finn's second ball of his over proved to be the last of the day. 

Despite the rain, the England dressing room join in with the fun of the Lord's crowd as they join in with the Mexican wave. 

Different ground, different animal as groundsman. 

Sri Lanka closed on 372-3. Tomorrow, providing the weather stays away, will be an interesting one. If there's a bit of cloud and England can remember where the off stump is and get Jayawardene early, then they might look to control a Sri Lankan lead. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, will hope to wipe out their 100+ run deficit and build a decent lead, enough to try and entice an England collapse.

Alternatively, it could just be a high scoring draw. But we thought that about Cardiff and then look what happened. Anything could happen in the next two days...