A stats round-up of the second day’s play of the first Test between England and Sri Lanka at Lord’s
Bishen Jeswant13-Jun-2014England have never posted a 600-plus total against Sri Lanka in Test cricket and their declaration at Lord’s on 575 for 9 meant that the landmark would have to be achieved on another day. However, this was still England’s highest score against Sri Lanka in Test cricket. Sri Lanka have, however, managed to score 600 against England on one previous occasion, at Colombo, and came close another time when they got to 591 at The Oval in August 1998. It is therefore Sri Lanka, and not England, who hold the record for the highest team score in an innings for Tests played between these two countries in the UK.In the last four Tests that England have now played against Sri Lanka at Lord’s (2002, 2006, 2011 and 2014), they have scored 500-plus runs in at least one innings of all those games. Despite this, England only managed to draw the previous three games. In fact, England have only managed to win one of the last five matches when have scored 500-plus runs in an innings at Lord’s, and that against Bangladesh.England got their 575 runs in 130.3 overs and in a little less than five sessions. England’s run rate of 4.40 was the seventh highest in their Test history for a score of 500 or more. Excluding a couple of sub-hundred chases in the fourth innings at Manchester and Colombo, this was the highest innings run rate for England in a Test against Sri Lanka.Joe Root’s maiden double-century was the third instance of a player batting at No. 5 or below and scoring a double-century at Lord’s and is the first such instance since 1949. New Zealand’s Martin Donnelly was the last man to achieve this feat, during a dull draw in June 1949. The last time Root batted at Lord’s he played a match-winning knock of 180 to give England a huge victory, by 347 runs, against Australia in the 2013 Ashes. Root’s maiden double-hundred makes him one of only four Englishmen to have scored a double century by the age of 24.Also crucial to posting this big total was the ninth-wicket partnership of 81 runs between Root and Liam Plunkett – who is making a comeback since last playing a Test in June 2007. England need to look 70 innings into the past to find a better ninth-wicket partnership. Root and Plunkett put together their stand in only 84 balls at a run-rate of 5.78. From the time ball-by-ball data is available, this is England’s best partnership run rate for a ninth-wicket stand of 75 or more runs.While England piled on the runs, Shaminda Eranga did pick up three important wickets for Sri Lanka but conceded 163 runs in the process, which is the second-most expensive spell for a Sri Lanka fast bowler in Test cricket.When Sri Lanka came out to bat, they finished the day strongly on 140-1, with the openers putting together a strong first-wicket partnership of 54 runs. This was the third time that a Sri Lanka opening pair posted a 50-plus opening partnership at Lord’s. Kumar Sangakkara, who is at the crease and batting on 32*, went past Allan Border’s total of 11174 to go eighth on the list of leading run-scorers in Tests. However, he is yet to score a century at Lord’s, while his close friend Mahela Jayawardene is the only Sri Lankan whose name features twice on the honour’s board. Sri Lanka will be hoping to finish tomorrow with at least one, if not two, more entries on that hallowed board.
