Bairstow defies Sri Lanka with another century

Jonny Bairstow rode his luck to again rescue England from a top-order collapse with a century on the first day of the third Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s yesterday.
At stumps, England were 279 for six, having been 84 for four when Bairstow (107 not out) came to the crease.
It had been a similar story when Bairstow revived England from the depths of 83 for five in the first Test with a superb 140 on his Headingley home ground in a match England eventually won by an innings and 88 runs.
Rather than scoring a maiden Test century at Lord’s, Bairstow should have been out for 11 yesterday when he clipped Nuwan Pradeep firmly off his pads straight to mid-wicket only for Shaminda Eranga to drop the catch.
The Yorkshireman had another break when Eranga, selected despite having his action reported in England’s series-clinching nine-wicket win in the second Test at the Riverside, reviewed a rejected lbw appeal when the batsman had made 56.
Replays showed the ball hitting leg stump, but not enough, according to the Decision Review System, to overturn Indian umpire S Ravi’s original not out decision.
Apart from Bairstow, only England captain Alastair Cook (85), who won the toss in sunny conditions ideal for batting, passed fifty, with Chris Woakes 23 not out at stumps.
Sri Lanka performed admirably with the ball, albeit they were again sloppy in the field, on a good pitch where there was a touch of seam movement.
Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep shared four wickets while impressive left-arm spinner Rangana Herath rook an economical two for 45 in 21 overs.
England had already won this three-Test series at 2-0 up.
Cook insisted in the build-up to this match that England were determined to correct their habit of losing ‘dead’ Tests in series they’d already won following heavy defeats at the end of victorious campaigns at home to Australia in 2015 and away to South Africa earlier this year.
Cook, presented with a commemorative bat before play to mark his achievement in becoming the first England batsman to score 10,000 Test runs, a landmark he reached at the Riverside, and fellow opener Alex Hales compiled a fifty stand in 74 balls. But Herath struck with just his fourth ball he had Hales (18), slogging across the line of a ball that turned, caught by Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews at slip.
By his own admission, Nick Compton was playing for his Test place.
But England’s number three, on his Middlesex home ground, fell for one when he was caught behind off a gentle Lakmal away-swinger.
Lakmal struck again when he had Joe Root (three) lbw, hitting across the line.
Pradeep got in on the act by bowling James Vince for 10 and England were now 84 for four - the fifth time in their last seven Test innings they had lost four wickets before reaching 100.
Left-handed opener Cook was closing in on his 29th Test century when, shortly before tea, he was plumb lbw to Pradeep, bowling from around the wicket.
Cook faced 173 balls, including nine fours. Moeen Ali, fresh from his Test-best 155 not out at the Riverside, followed Hales in falling to the Herath/Mathews combination for 25.
Bairstow, strong off his pads and on the drive, cut Pradeep for four to go to 94.
He then equalled his previous Test-best at Lord’s of 95, made against South Africa in 2012 before a single off Herath saw him to a 160-ball century.
SCOREBOARD
England 1st Innings
A. Cook lbw b Pradeep 85
A. Hales c Mathews b Herath 18
N. Compton c Chandimal b Lakmal 1
J. Root lbw b Lakmal 3
J. Vince b Pradeep 10
J. Bairstow not out 107
M. Ali c Mathews b Herath 25
C. Woakes not out 23
Extras (lb7) 7
Total (6 wkts, 90 overs, 380 mins) 279
Fall of wickets: 1-56 (Hales), 2-67 (Compton), 3-71 (Root), 4-84 (Vince), 5-164 (Cook), 6-227 (Ali)
Bowling: Eranga 20-2-63-0; Lakmal 19-2-66-2; Pradeep 20-4-79-2; Mathews 10-5-19-0; Herath 21-4-45-2.

Cook says he doesn’t compare to ‘genius’ Tendulkar
England captain Alastair Cook insisted India batting great Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record for Test runs had yet to come into his sights even though he had surpassed one mark set by the ‘Little Master’.
Cook became the 12th player in history to score 10,000 Test runs during England’s nine-wicket win in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Durham to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series ahead of third Test at Lord’s.
The left-handed opener was also the first Englishman to achieve the feat and, at 31 years and 157 days, the youngest to get to the landmark, breaking Tendulkar’s record by more than five months.
Cook (10,042 runs in 128 Tests) is, however, nearly 6,000 runs short of retired star Tendulkar’s record aggregate of 15,921 runs from 200 Tests. The England skipper has 28 Test hundreds to his name, with his runs having come at an average of 47, whereas Tendulkar bowed out with a record 51 centuries at an average of nearly 54.
“Six thousand runs is a long way away,” Cook, speaking at Lord’s, said. “It was set by an incredibly talented genius. I’m no genius and Tendulkar is, so that is a long way ahead.
“I want to play for England for as long as I can and at the moment I’m really enjoying it. I am really motivated and hungry and where that takes me who knows.”
Cook added: “I’ve never lived my life by saying where I want to get to publicly.
“In private you have a few goals you want to try and achieve, but at the moment a lot of my goals are very immediate with this England team and as a captain that takes me away from personal milestones as a batter.”
Nevertheless India hero Sunil Gavaskar, the first man to score 10,000 Test runs, said last week that Cook had it in him to set a new aggregate record for most Test runs because of his age and the fact that England play more games over the long format than many other nations.
Following the Lord’s finale against Sri Lanka, England are then at home to Pakistan in a four-Test series. England will then tour Bangladesh and India, where they will play a total of seven Tests. None of those matches will be day/night contests.
Australia and New Zealand broke new ground with a day/night Test at the Adelaide Oval late last year and Cricket Australia have now confirmed another such match against South Africa, also in Adelaide, for November. But with Ashes matches between England and Australia well supported, Cook said international cricket’s oldest rivalry could stick with traditional hours.
“A lot of the games have really good attendances, and it’s probably not a series where you need to do it exactly at this time,” he explained. However, Cook also said: “My general view of day-night Tests is that they’re definitely something cricket authorities need to keep looking at - because it’s the way to keep the game moving with the times, making it more possible for spectators to come and watch. “My issue with it is the quality of the pink ball (used under lights because the standard red one is deemed too hard to sight).
“No disrespect to the guys who make it - but on the two occasions I’ve played, it doesn’t seem to behave the same way as the red ball.”
Cook said his concern was that day/night fixtures could, as things stand, be too often decided by the fate of the team batting at the ‘wrong’ time. “It’s one of the great things about Test cricket - sometimes the ball swings conventionally, sometimes it reverses. On my two occasions with the pink ball, it didn’t do any of that - and then it nipped all over under twilight.
“The quality of the ball is vital.”