Rain meant there was no play before lunch on the fifth and final day of the first Test between England and Sri Lanka yesterday as the series opener headed for a draw.
The umpires opted to bring lunch forward to 12:30pm in the hope of making a prompt start to the afternoon session.
On Sunday, Jonathan Trott struck a double-century and Ian Bell went to the brink of a ton as England piled on the runs against a depleted Sri Lanka attack.
England were 491 for five in reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings 400, a lead of 91, at stumps, with just one day of the rain-marred first Test remaining.
Trott made 203 and put on 160 for the fifth wicket with Warwickshire colleague Bell, unbeaten on 98 at the close. Eoin Morgan was 14 not out.
It was a different story though for Trott’s fellow South Africa-born batsman Kevin Pietersen, whose well-documented problems against left-arm spin continued when he fell to Rangana Herath for just 3.
It was the composed Trott’s second Test double-century following his 226 against Bangladesh at Lord’s last year and of his six Test centuries, four have been in excess of 150 — a remarkable conversion rate that has helped Trott to an average of 66.77, second only to that of Australia great Sir Donald Bradman’s 99.94.
Trott’s more than eight-hour innings eventually ended when he was bowled making room to cut against the spin of Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan, having faced 409 balls and hit 17 boundaries.
He has been criticized, though, for slow scoring and in taking 190 balls to make 78 runs on Sunday he gave his detractors some ammunition.
“It was tricky today, they bowled into the rough and it was difficult to score freely,” Trott told Sky Sports. “After drinks, we said: ‘Let’s try to push on a bit,’ and a few overs we actually did better than we hoped. They tried to slow us up today, so hopefully we can kick on tomorrow [Monday] and get further ahead of them. The good thing is they were turning it off the straight, so it brings [off-spinner] Graeme Swann into play tomorrow.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later