By: Tarish Bhatt
It was one of those days when someone had to dig deep and hard for England. They needed someone to keep the innings together, and see off the day at Leeds.
Alex Hales, along with Jonny Bairstow, took the responsibility over his shoulders and saw the stumps on a fascinating day, which saw England losing their top-order.
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For the starters, England constructed a solid opening partnership with Hales and Alastair Cook, and they seemed to have won the morning session until Dasun Shanaka ripped them apart in just three overs.
Shanaka dismissed Cook, Nick Compton and Joe Root, in that order. All three of them were caught behind the stumps, trying to drive the balls that they could have easily left alone, or played with a straight bat.
After Shanaka’s spell in the morning session, the Lankans came out firing, getting two more wickets of James Vince and Ben Stokes, who were dismissed by Shaminda Eranga and Nuwan Pradeep, respectively.
“If we get early wickets in the morning we can keep them to a low total,” Shanaka pointed out. “When the captain gave me the ball I was nervous. In two or three balls I got the rhythm.”
Seeing his partners getting dismissed, Hales dropped the anchor at one end. He got an able partner in form of Bairstow, and they stitched an unbeaten 88-run partnership for the sixth wicket.
Both Hales and Bairstow completed their half-centuries, and they now have a massive task in hand of taking the hosts to a respectable total on the second day.
“It was a tough day, but I knew I had to dig deep,” Hales said. “The first hour in the morning will be massive in shaping this game. It’s delicately balanced.”
England were 171/5 when the umpires had to call off the opening day’s play after just 53 overs, owing to drizzle and bad light.
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