SL tour of Eng, Aug 21 - Sept 10

[sussexpob]

I don't get the sense in form, attitude or whatever that Root is near the end. But he is coming up to 34 and been around a long time. As he starts knocking off milestones, everyone keeps saying he can beat Sachin and what not.... History of this era seems to show that when the rot sets in, it can be quick and dramatic.

So I do worry we might be seeing the last golden days of Root. I hope not....

He's comfortably England's best cricketer of my lifetime. He has signature knocks, hes consistent, and he was the only guy scoring in a drought of English batting much like Thorpe did in the 1990s.

[sussexpob]

Meanwhile, Paul Reiffel continues to umpire like he's there filming an advert for specsavers. That's never hitting Paul...

He's made a string of very, very questionable calls this series. I think someone needs to talk retirement plans with him

[Arthur Crabtree]

Ton up for Atko. Run a ball too.

[andy]

Very well done Gus Atkinson! Promising sign for the future!

[andy]

427 all out...still think that's under par on this pitch..... congratulations to Fernando on his 5fer up on the lord's honours board

[mikesiva]

England 427 all out

Root 143
Atkinson 118
Duckett 40

Asitha 5-102

[Arthur Crabtree]

Follow on?

[sussexpob]

Well this test match is done

[Arthur Crabtree]

Though Kamindu and Rathnayaka are together and they were the big scorers in the last game...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe time for Kamindu to move up the order.

Handy wicket for Bashir.

[Arthur Crabtree]

England bat again.

Root is dropping a lot of catches.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe Smith is going to be a specialist bat. He looks too good to be hedging his bets with a bit of keeping.

[mikesiva]

Sri Lanka 196 all out

Kamindu 74

Potts 2-19

[Arthur Crabtree]

Not great from the top three again. But England close to out of sight anyway.

[Durhamfootman]

I see that the Lawrence experiment is working perfectly. No awkward decisions needed once Crawley is fit again