Summary

Live Reporting

by Mike Peter & Ffion Wynne

  1. Goodbye

    That's farewell from us on day one of the second Test at Lord's.

    Take a read of Stephan Shemilt's report, and if you're after highlights they've just started on BBC Two and will be on iPlayer afterwards. There'll also be a TMS podcast later this evening.

    We'll be back tomorrow morning, with play set to resume at 11:00 BST.

    Have a good evening.

  2. 'We're in a good position'

    England batter Joe Root on BBC Test Match Special: "That partnership at the end there was very important and shouldn't be overshadowed. We can come back tomorrow with two lads set, and we've taken the shine off the new ball so if we can push on past 400, we're in a great position.

    "I was a bit nervous [on 99]! It was about three overs in the end, it felt like longer, and the crowd is going. You just want to get it out of the way. I'm not massively driven by the numbers other than beating Cooky!

    "We're in a good position, anything past what we've done today is a bonus. It's a pretty good pitch, it's not doing all-sorts but it is quite slow and there's a bit in it. It's wobbling, there is some grip, we've just to play what's in front of us and utilise what we've got."

  3. 'I felt like I'd earned the right'

    England batter Joe Root on BBC Test Match Special: "I was disappointed because I got out. You can get out to any shot. We were in a position where we had limited their options before the new ball so they had to bring the seamer back on and it was about mentally, putting a nail in the coffin before kicking on in the last hour.

    "We'd have had 400 on the board, with one less wicket down potentially so it depends how you want to look at the game. I don't want to be driven by fear, I want to be driven by opportunities to score and I felt like I'd earned the right to do that in the situation."

  4. 'I'm in a good place'

    England batter Joe Root on BBC Test Match Special: "It was a nice day! We are in a position of strength and to get there from where we were at one stage, it's really pleasing.

    "And look at Gus! He's struck the ball like Jacques Kallis out there. It would be nice to be out there still but you know - sometimes you get a good one!

    "It feels good at the moment, I'm in a good place. It's not quite perfect, the state where you're barely thinking about it, the way it feels when you're at your absolute best. In that state, it can feel like you're outside of your body at times.

    "But when it doesn't feel right, I feel like I can manage it well and not let it get to me, I can find a way through tricky periods which is a nice place to be."

  5. Root was ultimately dismissed playing an unconventional ramp shot, but Gus Atkinson took up his mantle, reaching a first Test fifty.

    England closed the day on 358-7, with Atkinson unbeaten on 74 and Matty Potts alongside him on 20.

  6. 'Pope is a bit of a concern'

    Michael Vaughan
    Former England captain on BBC Test Match Special

    I think England will be delighted with 358. We could see in the final session that Sri Lanka were just tired.

    It is very tough with only three seamers and they ran out of gas.

    Dan Lawrence squandered a good opportunity, Ollie Pope is a bit of a concern for me because he looks so frantic.

  7. 'He is up there with all the greats'

    Michael Vaughan
    Former England captain on BBC Test Match Special

    He can play that when he's on 143 and he's dictated the entire day, it's fine.

    From the minute he walked out, he clipped his first ball for four, we just knew that three figures was coming. He is just wonderful, he is the perfect role model for any young player.

    We're in an era of brutality in batting where strikers can hit the ball anywhere around the ground, but give me Joe Root. Test cricket is his finest arena, he is a master of the situation and working out the pitch and the bowlers.

    He is up there with all the great players.

  8. Having reached 97-3 at lunch, Joe Root pushed on in the company of Harry Brook and Jamie Smith.

    Both his companions departed before the tea, with England five down on an excellent batting track.

    But Joe reached his hundred off 162 balls after the resumption.

    Smith crashes Jayasuriya for four

  9. 'Let's just admire his achievement'

    Sir Alastair Cook
    Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

    With great players, you need an element of stubbornness. You need that self-belief which sets you apart from others and Joe Root has that.

    He proves us wrong quite a lot. He can play that shot, he'll say that it was on.

    You could see his reaction when he got out, he was frustrated, there was a double-century on the cards for him today. However, let's just admire his achievement.

    I hope that when he sits down tonight with a beer, he can take in what he's done and be proud of that.

  10. Let's take a look at some highlights then.

    Having surprisingly been put into bat, England slipped to 42-2, with Dan Lawrence and captain Ollie Pope falling for single figure scores.

  11. 'I can't see Root slowing down'

    Sir Alastair Cook
    Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

    Joe Root was risk-free but still striking at around 60, which is what has made him the player that he is. The margin for error to him, as a bowler, is very slim and when he does play his attacking shots they are so low-risk - let's take the final shot out of it!

    He knocks the singles around easily and then he's good enough to put the bad balls away as often as he does. He is so hard to bowl at and he is a class act to watch and to bat with.

    The hunger he has, he will keep scoring hundreds. We keep going back to that dismissal to Bumrah in India, where he's scored a half-century at least in every Test he's played since. He's still got that drive to keep piling on the runs and I can't see him slowing down.

  12. Sir Alastair Cook
    Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

    I still think England are a little bit below par in terms of the wickets lost on this pitch, however, they are ahead of the game.

    Sri Lanka are going to have to bat very, very well.

    And, the way Atkinson is batting, England could still be eyeing up 430 or so. I'm still not sure why Sri Lanka chose to bowl first. At Lord's, it can also dry out a lot and bring the spinners into the game which is a strength of theirs.

    It felt like a defensive move from what happened to their top order at Old Trafford, when they were 6-3 and 2-1. Credit to them, they stuck at it all day and bowled with discipline, they were solid in the field with no drops or anything like that.

    So they didn't have a bad day but they had such a big opportunity at the toss. With their batting line-up and their experience, I'd have liked to see them take that chance.

  13. Phil Tufnell
    Former England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

    No, when you choose to bowl first, you're thinking you want them all out in a day.

    Runs will come and go but you're thinking 10 wickets and you want to be batting. They fought very hard, they had their opportunities but ran out of steam at the end of the day.

  14. Simon Mann
    BBC Test Match Special commentator on BBC Sounds

    The crowd have had a lot to admire and enjoy today, most notably Joe Root equalling Sir Alastair Cook's Test centuries record, some entertaining batting from Gus Atkinson and some fight from Sri Lanka.

    But I don't think 358-7 is what Dhananjaya de Silva had in mind.

  15. Phil Tufnell
    Former England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

    It's so disheartening for the bowling side here, when you know you had a great opportunity with them seven down but all of a sudden, there's a lower order stand of 50 in no time.

    Sri Lanka will know they could've taken the momentum at the end of the day, instead they'll feel deflated.

  16. How's stat?!

    Andy Zaltzman
    Statistician on Test Match Special

    Gus Atkinson's highest first-class score is 91, which he scored in 2022 for Surrey against a Sri Lanka Development XI.

  17. Very much England's session, as they added 158 runs from 35 overs, losing Chris Woakes and Joe Root.

    Root reached 143, equalling Alastair Cook's England record of 33 Test centuries, before being dismissed attempting a ramp shot.

    England might have been disappointed to see him depart in that manner, but they'll have been delighted with Gus Atkinson's lower order contribution, with the number eight reaching 74* at stumps.

  18. Simon Mann
    BBC Test Match Special commentator on BBC Sounds

    It is a flat pitch. The challenge for Sri Lanka is that they have got to make the most of it tomorrow.

  19. Eng 358-7

    Atkinson 74, Potts 20

    Asitha Fernando to bowl the last over of the day, with Lord's bathed in golden evening light.

    Gus Atkinson moves into the seventies, pulling the first delivery of the over away for four.

    Two balls later, a single into the leg side brings up the 50 partnership off 60 balls.

    Matty Potts lets the final three balls of the session pass by and that's stumps.

  20. Phil Tufnell
    Former England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

    The attitude to batting from the lower order is so different now to when I played. We were all proper tailenders!

    These days, they love having that string to their bow and they want to do it well, they want to score runs.