Mark Poole: Was hoping to wake up and see England in a more commanding position but no, more or less the same as we all thought. Yes batting is tough away but too many giving wickets away. Good fight back from Foakes and Buttler for a while

Dilruwan Perera isn't too different an off-spinner to Ravichandran Ashwin who Sam Curran played so well in the India series in the summer. Perera doesn't have Ashwin's record but they're similar in build and in their action.

Like Ashwin, Perera gets one to turn big. To his credit, Curran just holds his line with his bat and the ball zips past the edge. The Sri Lankan arms all go up in the air in dismay at the lack of an edge.

An excellent, probing maiden.

Andy Zaltzman
The Cricket Social statistician

It was nice to see an England player getting out to a defensive shot...

How has this missed? A full delivery - right up at yorker length - from Rangana Herath is missed by Foakes and I was just waiting for the death rattle but it doesn't come.

Herath just gives his opponent a wry smile.

Sam Curran joins his Surrey team-mate Ben Foakes in the middle.

Michael Vaughan
Ex-England captain on The Cricket Social

Jos Buttler is a player who reads situations better than most. He can withstand the pressure of a situation and then explodes into life.

Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes and Buttler are class players but I want them from five down - not in the top three.

England have to find high-class players who wake up every morning thinking about batting to open or bat at three.

And now the drinks come onto the field. Buttler will be kicking himself.

I'd love to know if Rangana Herath has ever tried to be a fast bowler in the nets. I just can't imagine him moving towards the crease at anything more than a trundle.

Michael Vaughan
Ex-England captain on The Cricket Social

The problem with England lies with the batting. They can't bat for long enough to get big enough totals to give the bowlers something to aim at.

In English conditions you can get away with below-par scores because Anderson and Broad will get you back into the game.

But overseas you have to be above par with the bowling attack England have got. They don't have 90mph+ fast bowlers or special spinners.

More runs for the impressive debutant Ben Foakes. I should probably stop saying he's looked impressive or I'll curse him. He hasn't swept too often today but with spinner Dilruwan Perera returning to the attack he does so and finds a third boundary.

Lovely.

Quite a lot, to be honest.

England have shipped five wickets after winning the toss and deciding to bat, with all five wickets falling before lunch.

Rory Burns, on debut, and number three Moeen Ali fell in two balls in the third over before a little partnership of 62 between captain Joe Root and Keaton Jennings.

Image source, Reuters

But the aggressive Root managed to york himself to Rangana Herath and was bowled, Jennings was bowled for 46 and Ben Stokes played a poor sweep shot and also had his timbers knocked back for seven.

England now have Jos Buttler and debutant wicketkeeper Ben Foakes at the crease. Who - dare we say it - have settled things down a touch.

The back of Jos Buttler's shirt is drenched with sweat. There's no hot sunshine today but the humidity is high. Rangana Herath is still bowling his subtle variations. Now he produces a more round-arm delivery that Buttler pushes to the covers. While it's not spinning too much he'll probably continue to mix it up. If the sun does come out and the pitch dries out then it could be a different story.

Michael Vaughan
Ex-England captain on The Cricket Social

Image source, Getty Images

England recovered to 60-2, and then you have to say 'let's just bat.' We had Sri Lanka where we wanted them but then England were ultra aggressive, Joe Root yorked himself.

Can you play low-risk cricket shots for high reward? That's Test cricket and it always will be.

In the first session England played high risk shots for low reward. Since lunch England have played low risk, and Jos Buttler and Ben Foakes have generated a nice partnership at a perfect tempo for Test cricket.

Another single to Buttler brings up the 50 partnership between England's two wicketkeeper batsman. It has come from 99 balls. The perfect pace for Test cricket?

That's rubbish. Akila Dananjaya bowls an off-break that pitches halfway down and drifts towards where a leg slip would be stood.

Buttler swivels and calmly sends the ball along the ground to the boundary.

Isabelle Westbury
Former Middlesex captain on The Cricket Social

I feel that Rangana Herath is playing the foil. He's not used to being the man at the centre of attention, he's the man people forget about and he takes them unawares.

I can't decide whether it has got easier for batting since lunch or England have just cut out the stupid things. It's probably a bit of both but more of the latter.

That said, I think Foakes is having difficultly picking Herath's lengths. Like he did a few overs ago he almost drags one back onto his stumps after tentatively playing defensively.

Foakes survives though and still looks good.

Image source, Getty Images

Fielding isn't Herath's thing. The grey-haired spinner/banker is coming back for a bowl.

Ben Foakes has looked impressive so far. I like how he seems able to rotate the strike against the spinners and has a good technique. Another push into the covers gives him three, partly because it's 40-year-old Rangana Herath running after the ball.

Oh! Even better. Even Usain Bolt wouldn't have got this one. The ball whistles past Herath again and all the way to the fence off the bat of Foakes.