Lankans must bat with more spine:

England 320 for 6 lead by 63 runs

Robson maiden Test century:

Elmo Rodrigopulle reporting from England

The Sri Lankan cricketers were looking down the barrel. After a poor batting display where they managed 257, they gave England the upper hand and indications were that this Test would not go the full distance.

The Lankans can turn this game around if they bat with more spine in the second innings.

But two quick wickets that of Ian Bell 64 and Mooen Ali 2 by Eranga and Joe Root 13 by Mathews has brought Sri Lanka back into the picture. The three wickets injected a bit of energy into the Lankans.

At close on the second day of this Second and Final Investec Test match, England made 320 for 6 a lead of 63 runs with 4 wickets remaining. At the centre were Matt Prior on 3 and Chris Jordan on 4.

With the wicket getting better and better by the day and favouring batting, it will be heart breaking for the bowlers while the fielders will be chasing leather on the third day too.

England batsmen Sam Robson and Gary Ballance and Ian Bell ground the Lankan bowlers with correct and unhurried batting, piling on the agony.

It was a day Robson, the 24-year-old will remember for the rest of his career that looks promising. Robson born in Australia to an English mother, moved to England six years ago and immediately served notice that he is an England prospect.

Robson made his chanceless maiden Test hundred in only his second Test when on 98 he cover drove Prasad for four. He scored his runs mainly on the off with his chief scoring stroke being the off drive which he executes copy book style.

Robson went when Pradeep bowling with the new ball breached his defence to knock him over for 127 with 15 fours and a six. With Bell he added 86 runs for the third wicket.

A well made unbeaten 98 from opener Sam Robson who was involved in a grand stand of 142 with Gary Ballance (74) for the second wicket, took England to tea at 211 for 2 wickets against Sri Lanka on day two in the second and final Investec Test match played at Headingley, Leeds yesterday.

The only wicket to fall after Alastair Cook was that of Gary Balance for 74. Coming on to bowl for the first time today, Angelo Mathews induced Ballance to nick an off cutter to Chandimal behind the stumps.

England continued their consolidation job after lunch adding 105 more runs with Robson and Ballance not taking any chances, being very watchful and with the Sri Lankan bowlers not threatening. The right hander, left hander combination of Robson (right) and Ballance (left), dug in knowing full well that there was no hurry with England well in control. Other than for Rangana Herath who was varying his flight and looking for spin to lure the batsmen, the pacemen Pradeep, Eranga and Prasad were not trying hard enough.

It was pedestrian cricket in the pre lunch session. The first hour of play saw just 32 runs being scored for the loss of Captain Alastair Cook’s wicket. Cook fishing outside the off stump gave Kumar Sangakkara a catch at first slip off Dhammika Prasad for 17.

In the second hour, England quickened the scoring making 38 runs without losing a wicket to go to lunch on 106 for one with Sam Robson making his maiden half century on 55 and Gary Balance unbeaten on 30 respectively.

With the Lankan bowlers refusing to go on the attack, but bowling a negative line, Robson and Balance were in no undue worry and scored when the opportunity presented itself.

Cook’s wretched form which began with a string of failures in the Ashes series in Australia, continues to haunt him and by continuing to fail, leaves questions to be asked about his slot in the team.

The Sri Lankan pace bowlers added to the slow scoring by bowling an outside the off stump line for most times. A more attacking approach could have got them a couple of more wickets before lunch.

After being put into bat on a wicket that helped seam bowling in the first hour, that the Sri Lankan batting collapsed for 257 was due to some unimaginative batting.

True that Stuart Broad took a hat-trick and Liam Plunkett took five wickets, but had the batsmen applied themselves better, Broad and Plunkett would have been made to work harder and the total would not have looked a sorry 257.

Dimuth Karunaratne, Mahela Jayewardene and Angelo Mathews all got into their 20s and failed to build. It was good to see Dinesh Chandimal playing his strokes of old and getting into the run making act that he was renowned for.

Left hander Sangakkara, although given a few lives, rode his luck and attempting to slash Broad past point was gleefully snapped up by Ian Bell. However one must give credit to Stuart Broad for his second hat-trick in his career and Liam Plunkett for a hostile spell and being rewarded with 5 wickets for the first time in his career. Being his first fiver wicket haul in his come-back trail, England players allowed him to lead the team into the pavilion at the end of the Sri Lankan innings and not Broad.

The tall right arm bowler with a lovely action has tremendous pace bowling at speeds of over 90ks at times, but is not accurate all the time. In his over exuberance tends to bend his back looking for more pace and is not in line. He has a good future.

Plunkett who plays for Yorkshire, ripped the heart out of the Sri Lankan batting with 5 for 64, after a seven-year absence believes it can be the springboard to better things. Plunkett is lucky to have former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie as his coach to show him how.

Dinesh Chandimal who faced Plunkett in making a score of 45 said that Plunkett bowled well and gets a bit of extra bounce and that he is totally different to the other fast bowlers.

Chandimal opined that at one stage, it looked like they would get 350 or more. But regretted that as a batting unit they did not capitalize and that it was very disappointing.

Headingley, Leeds, Saturday.