Will international cricket remain at Emirates Riverside?
Tuesday 31 May 2016 10:46, UK
England have won the Investec Test series against Sri Lanka with a game to spare after backing up their innings and 88-run triumph at Headingley with a nine-wicket success in Durham.
But what did we glean across four days of action at a chilly Emirates Riverside as both sides donned beanies on their balconies and a few players secured some notable numbers…
Magic milestones
Alastair Cook notched his 10,000th Test run, becoming the first English player and youngest man overall do so, though not as early as everyone expected. With 20 runs needed at the start of the game, Cook fell five short in his first innings, and when Sri Lanka were forced to follow on, it looked as if the left-hander would have to wait another week and reach the milestone at Lord's.
Not so. Cook, understated as ever, ended the talking early in front of a sparse fourth-day crowd as he quickly scored the five required on his way to an unbeaten 47. It wasn't just a Test to remember for Cook, though, with Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath ending his equally long-awaited quest for 300 Test wickets with the caught and bowled dismissal of Steven Finn and Jimmy Anderson's eight wickets in the Test taking him past 450 Test scalps.
Highs and lows with the ball
While Anderson (8-94) starred again, it was a mixed bag for the rest of England's attack. Stuart Broad took 4-40 in the first innings, enjoying further success on the same surface he took 11 wickets on when England beat Australia in the last Test played in Durham in 2013, but he was conspicuous by his absence with 22 wicketless overs in the second before earning a solitary strike late on.
Chris Woakes bowled well and with good pace on his return in place of the injured Ben Stokes, taking 3-9 in Sri Lanka's opening dig and deserving more reward than 2-103 in their second, but Steven Finn struggled for speed and rhythm for a second straight Test, match figures of 1-93 reflecting that. Moeen Ali, meanwhile, produced a beauty to beat Lahiru Thirimanne's outside edge and rock back off stump, but that was it for his 32 overs.
Magnificent Moeen
Moeen had a much better time of it with the bat, hitting an unbeaten 155 to record his second Test hundred, two years on from his first against the same opposition. That was a battling 281-ball effort at Headingley with England looking to cling on for a draw, but this was the left-hander at his flamboyant and fluent best, Moeen flaying the ball to the boundary regularly with effortless ease.
The Worcestershire player had disappeared for an eight-ball duck in the first Test and with only one fifty to his name in his previous 17 Test innings, his place in the side may have been under threat. Yet, his glittering display in Durham from the No 7 berth - Stokes' absence ensuring he was shunted up a spot - has raised the question as to whether he should earn a permanent promotion.
Sri Lankan steel
The second Test seemed to be following a similar narrative to England's thumping win at Headingley a few days prior, as Cook's boys skittled Sri Lanka for 101 in their first innings and enforced the follow on, but an unlikely and spirited fightback from the visitors took the Test to four days and forced England to bat again, Sri Lanka setting the hosts 79 to win after posting a second-innings 475.
Dinesh Chandimal's 126 - the right-hander's sixth Test ton but first outside of Asia - was the highlight, but the gritty Kaushal Silva (60 from 145) blunted England's new-ball threat and Angelo Mathews smashed 80 from 105 balls, before Herath (61) batted like Brian Lara during a 116-run stand with Chandimal for the seventh wicket.
Durham's Test future
Debate was rife during the Test as to not only whether the Chester-le-Street venue was deserving of its Test cricket status but also if Durham could afford to maintain it. Grim overcast conditions and cold temperatures across all four days made it a tough sell and crowds were slim on both the first and fourth days.
But those same stands were full to capacity for the Saturday and Sunday in between, showing there is sufficient interest in the North East for England cricket. It might be, though, that its international future is with white-ball cricket more than red, even if England's six Test wins from six at the stadium could convince decision makers otherwise.
Watch the third Investec Test between England and Sri Lanka, at Lord's, from 10am on Thursday, June 9 on Sky Sports 2.
