Rain curtails West Indies progress

West Indies 169 for 2 (Brathwaite 68, Edwards 42*) trail New Zealand 293 by 124 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

A resolute half-century from Kraigg Brathwaite was the cornerstone of West Indies progress on the second day. However, the majority of it was lost to rain. Grey clouds had circled Kensington Oval throughout the morning session and limited the day's play to less than six overs after lunch. New Zealand might not have minded the intervention. They had begun well but lost the initiative by flitting between various lines and lengths.

The first half hour lived up to its clichéd billing with the ball buzzing past the batsmen's ears. Chris Gayle was placed under particular discomfort as Trent Boult softened him up and Tim Southee almost had him caught at leg gully. New Zealand might have persisted with the experiment a little more, but Gayle hit himself out of trouble and three fours in three balls earned him some breathing space. He was approaching a third fifty in four innings when the temptation to loft Mark Craig became too strong and he holed out at long-on. The offspinner would have relished the wear and tear on the pitch at Kensington Oval. There was rough to exploit against both right and left-handers but he could not quite assert himself the way Sulieman Benn did on the first day.

Brathwaite was one of the reasons for keeping Craig at bay. His solidity was a known quantity in West Indies. His driving was eye-catching - a healthy forward stride to underpin a strong push. He used his bottom hand to keep the ball down and none of his 10 fours bore the imprint of being hit too hard. It was a mark of his composure at the crease, but he might have been a touch too lax as he drove on the up and was caught at cover.

The scoring rates in this Test have been very brisk. Kirk Edwards contributed to the continuation of that trend. His strokes were more flashy and fueled a second-wicket partnership of 74 with four fours and a six. West Indies' top order is not often the most reliable but having gone in with five bowlers, they had extra responsibility and the response so far must be pleasing to the captain Denesh Ramdin.

New Zealand fussed over the ball for much of the morning session, trying to persuade the umpires to change it. When their efforts did bear fruit, the replacement seemed to offer the seamers a bit more bite but Boult and Southee, on whom the visitors' attack sorely depended, were rather lacklustre and West Indies benefited to the tune of 127 runs for the loss of two wickets.

New Zealand needed to streamline their plans after lunch, especially with Edwards chugging along on 41 off 45 and the new batsman, Darren Bravo, fresh off a century in the previous Test. Brendon McCullum had employed attacking fields - his ploy of using a silly mid-on almost bore fruit, but Brathwaite's lazy drive had fallen short. He worked the same principle against Edwards, whose strokeplay was characterised by hard hands, by having two short covers. He made the right moves and after the break his bowlers responded better. Craig went around the wicket to generate some good bounce, Neil Wagner was persistent. Contest had been imbued back into the game, but it was not allowed to unfurl as what began as a faint drizzle kept gaining strength.

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Persistent showers force abandonment

Indians 333 for 4 (Dhawan 60*, Pujara 57, Gambhir 54) v Leicestershire
Scorecard

Showers that began the previous night and persisted through Friday morning and afternoon ended any chance of play on the second day of the Indians' warm-up match against Leicestershire. The umpires were meant to carry out an inspection at half past two in the afternoon, but their decision was made easier by the rain, which came down strongly, having stopped for an hour-long interval around lunch.

The covers had not been removed from overnight with the incessant drizzle dampening one of the largest outfields in cricket while causing large puddles to form across the covers that the groundstaff worked hard to clear but in vain. Incidentally the BCCI twitter even tweeted a premature message an hour before lunch: "Second day's play of the warm-up between Leicestershire and Indians has been called off due to rain."

Having managed quality batting time the Indians did not seem overly bothered. The visitors came to the ground at noon before heading to the indoor nets where they trained under the watchful eye of their coach Duncan Fletcher.

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WICB discusses Guyana cricket bill with government

The WICB has met with representatives of the Guyana government to discuss its concerns with the Guyana Cricket Administration Bill that was passed by the national assembly in May. Following meetings on June 23 and 24, the WICB issued a statement saying that all parties involved agreed there were issues with the bill that needed to be redressed.

The WICB will now prepare a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) which identifies areas of the bill that need to be revised, what the revisions should be, and a timeline for implementation of the revisions. The MoA will be signed by the WICB, the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and the government of Guyana.

The bill paves the way for new GCB elections, bringing an end to the longstanding impasse between the board and the government; the issue dates back to the contentious elections in July 2011, when Ramsey Ali was elected president. The elections were boycotted by some of the board's constituent members, one of which, the Berbice Cricket Board, took the GCB to court, claiming the new administration was not properly established. The Chief Justice had recommended then that "there may be immediate need for the minister responsible for sports to impose his executive will in the national interest".

Following that ruling, Guyana's sports minister Dr Frank Anthony appointed an Interim Management Committee (IMC), headed by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, to run cricket in Guyana. The WICB, however, refused to acknowledge the IMC, in keeping with the ICC's stance against government intervention in cricket administration, and said the only authority it would recognise was the GCB.

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Two-in-two puts Sussex in the mix

Sussex 110 for 4 (Nash 74*) beat Middlesex 107 (Beer 3-22, Hatchett 3-23) by six wickets
Scorecard

In the ultra-competitive South Group a couple of wins can make a big difference. Before they travelled to Canterbury last week, Sussex, finalists as recently as 2012, had won three of their previous 18 games. They have now won two in a row and have gone from second-bottom in the section and up to fourth place and the last quarter-final spot.

A six-wicket win achieved with 23 balls to spare over a Middlesex side who remain bottom and with little chance of the knockout stages will not necessarily get their supporters rushing to the bookies to back Sussex for glory at Edgbaston in August.

They are likely to be without Matt Prior, Chris Jordan and Mike Yardy for most of the qualifying stage and their best batsman in the format so far, skipper Ed Joyce, rested a hamstring.

But successive wins is a step forward after five successive defeats and there was much to commend in Sussex's performance. They took 10 wickets, just as they had against Kent last week, fielded well and then one of their openers, in this instance Chris Nash, anchored the reply.

Nash, leading the side in Joyce's absence, made 74 off 53 balls with five fours and three sixes, the last of them a straight hit off James Harris to seal victory at the start of the 18th over.

His clean ball-striking and adroit placement against the spinners certainly put Middlesex's dismal batting in perspective. Although Ryan Higgins' promising innings of 31 was ended by a ball from James Anyon which scuttled through, too many of their batsmen played injudicious shots.

Hove groundsman Andy Mackay felt it was a 160-180 pitch and Middlesex would have batted first had they won the toss. There was certainly some pace and carry for the quicker bowlers as Eoin Morgan discovered when he touched a lifter from Anyon which wicketkeeper Ben Brown held above his head.

There was turn too with Will Beer's first ball bowling Dawid Malan out of the rough. The legspinner picked up 3 for 22 and when Hatchett returned at the end to pick up two more scalps the left-arm seamer had competition best figures of 3 for 23.

Sussex lost their talisman Luke Wright early in the reply, lbw on the walk to Harris, and a promising start by Harry Finch was ended by a direct hit from cover by Higgins after a mix-up with Nash. But Rory Hamilton-Brown played sensibly in support of his captain and it was still daylight when Nash struck the winning blow.

Was it a good T20 wicket? That is debatable, but a crowd of more than 5,000 enjoyed themselves, particularly the hundreds of youngsters allowed extra time by the early finish to enjoy their own games when the flooded onto the outfield.

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Poor pitches killing English T20

More than match-fixing, chucking or the absence of cricket from free-to-air television, poor pitches will destroy cricket and turn away spectators from the English game

"Take me to Lord's to see someone I've never heard of, nurdle someone else I've never heard of off their legs for a single," is an expression no child has ever uttered.

The NatWest T20 Blast is not for the purist. It is not about subtlety. It is not, really, even about winning. It is about attracting new spectators to the game. It was re-launched only a few weeks ago to double - yes, double - attendances over the next three or four years.

So it is essential it contains the biggest names, boundary hitting and fast bowling to appeal to those who are left untouched by longer forms of the game. It is essential it provides fast-moving, attractive, entertainment.

So it was a shame that, on the day it became clear that the ECB were not going to honour their commitment to back the re-launched competition by making England players available, that the pitch at Lord's for Middlesex's match against Gloucestershire should provide so little chance of entertainment to a crowd of 14,000.

Dry, cracked and uneven, it provided too much assistance for the bowlers and produced cagey cricket lacking the big hitting or eye-catching bowling that could sell the game to a new audience. It was like going to watch The Rolling Stones play their greatest hits and instead find them experimenting with an evening of Belgian jazz.

Matches like this present a chance to appeal to a new audience; a chance to inspire new supporters and new players. With very little cricket available on free-to-air TV, it is the shop window for our game.

But, all too often, the English game is self-harming with this sort of surface. A surface lacking the pace and bounce to encourage attractive cricket. A surface encouraging canny medium-pacers and dart-like spinners. A surface that creates boring cricket.

All too often, new spectators will taste the game once and never return.

And it may well get worse. Pitches for the 50-over competition later in the season may well be even more tired and dry. They will offer even more wretched entertainment. They will damage cricket even more.

It is not entirely the groundsmen's fault. They are obliged to prepare so many pitches during the course of a season that they simply run out of space. They have no choice but to re-use wickets, particularly when the requirements of broadcasters insist that games are played towards the centre of the square.

The new drainage installed at grounds around the country might be relevant, too. There is increasing evidence to suggest that groundsmen are simply unable to retain moisture in pitches and, as a consequence, there is a lack of pace and more assistance to spin than might be required. It is a factor that might become increasingly relevant in the Investec Test series against India.

In the longer-term the ECB are likely to consider centrally-contracted groundsmen. Then they can demand pitches for the benefit of the national game as a whole, not just the home county. But the ECB will also have to fund groundsmen adequately to ensure they have the required resources. This is too important an area of the game to skimp.

Pitches like this will kill the game. More than match-fixing, chucking or the absence of cricket from free-to-air television, poor pitches will destroy the product and turn away spectators. The game has to do better and for Lord's, the home of cricket, to provide such a surface for such an encounter, is bitterly disappointing.

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England prescribe rest to jaded squad

England have decided that rest will be the best cure for the team that slipped to their first series defeat on home soil against Sri Lanka. 10 of the 11 that played in the series are to miss the next round of County Championship games starting on Sunday, as well as NatWest T20 Blast games that precede them.

There is an irony in the only exception to the decision. Moeen Ali, who batted throughout the final day to take England within two balls of saving the Test and the series, will play in Worcestershire's Championship match against Glamorgan. While there will be few concerns about his batting, the England selectors will be keen to see him gain some more bowling time with the red ball after Moeen admitted in Leeds that he felt more confident delivering his doosra with the white ball.

Chris Woakes, who was also in the England squad for the Sri Lanka series but did not play, is free to play both in Warwickshire's T20 and Championship side.

All those not involved in matches will attend a two-day training camp in Loughborough, with the England squad for the first Test of the Investec series against India to be named in the middle of the week.

While the decision to rest the seam bowlers, in particular, is not a surprise, the decision to rest wicketkeeper Matt Prior is more perplexing. Prior endured a poor game with the gloves at Headingley and, having struggled with injury in the early stages of the season, had only kept in one first-class game before the Test series. As well as dropping a couple of chances, Prior also conceded 31 byes in the two-Test series.

England's inconsistent performance against Sri Lanka might have convinced the team management that the players required more time in the middle. But, perhaps with one eye to the future schedule - the entire five-Test series against India takes place in a six-week window - it has instead been concluded that rest may be of more benefit.

It was alarming to note how jaded some England players appeared towards the end of the second Test. James Anderson, despite an otherwise exemplary series, experienced one of his worst days in several years on the fourth day at Headingley, while Stuart Broad has a long-standing knee problem that limited him to two first-class games ahead of the series and appeared to be hampering him at times during it. Chris Jordan, so impressive in the limited-overs series and in early-season for Sussex, also appeared to have lost just a bit of nip.

It was also noticeable that those men - Joe Root and Prior, in particular - exposed to the pace and hostility of Mitchell Johnson in Australia seemed least able to cope with the pace of the Sri Lankan seamer Dhammika Prasad. England's problems may well stem more from feeling mentally jaded than physically.

Indeed, in years to come, the burn out of Jonathan Trott, the premature retirement of Graeme Swann, even the struggles of Alastair Cook and Steven Finn, may be seen as a reflection of a schedule that simply asks too much - physically but most of all mentally - of the best players. Nearly 300 days a year in hotels and, just as importantly, in the somewhat intense England environment, does little to retain the joy and freshness that is required to excel at the top level in sport.

Perhaps it is more surprising that the players have been withdrawn from Friday night's T20 programme. Not only might the relative freedom of a white-ball innings have freed up the likes of Cook to recover some form but, only a few weeks ago, the ECB re-launched the competition with assurances that England players would be made available more often. Even with the county game fighting for relevance and financial viability, it seems it will receive little help from the England camp.

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Bopara 'empty' at Test non-selection

Ravi Bopara admitted he woke up feeling empty the day after England's ODI series against Sri Lanka finished.

While Bopara still cherishes playing for Essex, he has tasted life on the bigger stage and knows that little else compares to the thrill of representing England. Waking in his hotel room the day after the ODI series ended knowing that he wouldn't be required for the Investec Test series against Sri Lanka was, he says, "a huge anti-climax".

"A lot of the other lads were going off to prepare for the Test series," Bopara told ESPNcricinfo. "They were excited. They were talking about it. They still had a buzz. And I wasn't involved. I woke up feeling this hole inside me knowing that England was over for me for a bit and I was going back to county cricket. It's really hard to accept.

"Look, I love playing for Essex. I really do. But there's nothing like playing for England. It's the ultimate. And once you've experienced it, it's very hard to accept anything less."

But Bopara accepts that his Test form has not been adequate to warrant his continued selection. While there were, as he puts it, "glimpses" of what he can do, an average of 31.94 after 13 Tests is modest for one so talented.

"I feel frustrated," he says. "I've not been able to show my full potential to a wider audience. I was doing OK, but then the Ashes of 2009 didn't go well for me and I haven't got back in for any length of time.

"I've shown glimpses. But I know I haven't done myself justice and I really want to do it. I mean, I really want it. I want to play innings people remember. I know I can do that and I would love another opportunity. But there's no point hoping or moaning. I've got to make sure I do it by scoring heavily in county cricket and making it impossible for them not to pick me."

Such passion may seem at odds with the image of Bopara as laid-back to the point of being comatose. But whatever he used to be like, he feels the experience of spending time with successful people from outside the world of cricket has given him greater perspective and better tools for coping with the stresses and strains of life.

"I've been disorganised in the past," he says. "That's true. But it is the past. I'm working harder than ever now. I did feel, for a while, as if I lost all my energy. But I've rediscovered that. I'm honestly more determined and focused than ever.

"I was very lucky to spend some time with some successful people outside cricket," he says. "I don't want to say who they were, but I'm talking about business people. It wasn't organised by Essex or the ECB. It just happened, really, and it's lucky that it did.

"They showed me the habits and characteristics successful people need to have. They showed me how organised you have to be and how calm they were under pressure. They were so determined and so positive and the whole experience made me a better cricketer and a better, more honourable man. Why? Because now, if I say I'm going to do something, I do it. I've learned a lot."

	"The experience made me a better cricketer and a better, more honourable man. Now, if I say I'm going to do something, I do it."

Bopara's last experience with the Test team ended after the first Test of the series against South Africa in 2012 when, for personal reasons, he felt a need to take a break from cricket.

"Being a cricketer is not like a normal job," he says. "If you work in an office you might leave home early in the morning and be back late at night, I know. But we go away for months at a time and that can cause a lot of problems. The schedule isn't conducive to normal family life. If there's something going on that needs sorting at home, well you've got to go and sort it."

But no-one should mistake Bopara's decision as a demonstration of any lack of commitment. "It's not exactly that I put cricket before anything else, it's just that it is who I am," he says. "Cricket makes me who I am. It's more than what I do; it's what I am. So it is number one for me. Family is more important, of course, but I wouldn't be me if I wasn't a cricketer. It's a non-negotiable part of my life. I have to put it first."

As one of the few men in the England set-up who developed as a player solely in the UK and without the help of the private school system, Bopara might also have a role in inspiring the next generation of young players into the game.

"There is so much talent out there," he says at a Chance to Shine event in Birmingham. "And there is so much love for the game. I was lucky in that my mum and dad played a massive part in my development. They took me to games, they encouraged me to train. They did whatever needed doing and I wouldn't have made it without them. Parents are the key.

"But role-models have a huge part to play, too. There has been a bit of a shortage of players from West Indian circles in the English game in recent years, so it's great to see Chris Jordan coming through. He is going to be a big star and hopefully he can encourage a lot more kids to play the game.

"Can I do that, too? I'd like to. I really would. I'm seeing a lot more kids from ethnic backgrounds in the grounds and if I can inspire one or two to take up the game, well, that would be brilliant."

Chance to Shine ambassador Ravi Bopara was visiting Bishop Challoner Catholic College for Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week. Thousands of Chance to Shine schools all over the country enjoyed cricket-themed activities in the classroom and the playground. Visit www.chancetoshine.org to find out more and donate.

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Podmore takes chance amid Middlesex struggle

Gloucestershire 105 for 6 (Howell 39, Podmore 3-13) v Middlesex match abandoned
Scorecard

Middlesex were meant to embody the brave new world of this season's NatWest Blast. They began the season with an innovative double-header and a new captain perfectly suited to the format in Eoin Morgan. It seemed like an intoxicating mix.

It hasn't worked out like that. Two defeats in a day at Lord's was not the start anyone envisaged - and Morgan promptly branded the concept of back-to-back games "unfeasible". Five defeats followed in their next six matches.

On a gloomy and ultimately rain-ruined evening at Lord's the prospect of a T20 game against Gloucestershire - pitting the bottom two sides in the South Division against each other - was not the most enticing prospect, even before factoring in the competing attractions of the football World Cup and Wimbledon tennis.

In the circumstances, that 14,000 still attended was heartening. They might have felt they deserved rather better than an anaemic pitch rendering timing the ball almost impossible. Gloucestershire managed only five boundaries in 20 turgid overs, a sight that will have done little to encourage the crowd to return.

Still, Harry Podmore would not have been complaining. Middlesex's miserable T20 season, allied to their impressive start in the Championship, has led to them resting their big fast-bowling feasts from T20. Steven Finn and Toby Roland-Jones both played today, but for Middlesex second XI against Surrey at Radlett rather than for the first team at Lord's.

Yet Middlesex's T20 despair has also created opportunities. The 19-year-old Podmore has seized his. He bowls full and straight and is evidently not easily fazed. As Adam Rouse moved around the crease in Gloucestershire's final over, in a desperate attempt to wake the innings up from its slumber, Podmore's focus was unwavering, and he decimated Rouse's stumps. In his first two professional matches - both televised T20s - Podmore has now taken five wickets for only 33 runs.

James Harris has had difficulties in this season's T20 Blast, going at over 8.5 runs an over but, from the moment Alex Gidman was caught off a top edge in the deep in the game's opening over, this had the feel of being a better day. As Gloucestershire stumbled to 19 for 3 off their Powerplay, it became apparent that consistent bowling on a length, the sort that batsmen relish on quicker pitches, would be sufficient to choke the innings. Benny Howell top scored with 39, including the only six of the innings, but it took 48 balls. At least Will Gidman attempted innovation to end the stasis, reverse-sweeping Ravi Patel for four and deploying the scoop against Harris.

Yet so turgid was the pitch that it is hard to imagine even the staunchest home supporter being particularly aggrieved that rain deprived Middlesex of the chance to chase down 106, even if an innings from Morgan would have shed more light on the pitch. A no result effectively confirms the premature exits of both sides though Middlesex have been anticipating such a result since their ill-fated Saturday five weeks ago.

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Northants fight a crumb for Peters

Northamptonshire180 (Chapple 5-51, Smith 4-26) and 231 for 8 (Smith 3-56) trail Lancashire 650 for 6 dec by 239 runs
Scorecard

Stephen Peters is a proud man. Quite pardonably unwilling to offer his views on the second evening of this game, after his side had been hammered to the distant shore of oblivion, the Northamptonshire skipper surely hoped against probability that the rest of the Division One contest would offer him some encouragement as he prepares for the second half of the County Championship season.

To a limited degree Peters' hopes were realised. True, Lancashire need just two wickets to complete a heavy innings victory, but many of Northamptonshire's batsmen fought as hard as they were able on the third day and they will begin the final morning on 231 for 8. Perhaps they therefore deserved the bad light which prevented Lancashire claiming the final half-hour.

No one exemplified the visitors' spirit of defiance against overwhelming odds more clearly than Andrew Hall, who followed his unbeaten 42 in the first innings with 36 not out in the second. Hall has now faced 200 balls in this match and if Peters' men are to get through the rest of this summer without suffering too many psychological scars, they will need to follow the South African's example. "This morning our objective was to get through today and bring everyone back tomorrow," Peters said. "We've managed to do that and we have to take small crumbs of comfort where we can at the moment."

Indeed, the morning had not begun too badly for Peters. His last three wickets added 67 runs, and then he and James Middlebrook had put on 39 more in fairly unruffled fashion before lunch. The follow-on, of course, had been taken for granted. Lancashire had a 470-run first-innings lead, the third-highest in their history, and Glen Chapple had only bowled 11 balls in the morning session. Saving the game would probably take Northants more than five sessions, ie. the rest of the match.

For Peters and his men, though, relief drops slow and slight this benighted summer. Fifteen minutes after the resumption Nigel Cowley gave the Northants captain out lbw for 41 when Tom Smith brought one back off the seam. Peters stood long and hard at the crease, perhaps considering the vicissitudes visited upon good men. More likely, he may have been disappointed with the decision. No matter; he had to trudge off.

An hour later Northants were 111 for 4 and the cream of their top order had departed in uncontroversial fashion: Richard Levi edging Smith to Paul Horton, Middlebrook nicking Kyle Hogg to Jos Buttler two balls later and Rob Newton losing his off stump when he failed to jab down on a Wayne White delivery.

Rain and bad light then trimmed 15 overs off the day's allocation but the elements did nothing to change the direction of the contest. In the 26 overs remaining to them Lancashire's attack grabbed four more wickets, two of them falling to Simon Kerrigan, who had Matt Spriegel lbw for 29 before having Ben Duckett caught by silly point, Alex Davies, the ball lobbing up off bat and pad. Only David Willey exhibited any impatience, the left-hander whacking his second ball from Kerrigan for six before miscuing Smith to Chapple at mid-on next over.

At such a juncture in the match and with little rain forecast, many sides might have settled for a cheery thrash, an early journey home and a night in their own beds. But, whatever their other problems, the Northants players are made of tougher stuff. Steven Crook joined Hall and frustrated his former side by making 36 and adding exactly 50 for the eighth wicket before, to his evident disappointment, he pulled the first ball of White's spell straight to Usman Khawaja at deep-backward square leg.

Graeme White also followed the line of most resistance and was undefeated on 5 when the light closed in. Lancashire's players will no doubt take great comfort from the imminence of victory, few more so than Smith, whose seven wickets in this match takes his total in Division One to 40 this summer.

Chapple, too, can be happy with matters. Lancashire's captain has bowled with real fire in this game and few things were more heartening for home supporters than to see him running in under full sail from the Pavilion End, still dead keen for his beloved Lancy, still crazy after all these years.

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'I never quit on anything' - Cook

Alastair Cook has insisted he has no intention of resigning the England captaincy despite his side slipping to the first home series defeat in their history against Sri Lanka.

Under Cook's captaincy, England are now without a win in eight successive Tests - six of which they have lost - which is their worst run since 1996-97. They have also dropped two places to fifth in the Test rankings.

Cook's own batting form is also causing concern. Since the start of the 2013 Ashes series, he has played 12 Tests and batted 24 times without making a century. In that period he has averaged just 25.04.

But, asked about his position after England slipped to a 100-run defeat against Sri Lanka at Headingley, Cook was adamant that, unless the ECB decide to sack him, he will not step down.

"I've never quit on anything I've done," Cook said. "I've given it my all, all the time. Every 104 games I've played for England, I've left everything out there

"It's the same situation here. Until that moment somebody tells me they don't want me to be captain, I'll still be here. I'm incredibly proud to be England captain. I've been selected to do it.

"If someone decides I'm not the right person for the job and the results don't justify me doing it, then fine. But until that moment, I'm desperate to try to turn English cricket around."

Cook conceded, however, that his batting form was a concern and accepted that the pressure on him to justify his place in the side was mounting.

"No one's guaranteed a place in this England team," he said. "You've seen with the young players around now, they're pushing for places. That's the way it should always be.

"When you're not batting well, you start to look at a few things technically. I'm sure there's something not quite right there I can work on.

"With runs at the moment hard to come by, it does put more pressure on me. I think I've got to go back to what I've done in the past. Bowlers do get tired. I've got to be so strong mentally and let them come to my areas, I believe. But it comes down to being mentally strong at the crease. I've done it in the past. I've just got to drag that mental strength out again.

"It's an incredibly tough challenge, a tough job, there's no doubt about it, especially opening the batting."

While Cook accepted that aspects of England's play in this game - especially their batting and bowling on the fourth day - had fallen well below standard, he did find some encouragement in the performances of some of the younger players. During the match both Sam Robson and Moeen Ali hit their maiden Test hundreds.

"I don't think you can fault any of the guys with the way they've played on the final day," he said. "We lost this Test match with a really bad day yesterday. We had one of our worst days, with both bat and ball, and lost this game because of it.

"Obviously, as a captain, you are responsible. We didn't bowl very well. It wasn't for lack of trying. We knew we had to bowl that fuller length. We knew what we were trying to do, but we just didn't get it right.

"If you look at the whole series, I think we probably had the better of eight, maybe seven, of the 10 days.

"With the fifth ball of the last day of the first Test, it was taken away from us and with the fifth ball of the last over, we've lost this Test match.

"It doesn't change the fact we've lost the series. But I think it would be wrong to look at it as such a negative series, just because we lost it.

"We've seen some amazing things from some young players who've come in, and announced themselves in international cricket. It was an incredible effort on the final day, with Moeen's hundred. To play like he played, for a free-flowing batsman to be so controlled, measured and calm under that pressure can only bode well for the future.

"But we can't look past the fact that, in this game, we were 300 for 3, with a lead of 60, and we haven't been able to nail Sri Lanka down. We should have got more than 360. We needed 450, 500 on that wicket. That's what's cost us."

It was noticeable on the final day that several of England's batsmen, notably Matt Prior and Joe Root, struggled against the short ball. But while Cook admitted that a hangover from Australia, and the beating that England took at the hands of Mitchell Johnson in particular, might still be affecting some players, he took comfort in the obvious pain that defeat caused his players, suggesting it showed the passion that remained within his side. James Anderson, who battled for more than 20 overs as part of the tenth-wicket stand with Moeen, was in tears at the post-match ceremony.

"Probably what happened over the winter is still there, getting hammered in Australia," Cook said. "There is that lasting effect, even with a different side. It's still the England side.

"But you saw Jimmy, right at the end. I think that just shows to everybody who doesn't really know us as blokes what it means to us to play for England.

"You sometimes get accused of not caring that much, especially when things don't go that well. But that was the raw emotion to a guy who has put everything into 83 minutes of batting. If it was 84, we'd be sitting here with a smile on our faces."

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Root provides Sri Lanka spark

As Sri Lanka sought a famous victory, Joe Root's words to Angelo Mathews were a pin prick that triggered an explosion

#politeenquiries: Is Pradeep better than Anderson?

It all began with Joe Root on the final day. He had been the overnight batsman. Moeen Ali was lacing silk with stone at the other end, and Root was blocking for his life. Sri Lanka's seamers began by bowling full. Rangana Herath went over the wicket, then around. Nothing worked. After a shower, and lunch, Sri Lanka asked to change a wet, misshapen ball.

With all that was to follow on day five, Root may not even remember what he said to Angelo Mathews, as Sri Lanka's captain oversaw the umpires' choosing of a new ball. But he did say something. Root spoke for no longer than three seconds, and suddenly Mathews was alive and aggressive, throwing something much longer, and nastier, in his face.

Sri Lanka had spoken since day one about how their attack might rip through England if they could take the match five days, but on the final morning, all the gunpowder they felt they had could not break England down. They needed a spark. A reason to run in harder, and stay keen in the field.

Within minutes Root was being harangued before each delivery, at the end of the over, and whenever a Sri Lanka player could get within earshot. For about 20 minutes, Root was a walking dartboard. Sri Lanka players who do not give more than two-word responses to journalists' questions were unleashing wordy tirades. The press box watched on with jealousy as Root collected the best quotes Mathews has ever given in his life.

Perhaps not even Root will know whether the edge he would send to gully was induced in part by the verbal assault. But before his jibe at Mathews, Sri Lanka were like a balloon, slowly deflating in the sun. Root's brief words were a pin prick, but they brought an explosion.

Sri Lanka would not have a smooth ride to the finish, but the intensity they mustered then did not dip until the penultimate ball took James Anderson's splice and floated into Rangana Herath's hands. As Mathews made 10 bowling changes in the final hour, like a man searching through his many pockets for some money, Sri Lanka's desperation was immense.

On a pitch that seemed to have died since the third day, after already having delivered more than 104 overs in the series, Shaminda Eranga found a magic ball formed of nothing but burning desire, and sealed Sri Lanka's first series win in England. Outside Asia, they last defeated top-eight opposition in a series way back in 1995.

Root was Sri Lanka's spark on Tuesday, but the past few months of Sri Lanka's cricket has been defined by the will to flourish in adversity. The players do not blame Paul Farbrace for switching sides in the weeks approaching the tour, but the team understood the strategic significance. They knew their own board was partly to blame for the clipping of one Test in this series, yet seeing that Test handed to India still felt like a slight.

On tour, the officials' reporting of Sachithra Senanayake's action, and the Mankad controversy to follow developed into what the team felt was a siege. Then in the days preceding the Tests, Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, labelled the visiting bowlers just "a glorified county attack". Mathews could not help but smirk, when it had all whirled to its extraordinary end.

"I hope my attack is better than a county attack," he said. "There was a little bit of a debate saying that my attack is not quite good enough for county cricket. That motivated us. We don't have Chaminda Vaas or Muttiah Muralitharan in our team, but we have some guys who are willing to do the job, are working really hard, and they're excited about playing Test cricket."

On paper Sri Lanka were outgunned, but on the final day at Lord's and the last four days at Headingley, they also transposed the fight that has shaped their limited-overs cricket for some time. England seemed headed for a straightforward victory with Sam Robson and Ian Bell at the crease on the second day, but Eranga's epic toil of line and length brought the quick wickets that gave Sri Lanka their first surge in the game. Mathews' 160, and his 149-run stand with Herath came in an even direr situation. Dhammika Prasad's fourth-day burst defies belief, given he had not taken more than one wicket for less than 100 runs in his past 10 Tests.

Sri Lanka have played without a break since early December, save for the few weeks of early IPL, to which none of the 16 men in the Sri Lanka squad had a ticket. With preparation having been so crucial to the trophy-sweep in England, the players will perhaps be glad for that. Since the painful end to the Sharjah Test in January, they have won 22 out of 27 matches, across all formats. Of all their plaudits, a Test series win in England seemed by far the least likely.

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Moeen shines amid rubble

It should not obscure the failures that led to England's defeat but Moeen Ali showed his talent and his temperament with a wonderful maiden Test century

Highlights: Moeen Ali produces valiant effort with maiden Test century on day five at Headingley

When Andy Flower warned after the Ashes that there may be more pain for England before things improved, it was days like this he had in mind.

Defeated for the first time at home in a multi-Test series by Sri Lanka, England have fallen two places to fifth in the Test rankings and, for the first time since 1996-97, when they were unable to defeat India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and New Zealand, have gone eight Tests in succession without a victory. James Anderson's tears after his dismissal summed up the general mood of the England camp. All the fight and hope had come to nothing.

There are unlikely to be repercussions in the short-term. England already have a new managing director, a new coach and a new chairman of selectors. They are not looking for a new captain as well.

There was always an understanding that this team was at the start of a long rebuilding phase. They may even consider themselves somewhat unfortunate to come up against a highly motivated Sri Lanka side containing two great players and several very good ones in their first Test series. This new dawn in English cricket was never likely to be full of rainbows and balloons.

Even if England had escaped with a draw, it should not have obscured the problems. It should not have obscured their poor catching, which has been an issue since the home series against South Africa in 2012, or the complacency with the bat that saw them squander a match-defining position in their first innings. It should not have obscured the weariness which seems to consume James Anderson and Stuart Broad worryingly often these days and it should not have obscured the poor form of a couple of England's senior players.

Most of all, it should not have obscured the manner in which England looked adrift in the field on the fourth day, or their problems with the short ball on the fifth.

While it was understandable to see England struggle against the pace and hostility of Mitchell Johnson in the Ashes, it was a surprise to see them struggle against the short ball from Dhammika Prasad. Admirably though Prasad bowled, there are many quicker and more hostile bowlers in world cricket. If batsmen cannot handle this in England, they are in serious trouble the next time they play Australia or South Africa. The fact that their ability against spin is also a weakness does not bode well.

Perhaps that Ashes experience is relevant. Perhaps several of those exposed to Johnson's bombardment have lost a bit of confidence against the short ball. While it is Jonathan Trott who is generally considered to have developed an issue with the delivery, the manner in which Matt Prior and Joe Root, in particular, struggled here, did raise the question as to whether they were suffering from some sort of shellshock after their experience in Australia. Prior was caught at short leg fending off one bouncer; Root was hit on the head and body by other short balls.

But, although it will not seem it right now, there were glimmers of gold amid the rubble of this defeat. The fact that Moeen Ali, Sam Robson and Gary Ballance were able to register centuries in their second Tests suggests all three could go on to play valuable roles at this level. Equally, the performance of Liam Plunkett and Chris Jordan, at least in parts, suggested England are beginning to assemble a group of seamers that could serve them well for a few years.

The fact that they demonstrated admirable fight on the final day, too, suggests there remains some spirit and resilience in the dressing room. Had they survived two more balls, it would have been record-breaking resistance: no team has gone into an uninterrupted final day (in terms of overs) with five wickets down and secured a draw.

On the final day, it was Moeen who stuck out. While more experienced colleagues faltered and failed, Moeen was calm and composed. While more experienced colleagues poked and prodded, Moeen ducked and left the ball with the experience of a 100-Test veteran. That he remained elegant and languid even in the tension of the last hour only increased the admiration for his innings. He even had the backbone to tell Stuart Broad not to squander a review when he was adjudged lbw. He deserved a better ending.

	On a ground that has not, historically, been the most open-minded, a proud British Muslim earned a standing ovation of real warmth and appreciation

His bowling probably deserves more credit, too. In this match Moeen, despite bowling in the first and third innings against a side expert in playing spin, claimed two top-order wickets from his 24 overs. When you compare that to the figures of Rangana Herath, a spinner now accepted as a world-class performer who was bowling on a fifth-day pitch, they do not seem so bad: Herath bowled 67 overs and claimed only one more wicket than Moeen. All three of them were tailenders.

Moeen has long been destined for great things. He made a half-century on his first-class debut as a 17-year-old and then went on to captain England U-19s with some success.

But he lost his way for a while. Four or five years ago, he looked horribly uneasy against the short ball. Then, two or three years ago, experimenting with a stance like Chanderpaul and losing all sense of where his off stump was, he was caught in the slips so often that he went through a patch of leaving straight balls that bowled him. He admitted he thought this day might never come.

So to see him ducking or defending the bouncers with ease, to see him leaving with expert judgement, to see him reining in those natural instincts to lace the ball through the covers, was testament not just to his hard work but Worcestershire's faith. Other teams would have dropped him, but Worcestershire took the long-term view and understood that, if they had faith, it would be repaid many times over. England might benefit from the same attitude now.

There is a wider context, too. As a proud and visible British Muslim, Moeen has a role to play - a role he relishes - in building bridges between communities that have sometimes lacked trust in one another. He has a role to play in encouraging involvement from young players in communities that have not always felt included among the 'stakeholders' of English cricket and he has a role to play in helping the England side reflect the society it is meant to represent, not just part of it.

And that is a society that is not just white and middle-class and privately educated; it is not just a society where cricket is played on the village green by the church. It is a society that lives in the inner-cities, that attends the state schools; it is a society where cricket is a game played in the streets and parks near the mosque.

On a ground that has not, historically, been the most open-minded, a proud British Muslim earned a standing ovation of real warmth and appreciation. It was not always like this. On that front, at least, this was a special day for English cricket.

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New England, same mistakes

With Alastair Cook isolated and the deficiencies in his captaincy laid bare, the suggestion that English cricket is at a low point continues to gain credence

Might this count as a low ebb?

After the Ashes defeat in Australia, the ECB chairman, Giles Clarke, said it was "utter nonsense" to claim that England were at "some sort of massive low ebb".

Since then, though, little has gone right for England. They were embarrassed in the World T20 by Holland, they lost the ODI series (and the T20 match) against Sri Lanka and their new managing director, Paul Downton, has sometimes looked so out of his depth that it is hard to resist the temptation to throw him a pair of armbands.

And, as their bowlers were thrashed around Leeds by Sri Lanka's eighth-wicket pair, as their captain's grim run of form continued, as they allowed a game they had every chance to dominate slip away in front of a 'crowd' so small it should probably be called a 'sparse' and as their batsmen displayed the resilience of a papadam - Liam Plunkett's dismissal might be remembered as the worst shot by a nightwatchman in the history of Test cricket - it was hard to avoid any other conclusion than England had slipped not just to a low ebb, but to basement flat below one.

England have already gone seven Tests without a victory. But even if they do produce a miracle and prevail on the final day (and they might as well pray that a plague of unicorns prevents play), even if they pull off the largest successful fourth-innings run chase in their history, it should not obscure the deficiencies that have hurt them. And it should not obscure the deficiencies in the leadership of Alastair Cook.

It is not just the poor batting form or the uninspiring tactics that provoke such concerns. Yes, we know that he has now gone 24 innings without a Test century and that, since July 2013, he averages in the mid-20s. And we know that, as a tactician, he is more mouse than Strauss; more phoney than Dhoni. The decision to set spread fields in the opening overs of the day simply allowed Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews to settle in.

But we also know his long-term batting record is excellent and, given time, he should come again. And we know that, when he is batting well, he has the ability to unite his team and lead them to fine victories such as a series wins in India and an Ashes win at home. There are different ways to lead and Cook is not as hopeless as some would suggest.

The real concern is his inability to raise his team when required. Frustrated by his ineloquence, he appears unable to find the stirring phrases to rouse and renew in times of trouble. He is the type of captain who leads by example. And his current example is mediocrity.

More than that, though, he was the captain backed by the ECB when it was decided to drop Kevin Pietersen. He was the captain either unwilling or unable to accommodate the highest run-scorer in England's international history and, as a result, he has weakened his side and shouldered an unnecessary burden.

Any suggestion that he was unaffected by the relentless negativity towards him from high-profile critics such as Shane Warne and Piers Morgan was dashed when Cook snapped back the day before this match. It has clearly been on his mind.

But if Cook must take his share of responsibility for England's performance, a few of his senior players also need to reflect on the support they have offered him. Matt Prior has looked unrecognisable from the keeper who proved so reliable up until the end of 2013 and, in this match, has flapped like a seal and dropped like a stone.

	For Sri Lanka to come in early summer and secure their first series win is a damning indictment of England's new era

James Anderson, impeccable for so long, bowled horribly short and wide in being out-performed by Dhammika Prasad. His first over with the second new ball did not demand a single stroke; his second was little better. Ian Bell was beaten through the gate, back when he should have been forward, while Stuart Broad was unable to summon any of the menace gained by his Sri Lanka counterparts. In an inexperienced side, these are the men who have to support Cook. On Monday, at least, they let Cook down. All those burned by the Ashes thrashing fell away under pressure.

What England cannot - must not - do is blame bad luck.

If you win the toss and decide to bowl first, you cannot complain if you end up batting fourth against a turning ball.

If you waste your two reviews on speculative lbw shouts - one where the ball was clearly going down the leg side - you cannot complain when an umpire misses a blatant outside edge off Shaminda Eranga before he has scored and there are no reviews remaining.

If you waste the new ball and squander more than half-a-dozen chances in the field, you cannot complain when Test batsmen punish you.

If you pass your opposition's score with only two wickets down but then lose 7 for 54, you cannot complain when the opposition fight their way back into the game.

And if you bowl your overs so slowly that you run out of time when the opposition are nine wickets down, you cannot complain when they hold on for a draw.

Sri Lanka have played well in this series, but England have been, to a large extent, the architects of their downfall.

There is, as ever, mitigation. This is an England side containing several inexperienced players; there were bound to be days like this as they learned their trade. Equally, in a two-match series, the effects of one poor day can be magnified. England have not been this bad for the other eight days. But overseas victories are hard to come by for any side and for Sri Lanka to come to the UK in early summer and secure their first series win, is not just a reward for fine cricket, but a damning indictment of England's new era.

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Bell defends Cook captaincy

England performance 'absolutely gutting' - Bell

Ian Bell has rejected the suggestion Alastair Cook is on the brink of resigning the England captaincy and said it was the performance of the players rather than any tactical shortcomings that have cost the side in Leeds.

Bell, England's unofficial vice-captain and the man most likely to be appointed captain should Cook step down, was one of the batsmen dismissed on the fourth evening of the second Test as England finished on 57 for 5 chasing an improbable 350 for victory.

While Bell praised the century by Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews as "one of the best" innings of its type he had witnessed, he also accepted that England had "failed to execute their skills" or take their chances in allowing their opposition back into the game. In particular, he conceded that England's bowlers had pitched too short and the fielders had failed to cling on to a succession of opportunities.

"It looks like we're going to lose this Test," Bell said. "And that is absolutely gutting. But there is absolutely no doubt [that Cook will continue as captain]. I don't think the tactics were wrong. I don't think he could have done anything more.

"Our plans were to get the ball full and we didn't quite do that. I don't think the bowlers will sit there and say they got it right. It felt the kind of wicket that, with anything short, you wanted to make the most of it.

"And we, as batsman, had an opportunity with the bat to bury them in the first innings. We didn't take it and I think they showed what good teams do: when people are down, you have to keep them down.

"We had chances in the field and we put them down. You can't do that with good teams. You can't give those world-class players opportunities or they will hurt you. They've been outstanding today, but we've been really disappointing. We've been outplayed. They recognised today was a massive day and they've won it.

"As a group, we've got to help him [Cook]. We've got to get right behind him and start performing as a team. He's got more hundreds than anyone in an England shirt and he's been one of the best batsmen I've ever played with. Form is temporary. One innings and he'll be flying again. So I'm not worried about his batting at all."

Bell offered warm praise for Mathews' century, but admitted that England had erred tactically in giving him singles in the hope of attacking his lower-order partners. Instead, Bell, suggested, they should also have attempted to dismiss Mathews.

"Hats off to him," Bell said. "It was an incredible knock. He's played arguably one of the best knocks we've seen against us, certainly shepherding the tail. I can't remember one, since I've been playing, that was better than that towards the back end, the way he has played with the bowlers.

"But you look back with hindsight and I think if you want to stop someone like that scoring runs you get them out, don't you? You don't just try to stop them scoring. But I hope tomorrow that we've got five guys who can show what it means to wear an England shirt and come out with some pride and at least do something.

"We've been working really well and there's this one really bad day we've had in the last eight or nine. In a two-match series, you can have one bad day and lose it. If this was a five-match series, we could fight our way back in, but we can't."

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Jayawardene turns up heat on Cook

England can't handle the pressure - Mahela Jayawardene

A fired-up Mahela Jayawardene shot barbs at England's tactics at Headingley and questioned their embattled captain's public comments, after Sri Lanka finished day four with a famous away win in sight. The tour has been hard-fought on both sides, with the reporting of Sachithra Senanayake's bowling action and the England response to Jos Buttler's Mankading in the fifth ODI causing the most visible grief in the Sri Lanka camp.

Sri Lanka's bowlers have largely prospered by bowling a fuller length at Headingley, while England's fast bowlers largely bowled shorter. When asked if Sri Lanka had shown England how to bowl seam at the venue, Jayawardene said his side had conveyed that very notion to England's batsmen in the middle.

"Their idea of hurting us and hitting us on the head probably doesn't work," he said. "If you're getting that good length up front, getting the ball to do a bit and being patient, one way or another, people will nick it. I thought we hung in there. We were disciplined enough. We had to get a few hits on our bodies, but I'm sure tomorrow afternoon we'll have a good laugh about it."

The fourth day began with England holding the edge but Angelo Mathews' excellent 160 and an intense four-wicket burst from Dhammika Prasad left the visitors with five wickets to get to complete victory.

"England were quite chirpy in the morning, but they quietened up after the first hour or so," Jayawardene said. "That's part of the game. We know who is on top and who is not. They were quite chirpy yesterday evening as well, and they probably got quite a few from us when they came to bat. They'll definitely get some more in the morning as well.

"Chirping them is something we had spoken about. We've seen that under pressure, they're not quite up to it. So we'll definitely look forward to tomorrow. There's a few young guys to come in and they'll get some sledging."

On the eve of the match, Alastair Cook had said "concerns had been raised" in the England camp when they viewed Senanayake's action on video - a comment which will not have been taken well by the Sri Lanka team, who have rallied around Senanayake since his being reported. But it was Cook's comments about his vocal critic Shane Warne, however, that Jayawardene questioned the wisdom of.

"I definitely feel for him but it doesn't help when you have arguments with commentators and past cricketers. That's something you can't control. You try and control what's there for you, which is trying to perform and carry yourself through."

Cook's unhappy run has continued through the first part of England's summer, with his place in the Test team beginning to look shaky, let alone his captaincy. He has averaged 19.5 in the current series. Jayawardene said: "I always felt as a captain - before you are captain, you are a player. You need contribute to the team. You have 11 guys and you're part of that. You can't think about too many other things."

Sri Lanka have already sewn up the limited-overs series and if they move on to a Test series win on Tuesday, they will have completed an incredible tour. It would also cap off a five-month stretch in which they have won series across all formats in Bangladesh, the Asia Cup and the World T20. Jayawardene suggested the tense nature of the England tour would make a Test win particularly sweet.

"As a team this was always going to be a challenging tour for us," Jayawardene said. "Things have happened, and we were quite comfortable with the way we handled them. At the end of the day our cricket was always going to be looked upon. I think we've played it with the right spirit, and played it very fairly.

"Even coming into the Test series, we knew we had to brace for some of the backlash - which we did. We held our fort together and came back strongly. A lot of credit to the team, to the management, and to the entire group. It's been a long season for us. We haven't stopped since last December. We've been playing cricket pretty much on the road, so if we can get an away Test series win, it would be fantastic going back home."

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Mathews unlocks another dimension

Angelo Mathews' innings may have defined the Test match but it also has potential to define his career

When Dhammika Prasad ramped his first ball into a diving third man's hands, Angelo Mathews hurled him a furious look. Head down, Prasad would not meet his captain's eyes, but Mathews was too disgusted to let it lie there. He crossed to the other end and threw his bat a metre, to the ground.

Mathews was made captain partly for his stoicism; his calmness, and often courage, under fire. In 17 months at the helm, he has hardly had a go at one of the many bowlers who have missed their lines, or the fielders who let balls slip through their hands and legs. Even comical ineptitude, has drawn no more than a groan from him.

But he had been battling as if for his life all morning at Headingley, making his blade wider than a sea wall as waves of England attacks broke upon it, then ruthless counter-strikes when the bowlers strayed. He had watched Mahela Jayawardene nick behind, playing loose drive. He had seen Dinesh Chandimal fold neatly into England's leg-side trap. With at least 60 runs to get before Sri Lanka's lead would feel comfortable, Prasad's foolish stroke just put him over the edge.

Mathews was only 55 at that point, playing nicely, putting his fine form to use. But few would have expected the carnage to follow. Enraged by a team-mate, and emboldened by desire, Mathews engaged beast mode. He would hit one of the great Sri Lanka innings before he left the field; a knock so outrageous, yet so clinical, it would unlock even a further dimension to his cricket than he has already managed in a rich past six months.

As England set men back on the fence to Mathews, and hoped to force a wicket at the other end, Mathews took up a sledgehammer in one hand and a scalpel in the other. Boundaries down the ground took all forms, from classical on-drives, to mows through the air, only they were all hit hard, and exactly where Mathews wished to dispatch them. The cuts past point and the glances off straight balls seemed almost effortless by comparison. When bowling full proved futile, England kept pitching it short, imagining he would lose control of his pull shot some time. Mathews never did.

But his systematic hogging of the strike was even more incredible. England's ring fielders fenced off the paddock on the off side, but Mathews would move across his stumps and work the ball to the open prairies on leg. Eventually, the bowlers would go too wide even for that, yet somehow, Mathews injected the ball between clots of England fielders and crossed when he required. Sometimes he timed the ball too well. Rarely has a batsman seemed so annoyed to watch the ball cross the rope. Of the 348 balls England would deliver while Mathews was at the crease on Monday, he would face 201.

Alastair Cook may reflect he erred in failing to attack Mathews after the first hour, and in delaying Moeen Ali's introduction, but as abysmal a day as he had, Mathews had a worse one five months ago. Mathews' tactics defied sense on day five in Sharjah. On the other end of a sapping assault now, his thinking could not have been clearer.

He knew in his soul where the fielders were for each bowler, and when they would push in, and sit back. The umpires had trouble keeping track of the number of balls in each over but, in between skipping down the track to England's fastest bowler, putting the spinner into space, Mathews never lost count. When Rangana Herath pulled Stuart Broad behind square for four, Mathews was down the pitch to embrace his partner, long before the stadium announcer had marked their century stand.

Cricket nous has not been Mathews' strength in time gone by but, until he ran Herath out, his decision-making was nearly flawless. Most times when Sri Lanka's strategy makes a mockery of the opposition, Jayawardene is involved, but he was instead in the pavilion, breathing it in.

"The message to our boys was that we just take whatever singles on offer," Jayawardene said. "Angelo batted really well in that situation, safeguarding the tail and taking the opportunity to go for those big shots when the field was in. It was the right way for Angie to go. He didn't have to take too many risks when the field was back, but whenever he needed to take a risk, he did. In that context, that showed that they were on the back foot and we just needed to drive that advantage we had forward. It was one of the best knocks I've seen."

Herath's hand in Sri Lanka's resurgence cannot be forgotten too. Before this innings, the team had urged the tailenders to show grit, and if the courage in his bowling is anything to go by, it is no surprise Herath responded most emphatically to that request. If he helps seal a victory on day five, Sri Lanka will cap off an extraordinary five months, in which they will have won every trophy they played for.

Mathews' innings may well have defined the Test match, but it also has potential to define his career. Only a handful of Sri Lanka batsmen have ever managed the kind of mastery he showcased. The challenge to him, and his team, is to never settle for just being very good.

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Srinivasan elected unopposed as TNCA president

BCCI's president-in-exile N Srinivasan was unanimously elected as the chief of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) for the 14th consecutive year.

As has been the case for over 10 years, all the sitting office bearers and executive committee members were elected unopposed during the 84th annual general body meeting of the TNCA.

This is for the 14th year that Srinivasan has been elected as the president of TNCA without any break.

Following are other office bearers elected unopposed:

Vice Presidents: U Prabhakar Rao, Kalpathi S Aghoram, S Raghavan, P S Raman, R Kanakarajan and V Ramesh.

Secretary: Kasi Viswanathan, Jt Secretary: R I Palani, Assistant Secretary: R S Ramaswamy, Treasurer: V P Narasimhan.

Executive Committee: K Sriram, K S Shankar, G C Dangi, P Anand, C G Anandaram, K Murali, Adam Sait, K Mohan and Keshav Sriraman.

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Moeen hints at his future worth

A plethora of "experts" who have spent the last few weeks repeating the myth that Moeen is a "part-time" spin bowler may now afford him a little more respect

'Tomorrow morning will be crucial' - Moeen Ali

The knives were out for Moeen Ali long before he bowled on Sunday afternoon. "He's useless," the pundit in the press box roared when Alastair Cook finally threw Moeen the ball. "He can't bat and he certainly can't bowl."

The pundit's opinion is, up to a point, understandable. Having heard the England coach, Peter Moores, describe the spin position as "a weakness" after the Lord's Test and having heard the captain, Cook, describe the spin position as "a cause for concern," it would seem natural to conclude that neither of them had much faith in Moeen's spin bowling.

It was a view that could only have been reinforced when Cook, despite the dry pitch and an off-colour display from his seamers, seemed reluctant to trust his spinner until the 56th over. It was beginning to be hard to understand why they had selected him.

And it was a view that could have only been reinforced by the plethora of "experts" who have spent the last few weeks repeating the myth that Moeen is a "part-time" spin bowler. Experts who have clearly not spent much time at New Road watching Moeen fulfil the main spinner's role for Worcestershire for much of the last few years.

Perhaps he will now be afforded a little more respect. While he is a long way from proving his long-term viability as a Test spinner, Moeen did at least show on the third day here that he is far from the bits and pieces player that he has been dismissed as by some.

His first wicket was that of Kumar Sangakkara. That is the Sangakkara who had just become one of only four men in history to score seven successive half-centuries in Test cricket and the Sangakkara with more than 11,000 Test runs to his name.

But, having turned a couple sharply enough to demand the batsman's respect, Moeen drifted one into the left-hander. This one did not turn, or turned very little, and though Sangakkara pushed forward, the dip and drift defeated him and he was struck on the pad and trapped lbw. It could have been Graeme Swann bowling. It was exactly the way Swann tortured so many left-handers.

Better was to come. Two balls later, Lahiru Thirimanne pushed forward at another bowled from round the wicket and, having been drawn into playing the ball on middle and leg by the drift, was beaten past the outside edge by one that turned sharply and hit the top of off stump. It was, by any standards, a lovely piece of bowling. "It's the best ball I've bowled on TV," Moeen said.

A few overs later, Moeen delivered the first "doosra" of his international career. It was not hard to pick from the hand - it is slower and more floaty than his normal off-break - but it drew a respectful "well bowled" from Mahela Jayawardene and it may well have given him the confidence to bowl it more often. Most of those who believe the delivery cannot be bowled without throwing did not even notice it happen.

"I was feeling pretty confident so I thought 'why not bowl one'?" Moeen said afterwards. "It's the first one I've bowled. I just wanted to do a job for the team first. I'm not as confident to bowl it with the red ball as I am with the white ball. He played it quite well, but he did sort of say it was alright."

Moeen has now taken 93 first-class wickets since the start of 2012 at an average of 32.18. They are not extraordinary figures, certainly, but they compare well with most other spinners who have been utilised by England in Test cricket in recent years. James Tredwell, by contrast, has taken 49 (at an average of 45.12), Monty Panesar has claimed 153 (at 30.77 apiece), Gareth Batty has taken 74 (at 30.60), Scott Borthwick has taken 71 (at 36.11) and Samit Patel has taken 63 at 47.09. Whether Moeen is a Test class spinner remains to be seen, but on those figures, he has a good argument to be considered among the best available to England at present. Calling Moeen a part-timer spinner is simply factually inaccurate.

He is improving, too. He has a close relationship with Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal, who has returned to Worcestershire for a stint as an overseas player, and has spent many hours working with him in the nets. Ajmal has shared the secrets of his doosra with Moeen and, he says, nobody else. In recent weeks, Ajmal has watched Moeen bowl 30 or 40 doosras in succession in practice. While there is a long way to go before Moeen's doosra is anything like Ajmal's, it is worth remembering that Ajmal only learned the delivery in his mid-to-late 20s. Moeen, who celebrated his 27th birthday on Wednesday, has time on his side.

If England are demanding instant success, he may not be the answer. If they are building for the future, he may well be worth some perseverance.

Besides, England's failings here have not been caused by the absence of a world-class spinner. Instead they have dropped catches - Chris Jordan was the latest to put down a straightforward chance, reprieving Dimuth Karunaratne in the slips on 12 - let a strong position slip when batting - they lost their last seven wickets for only 54 runs having surpassed the Sri Lankan total with eight wickets in hand - and then bowled with unusual lack of control or even sense. The manner that James Anderson and Stuart Broad - bowling far too short and often too wide as well - wasted the new ball at the start of the Sri Lankan second innings may yet cost England this match.

Complacency surely cannot have been an issue. A team that has now won any of its last seven Tests and was defeated in the World T20 by Netherlands has no reason for anything of the sort.

They should not be complacent about their over-rate, either. After being fined for a slow-rate in the Lord's Test, England have again failed to bowl the minimum number of overs demanded in a day here.

One day the ICC will look at the pitifully small crowds which have now become the norm in Test cricket and act to prevent such self-defeating practices. They will suspend a high-profile captain and focus the minds of the players on the demands of the spectators. But until they do, the punters will continue to be asked to pay ever more for less and continue to drift away from the game.

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Sangakkara finally leaves his hallmark on England

Having averaged only 30 in England before this tour, Kumar Sangakkara has finally restored his record

Sri Lanka's day of the series

When Kumar Sangakkara arrived at the crease on day three, Liam Plunkett hurled a rocket at his chest. The Headingley pitch had been misbehaving since the second afternoon, and this was one of its naughtiest moments. The game's fastest bowler was provoking it to mischief.

In the first innings, Lahiru Thirimanne had got a similar delivery first-up, and he fended a catch to short leg. Given the abysmal series Thirimanne has had, maybe surviving the same ball does not mean much. But the one Sangakkara got was a brute all the same. The kind that makes kids want to become fast bowlers.

Sangakkara deflected that one in front of short leg, but he knew the bowler had had the better of him. He looked down at the spot on the pitch that had caused him grief, then looked away, walking toward square leg, then back again. He shuffled his feet and took guard. The next legitimate ball was wide and full. He stretched out and cracked it through the covers as hard as he has hit any ball in the series.

A hush hung over Headingley for a moment, then lifted with a swell of appreciation. The Yorkshire crowd is partisan, urging England on, saving their loudest for the local lads, but they know cricketing excellence when they see it. When Sangakkara was dismissed - perhaps for the last time in England - the ground stood to their feet to clap him off the field. But few will have known Sangakkara's curious relationship with the cover drive when the clapped that first four. Many will also have been unaware of the batsman's troubles in England, before this tour.

The cover drive has been Sangakkara's signature stroke for much of his career, because it is almost a marvel of engineering. The step forward is swift and precise. The still head and fast hands, practiced and mechanical. The back knee bends just enough to stabilise him, and the entire movement is set off by a checked flourish forged of control. The ball only ever goes in a slim arc between cover and extra cover. Mahela Jayawardene played a cover drive too on the third day, but his rendition of the stroke is languid and musical; more dependent on his mood, than the ball and the fielders, and capable of going almost anywhere in front of square.

In many ways, the cover drive is a microcosm of Sangakkara's cricket - meticulously refined and supremely efficient - but on previous tours of England, it had sometimes been his undoing. In the 2011 tour, he was out to it in Southampton and at Lord's lunging at the ball when it had curved away from him. It has frustrated him in other parts of the world too, across all formats.

In the last match at Lord's, England tempted him wide of off stump for a good ten overs, when he arrived in the first innings. But in that innings, Sangakkara was hell-bent on his raid for a hundred. He could not be drawn into the shot until he was past 30, and even then, he applied it economically.

The stroke was a risk at Headingley too, particularly against Plunkett, whose extra bounce had done Jayawardene in, when he drove outside off stump in the first innings. But for Sangakkara, the third day was no day for restraint. He was in the middle to move his team's cause forward, but also to make a mark. In all likelihood, this is his last outing in England.

He was glad for his error-riddled 79 in the first innings, but when he came off the field, most people would not stop deriding the innings. Sangakkara has been a dream interview for several major English papers since he arrived in the country, but when a radio station spoke to him before the second day, and led with "Wasn't the best innings you've ever played, yesterday, was it?", Sangakkara was audibly agitated: "That's the way it sometimes goes in cricket, the important thing is getting the runs." The reply was uncommonly brief. Over the next few minutes, one of the game's most eloquent speakers would not offer more than a six-second answer to any of the interviewer's stream of questions.

On Sunday, the first ball from Plunkett elicited the only ugly moment from Sangakkara. From the very next ball, he was intent on reassuming dominance. He scored faster than any Sri Lanka batsman on the day, and sent four balls through the covers during his 55. The cover drive accounted for a higher percentage of his runs in this innings, than in any other this series.

He has now scored as many 50-plus scores on the trot as any batsman has ever managed, only, he has a triple ton and a couple of centuries among that string of scores. He has raised his average in England to 41.04, when it had languished at just over 30 before the tour, creating doubt over his greatness. His 342 runs is more than any Sri Lanka batsman has scored in a single series in England.

On day three at Headingley, he recovered from Plunkett's first ball, and his strange first innings. For many in the country, where his record has now recovered too, that cool, calculated cover drive will be the enduring hallmark of the memory of his career.

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Australia's summer schedule released

Cricket Australia has finalised an international season heavy on limited-overs cricket, with Adelaide losing its semi-traditional Australia Day match to Sydney. Australia's home internationals will begin on November 5 when they play South Africa in the first T20 and with the World Cup dominating the February-March slot in Australia and New Zealand, it will be a long international season.

India are the only team playing Tests in Australia this summer and the first of four will begin at the Gabba on December 4, the latest start to Australia's home Test summer in 11 years. It had previously been determined that with only four Tests scheduled, the WACA would be the venue to lose a Test this year; Adelaide will host the second Test from December 12 before the traditional Boxing Day and New Year's Tests in Melbourne and Sydney.

But Adelaide's tradition of hosting an international on Australia Day has been ignored, with Australia to play India at the SCG in a one-day match on January 26, which is also India's Republic Day. That match is part of a tri-series that also features England; in total, Australia will play at least nine ODIs at home in the lead-up to the World Cup, which starts on February 14.

Cricket Australia has also released the domestic one-day and four-day schedule and while the BBL fixture is yet to be finalised, it has been confirmed that it will be cut back to 43 days from last year's bloated 50-day tournament. The domestic one-day tournament will open the season as it did last summer, although this time it will be held in Sydney and Brisbane rather than Sydney alone, as was the case in 2013-14.

It will also have a new name after spending four years as the Ryobi Cup; the competition will now be called the Matador BBQs One-Day Cup. An extra round of matches has also been factored in for the Matador Cup to help players push their cases in a World Cup year, and the tournament will run from October 4 to 26 before the Sheffield Shield begins with its first round on October 31.

Four Shield rounds will be played before the first Test against India, although they will not all be preparing players for Tests with the red ball. After trialling pink balls and day-night Shield cricket late last summer, Cricket Australia will again test the concept this season. This time, though, the day-night matches will make up round two of the Shield, from November 8 to 11, with games in Hobart, Perth and Adelaide.

Adelaide remains the most likely venue for Australia to host its first day-night Test, which could be as early as next summer against New Zealand. However, Hobart is also considered a possibility and Cricket Australia was keen to test day-night Shield cricket there this season after last year's trials took place in Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane.

December 8 to February 7 will be a Shield-free zone as the BBL becomes the focus, with the Twenty20 tournament set to begin on December 18. Five Shield rounds will be played after the BBL, although the unavailability of major venues due to the World Cup has meant that secondary grounds such as Bankstown Oval, Allan Border Field and Glenelg's Gliderol Stadium will be used.

New South Wales will take two matches to regional parts of the state but Victoria faces a major scheduling issue as the MCG is its only ground currently approved for first-class cricket. There is a possibility Victoria will be forced to play three home games interstate if a Victorian venue cannot be found for the games against Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania in February-March.

Cricket Australia's chief executive James Sutherland said this summer had proved especially challenging to schedule due to the World Cup, which runs from February 14 to March 29 in Australia and New Zealand. The fixture was so complex that 72 drafts were required before the schedule was finalised.

Matador BBQs One-Day Cup
October 4: New South Wales v South Australia, Allan Border Field, Brisbane
October 4: Queensland v Victoria, Gabba
October 6: Queensland v New South Wales, Allan Border Field
October 6: Victoria v South Australia, Gabba
October 8: South Australia v Western Australia, Gabba
October 8: Tasmania v Victoria, Allan Border Field
October 10: New South Wales v Queensland, Gabba
October 11: Western Australia v Tasmania, Gabba
October 12: South Australia v Queensland, Allan Border Field
October 12: Victoria v New South Wales, North Sydney Oval
October 13: Tasmania v Western Australia, North Sydney Oval
October 14: Queensland v Victoria, North Sydney Oval
October 15: New South Wales v Western Australia, Drummoyne Oval
October 15: South Australia v Tasmania, Bankstown Oval
October 17: Victoria v New South Wales, Drummoyne Oval
October 17: Western Australia v South Australia, Bankstown Oval
October 18: Queensland v Tasmania, North Sydney Oval
October 19: Victoria v Western Australia, Drummoyne Oval
October 20: New South Wales v Tasmania, Drummoyne Oval
October 22: Tasmania v South Australia, North Sydney Oval
October 22: Western Australia v Queensland, Bankstown Oval
October 24: 2nd v 3rd, preliminary final, Drummoyne Oval
October 26: Final, SCG

Sheffield Shield
October 31-November 2: Western Australia v Tasmania, WACA
October 31-November 2: Victoria v New South Wales, MCG
October 31-November 2: South Australia v Queensland, Adelaide Oval

November 8-11: Western Australia v Queensland, WACA (day-night)
November 8-11: Tasmania v Victoria, Bellerive Oval (day-night)
November 8-11: South Australia v New South Wales, Adelaide Oval (day-night)

November 16-19: Tasmania v Western Australia, Bellerive Oval
November 16-19: South Australia v Victoria, Adelaide Oval
November 16-19: Queensland v New South Wales, Gabba

November 25-28: Victoria v Western Australia, MCG
November 25-28: Queensland v Tasmania, Allan Border Field
November 25-28: New South Wales v South Australia, SCG

December 5-8: Western Australia v Victoria, WACA
December 5-8: Tasmania v South Australia, Bellerive Oval
December 5-8: New South Wales v Queensland, SCG

February 7-10: Western Australia v South Australia, WACA
February 7-10: Tasmania v New South Wales, Bellerive Oval
February 7-10: Queensland v Victoria, Gabba

February 16-19: Tasmania v Queensland, Bellerive Oval
February 16-19: South Australia v Western Australia, Gliderol Stadium, Glenelg
February 16-19: New South Wales v Victoria, Regional NSW (venue TBC)

February 24-27: Victoria v Queensland, TBC
February 24-27: South Australia v Tasmania, Gliderol Stadium
February 24-27: New South Wales v Western Australia, Regional NSW (venue TBC)

March 5-8: Victoria v South Australia, TBC
March 5-8: Queensland v Western Australia, Allan Border Field
March 5-8: New South Wales v Tasmania, Bankstown Oval

March 13-16: Western Australia v New South Wales, WACA
March 13-16: Victoria v Tasmania, TBC
March 13-16: Queensland v South Australia, Gabba

March 21-25: Sheffield Shield final

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Williamson reported for suspect action

Kane Williamson, the part-time New Zealand offspinner, has been reported for a suspect bowling action following the second Test against West Indies in Trinidad. As per ICC regulations, Williamson will have to undergo testing of his action within 21 days, but can continue bowling until the results of the test are known.

Williamson was reported by umpires Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth and Rod Tucker, and match referee Chris Broad, after the Test ended on Friday. Williamson had bowled 15.2 overs in the Test, for figures of 1 for 43. An ICC release said: "The umpires' report cited concerns over a number of deliveries that they considered to be suspect and believed that his action needed to be tested."

The report has been handed over to the New Zealand team manager.

New Zealand's Test series against West Indies is currently tied at 1-1, with the third Test set to begin in Barbados on June 26.

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Old-school Robson plays it perfectly

As the home side stumbled in the final session the value of Sam Robson's maiden Test hundred, a model in concentration and self-denial, became clear

'I didn't know how to celebrate' - Robson

Whatever the gladiators, smurfs, superheroes and the fellow dressed as a moose expected when they got ready for a day at the cricket, it probably was not this. Certainly, there was something incongruous about the sight of hundreds of people in fancy dress watching Sam Robson leave the ball watchfully for hours on end and occasionally nudging one off his hips. It was like dressing for a party and then spending the night doing your accounts. Sometimes it really did feel like the longest day.

But if Robson's batting is unfashionable, it is also valuable. And if there were times during the stand between Robson and Gary Ballance, in particular, when progress seemed a little sedate, the fact is that England ended the second day in a strong position.

If they go on to win with a day to spare, it would surely be a bit perverse to complain about the pace of their cricket. It might also have become a bit perverse to complain about the standard of county cricket: Robson, Ballance and Chris Jordan seem to have made the step-up rather comfortably.

For all the repetition in recent times that Test cricket has changed and that batsmen have to be positive, there are many times when there is nothing more valuable than a sound defensive technique. After a winter when the pace of scoring became the least of England's worries - the Sydney Test was over in three days - there is plenty of room for a batsman with the patience of Robson and the no-frills effectiveness of Ballance. Ballance may well go on to score 8,000 Test runs without playing a single stroke that elicits the 'cooing' reserved for a cover drove from Ian Bell. But he might also win quite a few games for England.

There was no eureka moment in Robson's decision to pick England over Australia. He simply pursued the path that offered the best chance of playing the most professional cricket and, armed with a UK passport courtesy of a mother born in Nottingham, he concluded reasonably enough that county cricket offered better prospects than State cricket in Australia. At that stage, as a teenager, the prospect of Test cricket seemed impossibly distant.

Besides, he is not the sort of player Australia tend to favour. While he represented their U-19 side, it was not until the last few months that they showed much interest in his development and it remains hard to see how he would fit in with the aggressive approach currently favoured by Darren Lehmann and Robson resisted a late offer to entice him back to Australia last winter as he was, by then, involved with England Lions and on the pathway leading to Test cricket.

There may well, in time, be a reasonable debate to be held on England's reliance upon players who were brought up, in part, abroad, but equally there might be some cause for celebration that this side represents the multi-cultural society that the UK has become.

It is not hard to understand why Robson does not merit selection in Middlesex's limited-overs side. He does not have a wide range of stroke. He is neat off his legs, drives nicely and cuts efficiently. He was slow to relax and declined to put away deliveries that, for Middlesex, he would have attempted to cut or pull. Indeed, he did not play one authentic pull shot in his innings. There were times, when the ball was just back of a length on off stump, when he appeared strokeless.

Yet Test cricket remains as much about discipline and denial as it does about flair and aggression. It remains as much about the strokes a batsman does not play as those that they do. Yes, there may be times when Robson's rate of scoring is a minor frustration. But there should be many more times when his resilience is a reassuring asset and when the foundations he builds for England's promising but somewhat fragile middle-order will prove valuable. In Australia, the middle-order were often exposed to the new ball. Robson, at least, should force seamers into second, third and fourth spells and allow the likes of Joe Root to come in against a softer ball.

There is an irony here, though. Nick Compton was dropped, in part, because he was thought to score too slowly to hurt the opposition. To drop Compton, who has a greater range of stroke, and pick Robson only reinforces the suspicion that the former was omitted more because some in the team management simply did not like him than any flaw in his play.

Robson, too, was judged harshly after his first Test at Lord's. With nerves bothering him in the first innings, he was drawn into pushing at one that, at county level, he would usually have left. Critics who had never seen him bat, jumped to conclusions about his technique and temperament.

Even here, as he reached his century, some of the same pundits were dismissing it as of little worth. The bowling was undemanding, they claimed, and the pitch without menace. But when England lost three wickets for two runs in the evening session, the value of Robson's innings became a little more apparent.

Besides, if the bowling was so modest and the conditions so placid, what does the failure of Alastair Cook say about his future? His dismissal here, poking with minimal foot movement at a regulation delivery angled across him, spoke of a man low on confidence and struggling with his technique. The pitch was flat, the bowling - by the standards of Test cricket - relatively undemanding.

Cook's long-term record demands he is afforded greater patience than might be the case for other players. The England management have also backed him so resolutely that, to drop him now would constitute a major change of direction with their plans. It is not an imminent possibility.

But since the start of the Ashes series in July 2013, Cook has now played 23 innings without registering a century and averages just 25.43. His somewhat testy attitude at the pre-match media conferences suggested a man who was beginning to feel the pressure and to tire of some of the baggage that comes with captaincy. Few people would be surprised if, by this time next year, Bell was England captain. How Cook would have loved his opening partner's runs.

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Marshall provides calming hundred

Gloucestershire 308 for 5 (Marshall 109, Tavare 77, Cockbain 51, Hogan 3-39) v Glamorgan
Scorecard

Stand-in skipper Hamish Marshall led from the front with his second century of the season as injury-hit Gloucestershire ran up 308 for 5 in glorious sunshine on the opening day of the Division Two match with Glamorgan at Bristol.

Having won an important toss, Marshall, leading his side in the absence of Michael Klinger, made 109, hitting a six over long-on off Andrew Salter and seven fours.

Despite the best efforts of Michael Hogan, who bowled with great heart on an unhelpful pitch to claim 3 for 39 from 19 overs, Glamorgan were unable to prevent their hosts taking a grip on the game. Will Tavare hit a solid 77, Ian Cockbain 51 and Alex Gidman 26 in a determined Gloucestershire batting effort.

The hosts had to rule out Klinger before the start with a foot injury, sustained in the previous evening's NatWest T20 Blast game against Hampshire, and then lost wicketkeeper Cameron Herring to a damaged finger sustained in the warm-up.

Seventeen-year-old Academy keeper Patrick Grieshaber, a Jack Russell discovery, from Marshfield, near Bath, had to be summoned from local club cricket and registered with the ECB to play for the first XI in order to make his debut.

It was as well Marshall won the toss and elected to bat, giving Grieshaber, a product of Gloucestershire's schoolboy set-up, time to reach the ground before he was required.

Gloucestershire director of cricket John Bracewell said: "Cameron Herring has mashed up a finger pretty badly and we think it is broken.

"Patrick Grieshaber was due to play club cricket for Downend today, but was called to the ground so that we could register him to play. It was generous of Glamorgan to allow us to make the late change and we thank them for that."

The home side needed a calming influence after the injury setbacks and the early loss of opener Chris Dent, who departed for 2 to a catch at square-leg off Hogan.

They found it in the unflappable Tavare, who is making a big impression in his debut season. The nephew of former England batsman Chris Tavare already has two hundreds to his name and added a half-century off 87 balls, with 10 fours.

Alex Gidman survived a big appeal for a bat-pad catch at short-leg off Dean Cosker before having his stumps scattered playing across a ball from Ruaidhri Smith and falling with the total on 83.

Lunch was taken at 98 for 2 and the early afternoon session produced the most compelling cricket as Hogan summoned up lively pace from the Ashley Down Road End. He gave Tavare and Marshall a torrid time before bowling Tavare between bat and pad.

The in-form seamer sent down eight hostile overs for 19 runs. But Marshall survived and went to his half-century off 94 balls, with four fours. He and Cockbain continued to prosper in the final session after tea had been taken at 194 for 3.

Marshall opened his shoulders to dispatch Salter for six and four off successive deliveries, moving to a 164-ball ton, while his partner emerged from a scratchy start to reach a half-century off 131 balls before being pinned lbw by a ball that kept low from Jim Allenby.

They had added 145 to put Gloucestershire in control. Hogan then steamed in with the second new ball and bowled Marshall of an inside edge to claim his 100th first class wicket for Glamorgan in just 20 matches.

That drew glowing praise from coach Toby Radford, who said: "Michael seems to do it every game for us. It was a slow, flat pitch on a hot day and he has kept going and come back hard with the second new ball.

"He is a top-class bowler with good pace, who is always testing the batsmen because he can move the ball both ways."

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