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Morning everyone and welcome to the Lord’s Test. That seems an odd thing to be saying at the end of August, and on closer inspection this match turns out to be the second-latest Test ever staged at Lord’s (after England v West Indies 2017, which began on 7 September). The more senior members of MCC will be in grave danger of slipping on the first conker of autumn. But the weather gods have decided to pretend that it’s still high summer: not till Monday afternoon does the chance of rain in any given hour go above 10 per cent.
For Ollie Pope’s England team, there’s a series to be won after they crept to victory at Old Trafford in a style to which they are now unaccustomed. For Sri Lanka, who lost that match but won acclaim for their tenacity, there’s a jolt of pressure, which could be bracing: they simply have to win this time. For MCC, there will be swathes of empty seats if the game goes into a fourth day. That Test in 2017 didn’t make it to a third tea-break as West Indies scored 300 in both their innings combined, but a line-up with Kamindu Mendis down at No 7 can surely do better than that.
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