Key events
5th over: Sri Lanka 15-0 (Madushka 10, Karunaratne 5) Woakes is into his work and landing it on a postage stamp. Madushka pokes one down the ground for a single and it’s the only run off the over.
This made me chuckle:
Just once, I would like to see an ex-pro absolutely fuming at one of their records being broken
— Ben Gardner (@Ben_Wisden) August 31, 2024
4th over: Sri Lanka 14-0 (Madushka 9, Karunaratne 5) Karunaratne drives Atkinson for four through the covers, the fielder – Potts I think – fumbling the ball on the slide and helping it over the sponge.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 9-0 (Madushka 8, Karunaratne 1) Woakes pins Dimuth Karunaratne on the pad and the umpire raises the finger but this looks a bit high to me on first glance. Sure enough the batter calls for the review and the DRS shows it hit him outside the line too. NOT OUT. Umpire Paul Reiffel has to change his decision and Karunaratne survives both the decision and a probing maiden over.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 9-0 (Madushka 8, Karunaratne 1) Gus Atkinson shares the new ball and is greeted by a lovely stroke by Madushka who flicks with a flourish off his legs and through midwicket for four. Atkinson tightens up but strays too straight off the last ball and is worked away in the same area for a couple more.
1st over: Sri Lanka 3-0 (Madushka 2, Karunaratne 1) No signs of movements from Woakes as both openers get off the mark with measured clips off the pads.
Have a look at this:
The players emerge after tea. Lord’s is basking in the warm glow of Root’s majesty. Much needed as the skies are grey and there is a bit of breeze billowing the shirts of the players. Chris Woakes is going to start with the new ball. Can Sri Lanka make a fist of this, they need their top order to properly fire for the first time in the series.
More reaction to Root’s record breaking hundred:
Root’s 34th Test hundred – an England record – is also his fastest, from 111 balls. Whaddaguy.
— Lawrence Booth (@BoothCricket) August 31, 2024
Joe Root’s 9th hundred in 28 Tests since stepping down as captain, averaging 60.65
— Matt Roller (@mroller98) August 31, 2024
🏴 THIRTY-FOUR TEST HUNDREDS! 🏴
Introducing Joe Root, England’s most prolific centurion 🤯 pic.twitter.com/lOeJvsdM5O
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 31, 2024
Root at the top of the English batting tree:
WICKET! Root c Mendis b Kumara 103 (England all out for 251)
Root tries to muscle a six over the fence off Kumara but Mendis clings on to a swirling catch to end a magnificent and history-making innings. The ground rises to Joe Root as he walks from the field. Sri Lanka will chase 483 runs to win. But first – Tea.
53rd over: England 250-9 (Root 103, Bashir 0) Root tries all manner of shots to Jayasuriya but none of them come off. One of the strangest maiden overs you’ll ever see.
WICKET! Stone c Nissanka b Kumara 7 (England 250-9)
Stone is caught on the fine leg boundary but there is still no declaration from Pope…
Record breaking century for Joe Root!
There it is! Root backs away and carves for four through the off side to bring up his 34th Test hundred. He takes off his helmet and raises his arms as the Lord’s crowd give him a louder than normal chorus of Rooooooooot and then applaud warmly. What a player.
52nd over: England 245-8 (Root 98, Stone 7) Olly Stone is nearly clean bowled twice by Jayasuriya and then mows a four through midwicket. Sublime and ridiculous. Right, over done – is now the moment for Joe Root?
51st over: England 245-8 (Root 98, Stone 3) I can’t handle too much more of this! Root flat bats a short ball from Fernando and decides he can get back for two runs… go go go! Again Root has to hurry to make his ground as the throw comes in from the deep and the bails are whipped off. He’s home. Phew. Fernando whangs consecutive deliveries down the leg side, frustrating Root.
He’s now gone past Graham Gooch to become the highest scoring batter at Lord’s and needs just two more to score a century in both innings of a Test match for the first time in his career and become the Englishman with the most Test hundreds in history.
50th over: England 239-8 (Root 96, Stone 3) Eeeesht. Root scampers a seemingly impossible two off Jayasuriya, he has to fire up the afterburners to make his ground but he does. A collective sigh of relief around North West London and beyond. Two more singles take Root to within shot of breaking two huge records in English cricket.
49th over: England 234-8 (Root 92, Stone 2) Root takes a single off the fourth ball after declining to pick up a couple earlier in the over. Stone is left with two balls to face from Asitha Fernando… he survives two short balls. You could cut the tension with a spoon.
James Brough is feeling positive…
“So, Joe Root needs 5 more to become leading run scorer at Lords, 9 (8 now) more to become leading England centurion and have 2 hundreds in a match for the first time, 37 more to overtake Sangakkara and go 6th leading Test run scorer and 110 more to overtake Cook and become leading England Test scorer and 5th in the world.
Going to be quite an anti-climax if England collapse and he’s left 96 not out.”
James Wallace
48th over: England 227-8 (Root 91, Stone 2) Thanks Rob and hello everyone. There’s a hum of expectation at Lord’s as the camera operator focuses on an owlish Ollie Pope looking out of a small window in the changing room. I *think* he’ll let Joe Root get to a record breaking 34th century before he decides to declare…
A clip for two into the leg side takes Root into the nineties and a controlled drive into the covers takes him nine runs away from history.
47th over: England 227-8 (Root 88, Stone 0) The umpires take drinks with England leading by 458. That’s all from me for today; Jim Wallace is ready to hold your hand and (hopefully) see Joe Root home. Bye!
WICKET! England 227-8 (Potts c Chandimal b Asitha 2)
Asitha Madusanka Fernando, born 31 July 1997, continues to slam the ball halfway down. Potts mistimes a pull down the leg side for a single, Root nails one but also only gets a single.
There’s a review for caught behind when Potts pushes at a short ball down the leg side. Did it brush the glove? Yes it did and Potts is on his way. That was a good review.
46th over: England 225-7 (Root 87, Potts 1) Root sweeps three more; he’s 13 away from a moment of history.
“The funny thing with Root is he arguably doesn’t have a definitive innings – think Atherton at Johannesburg KP at the Oval, Stokes at Headingley,” says Max Williams. “Or even a definitive series like Cook in 2010/11. I guess partly a case of being too good to be defined by one, partly the shrinking nature of Test cricket (India and Australia the only Real Quizzes left) and England’s lack of Ashes since 2015. He came mighty close to scoring three centuries vs Australia last year – would be lovely if he could win one Down Under.”
That’s another quality he shares with Graham Thorpe. He’s played so many great innings but I’ll always be fond of Cardiff 2015, partly because I told anyone who’d listen before the series (when most people thought England would get hammered) that if Root made big runs in the first innings of the first Test they would win. Truth be told, it’s disgusting narcissism and I need to take a long, hard look in some grass. But it is nice to get it right when you go against the prevailing wisdom, because you usually end up looking like an eejit.
45th over: England 221-7 (Root 84, Potts 0) As Will Denton mentioned a couple of overs ago, if Root gets a century today it’ll be his 34th, a new England record. He’s currently level on 33 with Sir Alastair Cook.
“Who is the Avisha of whom you speak?” writes Robert Peveler. “Do you mean Aitha?”
Wasn’t that a Death in Vegas song? (Yes, fair enough, I’ve had a shocker there. I know why I made the mistake but that’s not an excuse and it’s none of your business anyway.)
WICKET! England 221-7 (Atkinson c Kumara b Asitha 14)
Oh this is hilarious. Atkinson tries to reverse hook Asitha, top-edges the ball high in the air and is caught by Kumara, lurking on the boundary almost as a back stop. We’ve never seen the like.
44th over: England 214-6 (Root 83, Atkinson 9) A bit of turn for Jayasuriya, which will interest Bashir. Root misses a slog-sweep, losing his shape in the process, then top-edges an orthodox sweep for two. He’s into the effortless eighties and England lead by 445.
“Re: Root’s ‘seemingly effortless half-century’, Carlos Brathwaite talked earlier this summer of playing against Root and he doesn’t seem to be doing much, then you look up and he’s on 20, then he’s on 40 and suddenly he’s approaching 100 and still not really doing much,” says Adam Roberts. “Also, as you posted that, Atherton and Broad were marvelling at his ability to get up every match day and get his mind ready to score runs and want to score runs and to be ready to do it.”
That’s a really important point. How he scored so many runs in 2021, while captaining a mess of a team during Covid, I will never know. As for the first part, unobtrusiveness is one of his greatest qualities isn’t it? Another thing he shares with Thorpey, or at least 21st century Thorpey.
43rd over: England 208-6 (Root 78, Atkinson 8) Avisha Fernando returns for another spell of short stuff from around the wicket. Really, lads? Six short balls, four successful pulls or hooks, four singles.
“You say in years to come nobody will remember this Root innings,” says Will Denton, “but if he makes it to three figures to break the English century record I rather suspect they might…”
Yes, you’re right. What I should have said is that nobody will put it in his top five or ten hundreds, yet it has been almost flawless. When his mind is right and he is totally at peace with his method, it’s almost impossible for him to fail. He’s that good, the best England batsman of my lifetime without doubt.
42nd over: England 204-6 (Root 76, Atkinson 6) A quiet over from Jayasuriya. Since you asked, three players have made two centuries in a Lord’s Test: George Headley in 1939, Graham Gooch you know when and Michael Vaughan in 2004.
“Just been catching up on the morning’s OBO and saw James Butler’s story about the Alsager run-up record,” says James Brough. “I was brought up on the mean avenues of Alsager (it’s way too middle class to have streets). Blimey. Not a name I expected to see mentioned today.”
I had no idea it was middle class. I went to university at Keele and get a load of the surrounding towns mixed up. For a minute I thought Alsager was where we lived in second year when we all kept baseball bats under the bed.
41st over: England 200-6 (Root 74, Atkinson 4) Imagine how many singles Thorpe and Root would steal: no call, just a look and they’re off. How they’d manipulate the field and go up and down the gears to support each other. Most of all, imagine how much fun they’d have, how much they’d laugh between overs.
Enough, if I carry this on it’ll start raining on my face. Atkinson edges his first ball for four to bring up England’s 200.
WICKET! England 196-6 (Woakes c Nissanka b Rathnayake 5)
Time to look up players who have made two centuries in a Lord’s Test. Root is racing along now and moves into the seventies with a perfectly placed pull for four off Rathnayake. The joyous brilliance of his batting almost brings a lump to the throat, and that’s before you consider how much Graham Thorpe would have enjoyed this masterclass. It’s only slightly simplistic to say that Root is an even better version of Thorpe. Imagine them batting together!
Back in real time, Woakes slaps Rathnayake straight to cover. England lead by 427.
I wondered why Mike Atherton referred to Chris Woakes’ “supersonic record” at Lord’s when he came out to bat. Turns out he and Stuart Broad were trying to slip in as many Oasis song titles as possible. Athers also managed Roll With It, Broad chipped in with Some Might Say.
“Embarrassing…” says their colleague Nasser Hussain.
40th over: England 191-5 (Root 69, Woakes 5) Root sweeps Jayasuriya to cow corner two boundaries in three balls, both immaculately placed shots. In years to come nobody will remember this Root innings, yet it has been remarkably accomplished. He’s scoring at a run a ball and I can hardly remember a risk of a false stroke.
He makes it three in four balls with a lovely reverse sweep round the corner. This is quite masterful.
39th over: England 178-5 (Root 56, Woakes 5) A good bouncer from Rathnayake hits Woakes and flies away for four. Paul Reiffel gives runs rather than leg-byes, which also means there’s no concussion check. That’s a loophole cricket needs to tighten up.
38th over: England 171-5 (Root 54, Woakes 0) Smith was slightly more plumb than the last Surrey keeper-batsman to be dismissed LBW b Jayasuriya.
WICKET! England 171-5 (Smith LBW b Jayasuriya 26)
Jamie Smith’s cameo ends when he misses a sweep and is hit in front by Jayasuriya. He reviewed, but only because England have three left. That was plumb.
37th over: England 171-4 (Root 54, Smith 26) Gorgeous from Root, a delicate late cut for four off Rathnayake. We’re all running out of ways to say we’re running out of superlatives.
36th over: England 166-4 (Root 50, Smith 25) Root works Jayasuriya for a single to reach a seemingly effortless half-century from 65 balls. ‘Seemingly’ is the word, because it really isn’t. Root’s risk-management in the last few months has been as good as any time in his career.
35th over: England 164-4 (Root 49, Smith 23) Milan Rathnayake bowls the first over of the afternoon session, who keeps things moving with a pair of twos.
Lunch summary
Ali Martin and Simon Burnton have been joined today by Nathan Weekes, a young journalist who is at the match on the Bethan James Bursary. Here’s his summary of the morning session.
Three wickets fell during an eventful morning session at Lord’s. The atmosphere was very relaxed, with kids around the ground playing mini-cricket matches. It’s good to a crowd like this at a Test match given the concern about its appeal to younger generations.
“Some middle-aged blokes are taking in their daily intake of booze and having a jolly good old time. Gareth Southgate is at the cricket on a Saturday, one of the benefits of his decision to resign as England manager.
Lunch: England lead by 390 runs
34th over: England 153-4 (Root 45, Smith 23) England started slowly, losing Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope, but Harry Brook gave them some impetus, Joe Root scored at a strike rate of 78 with barely a risk and Jamie Smith came out swinging just before lunch. The last 13 overs the session yielded 73.
33rd over: England 153-4 (Root 43, Smith 20) Smith plays another savage pull four, this time off the bowling of Kumara. Looks like there’s time for one more over before lunch.
32nd over: England 149-4 (Root 42, Smith 16) Jamie Smith rocks back to smash a long hop from Jayasuriya to cow corner for four. He’s batted in a number of different match situations in his short Test career. This, the declaration push, is another – and one that any Adam Gilchrist tribute act will surely relish.
31st over: England 140-4 (Root 39, Smith 10) Since the infamous Rajkot Test, when he reverse ramped Bumrah to slip and sent Middle England into apoplexy, Root has scored 822 runs at an average of 91. That’s more than twice the next best England batsman, Jamie Smith with 390.
“Imagine,” begins Niall Mullen, “being (one-tenth) as good at anything as Root is at cricket…”
I can’t, my imagination is only a fiftieth as good as Root’s batting.
30th over: England 137-4 (Root 38, Smith 8) Just over ten minutes to lunch. As Nasser Hussain says on Sky, the pitch has behaved well this morning. It still looks awkward, a bit two-paced, but there has been no inconsistent bounce and very little movement.
29th over: England 134-4 (Root 36, Smith 7) “Ooooh, ouch, pick the bones out of that one, as my dear old mother used to say,” says Robert Wilson. “That Pope out was a worldie, a true, authenticated belter. But relax, it’s not a character flaw. It’s an extremely sharp-edged and luminous illustration of something Northern Irish people used to call ‘The Headstaggers’. That moment when solid, dependable citizens suddenly lose all grip on their civic rigour and wake up in the Ladies’ Toilets of a burger bar in Bogota or a Latvian correctional facility.
“The headstaggers is an empathetic term, suggesting a necessary, or at least inevitable, escape valve for a life too rigidly lived. Not so much irresponsible as diagnosable, magistrates and bishops alike smile indulgently upon it. Clemency is automatic and envy not infrequent. It’s been decades since I’ve seen such a lovely pure form of the headstaggers. The way Pope’s sporting IQ fell off that silly cliff was classic, inspiring. Deserves some kind of medal. I hope it really cleared his tubes for him.”
28th over: England 128-4 (Root 36, Smith 1) England lead by 359.
WICKET! England 127-4 (Brook c Madushka b Jayasuriya 37)
Two strikes and out for Harry Brook. He pulls a short ball from Jayasuriya to deep midwicket, where Madushka backpedals to take a good catch. That was very similar to the chance he dropped earlier.
Brook is annoyed and punches his bat as he walks off. It’s another unconverted start, but England are pushing for a declaration so he shouldn’t be too hard on himself.
27th over: England 126-3 (Root 45, Brook 37) Avisha’sAsitha’s spell of rough stuff is over. He’s replaced by Kumara, whose first ball is driven handsomely over extra cover by the rare talent that is Harold Cherrington Brook. That’s 72 unforced errors 37 from just 34 balls for Brook.