Hales and Bairstow steady England after Shanaka strikes on debut

England 171 for 5 (Hales 71*, Bairstow 54*) v Sri LankaScorecard and ball-by-ball details

If Dasun Shanaka was an English seamer, he might well be on the endangered species list. His unassuming line and length, delivered with a high action and at a pace in the mid-to-high 70mphs, is precisely the sort of fare that the ECB – with this season’s new toss and pitches edict for domestic cricket – is looking to phase out of the county game. Such skills don’t cut the mustard at Test level these days, apparently.

Ironic, then, that Shanaka’s sensational maiden spell in Test cricket was the stand-out performance on a truncated opening day of the first Test at Headingley – a ground synonymous with medium-pace marvels down the years, most famously, Neil Mallender’s debut against Pakistan in 1992. Three wickets for one run in the space of eight deliveries – including England captains present and future, Alastair Cook and Joe Root – ripped open a contest at a venue where Sri Lanka boast an improbable 100 percent record, following their series-winning victory in 2014.

It required a diligent half-century from Alex Hales (another player whose output today belied the pre-conceptions) coupled with some home-ground know-how from Jonny Bairstow, for England to regroup with a 88-run stand for the sixth wicket, after their ambitions had been dramatically dented by the loss of five wickets for 34 runs either side of the lunch break.

By tea, when Yorkshire’s dank weather swept in across the Pennines to wipe out the final session, Hales was unbeaten on 71, his second Test half-century in nine innings and his highest yet, beating the 60 he made against South Africa at Cape Town in January. It had been an innings of intense application, studded with 12 fours, as he battled initially to adapt his hard-handed technique to the overcast conditions before growing in confidence as his innings progressed.

At the other end was Bairstow, who arrived at the crease with England’s innings in crisis at 83 for 5, but responded with the sort of sparky counter-punching that Matt Prior, in his own pomp, had so often provided from No. 7. With his confidence glowing following scores of 246 and 198 in his two most recent innings for Yorkshire at Headingley, Bairstow’s 54 not out from 67 balls took the attack back to Sri Lanka, who nevertheless remained firmly in the contest at 171 for 5, thanks to Shanaka’s stunning arrival.

After being put into bat on a morning when bowling first was a no-brainer for both …

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