Northern challenge set to give Sri Lanka the shivers

Match facts

May 27-31, 2016 Start time 11am local (1000 GMT)

Big Picture

It’s grim up north. Especially if you are more used to hanging out in the tropics. Aside from some early success with the new ball at Headingley, Sri Lanka’s two-and-a-half days in Yorkshire were miserable in the extreme – they were bundled out for 91 and 119 in the space of 433 deliveries all told, the second shortest batting effort in their Test history.

But sometimes you just have to doff your cap at the skills on display in such debacles, and with match figures of 10 for 45, James Anderson put to bed once and for all his curious distrust of Headingley’s home comforts with a performance that few teams in the world could have lived with.

The worry for Sri Lanka, however, is that life is about to get even tougher, as they head to Chester-le-Street, the most northerly Test venue in the world, where the weather at present appears to be blowing in directly from the Arctic.

They head there with a depleted bowling attack, following the untimely injury that has curtailed the tour of their promising young quick, Dushmantha Chameera, and a demoralised set of batsmen – notwithstanding a battling rearguard from the 21-year-old Kusal Mendis, whose maiden Test half-century delayed the inevitable in the second innings.

Nothing is pre-ordained of course, and England travel with concerns of their own – not least the absence of the talismanic Ben Stokes, whose first Test appearance at his home ground in Durham should have been one of the major drawcards for a venue that has struggled to sell tickets for this fixture, and is thought to be preparing to host its sixth and final Test.

Instead, Stokes is laid up in rehab following an operation for a cartilage tear in his left knee, a devastating blow for a player who tried to play through the pain after sustaining the problem while bowling in the first Test. Chris Woakes, fresh from a career-best haul of 9 for 36 for Warwickshire, is primed to step in as England’s designated allrounder – a first Test cap for the Nottinghamshire seamer Jake Ball must wait for another day.

There are battles within battles to be played out in the coming days as well, not least the one taking place in Nick Compton’s mind. After a lean run of scores – 15, 26, 0, 19, 6 and 0 in his six most recent innings – Compton has admitted he is playing for his Test career. However, he’d do well to recall the circumstances of his most recent matchwinning effort – 85 and 49 on a dank seamer at Durban in December. Sri Lanka have rattled England’s top-order once already on this trip, so it needn’t be the last of the summer wine for Compo if he can channel once again that immoveable mindset.

Although both teams start back at 0 for 0, with expectations duly recalibrated, it is still hard to envisage anything but another thumping England Test victory – they’ve never yet failed to win in five previous appearances at Chester-le-Street, including an Ashes-sealing 74-run triumph on their last appearance in 2013, a match that Stuart Broad was recalling with glee …

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