After the first test match between England and the Sri Lankans and the first of an English test match summer was a thrilling draw that went right down to the final ball on day 5 at Lord's with England narrowly missing out on a perfect start to the 2 match series, England will want to go and get the job done in the second test which starts on Friday at Headingley. After playing on what was a really flat pitch at Lord's, with the ball doing very little until the final hours of the final day things will be a lot better for the bowlers in Leeds. The match should be played on a pretty green pitch on what is usually a very good ground for seam bowlers, one which will suit England to stick with the same 11 that played the first test rather than bringing in Chris Woakes, especially as this is Plunkett's home ground nowadays.
It should be another exciting and fascinating test match this week so it's time for me to have a look at what we can expect:
England:
As I said earlier England are very likely to go in with the same 11 that played the first test match and I think the bowlers will have a very good time in this one, and it think we're certain to have a result if there aren't any interruptions for weather, though the only thing that cost England the first match were the slow over rates over the first 4 days.
Sam Robson and Alastair Cook at the top of the order will certainly be looking for some runs after both failed in the first test and Cook really hasn't scored big runs for a very long time in an England test match shirt, while fellow opener Robson will be looking to make a big score and make a big impression early on in his England test career. Opening the innings at Headingley is very tough though and it'll probably be even tougher if it has to be on the opening day, so I wouldn't expect either to make stacks of runs in this match. The middle order will be important here and they showed a decent amount of form in the Lord's opener. Gary Balance at No.3 had a century in the 2nd innings battling on when England were in a little trouble at one stage, while Joe Root made a 1st innings double-ton while Ian Bell coming in at No.4 has looked very solid for England for a very long time now in my opinion and I expect him to go well again this summer. Matt Prior at No.7 proved his doubters wrong with a very nice half-century in the 1st innings, with many people thinking Jos Buttler should've played ahead of him, but I think that for now the selectors have made the correct choice.
As I said though it is the bowling that will be key here though and the spin option of Moeen Ali should hardly be needed at all in this match which isn't a bad thing because I'm not really sure that right now Ali is anything more than a part-timer. Liam Plunkett (as well as Joe Root and Gary Balance) is playing on his home ground here and I think he did sort of what was asked for in the first test with a lot of short pitched bowling on a very flat and towards the end a very slow pitch. He should be given more of a chance to shine in this test match and hopefully pick up a few wickets. Chris Jordan had a decent first test match as well and he is certainly one who could take a lot of wickets this week on a pitch that will suit him a lot more than the Lord's one and hopefully there won't be quite the same amount of pressure on him either. James Anderson and Stuart Broad are the big players for me in this match, as they both looked to be in fine form at the back end of the first game with James Anderson putting in a couple of sublime spells swinging the ball and bowling superbly, but also bowling at a very good pace and he looks a lot fitter this year and really up for a great summer. Stuart Broad also got really stuck in at the back end of day 5, thriving in those pressured circumstances once again. Taking 1 and nearly taking both of the 2 wickets he needed to win the Test match in the final over. Broad bowled some brilliant spells on that final day and his record at Headingley is incredibly good so I expect that he'll pick up a lot of wickets in this match to continue that record.
Key Player: With the pitch that has been prepared to supposedly offer a lot more for the bowlers in this match, James Anderson will be the man you'd expect to step up and really take control and get the most out of the pitch here, especially as he seems to be fit as well as match sharp and really bowling at a good pace as he was in the one-day series.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka will have to make 1 change to their line-up for this test match with wicket-keeper Prassana Jayawardena having to go home with a finger injury and his likely replacement is Dinesh Chandimal, but I can't see Sri Lanka making any more changes, even after only narrowly avoiding defeat in the first game. For them though the bowling is certainly the area that will need some improvement but I think they will have slightly better conditions from Lord's in which to do it.
As I said in the preview of the first test match it was always going to be about Sri Lanka's middle order with Mahela Jayawardena, Kumar Sangakarra, and Angelo Mathews all in there and I think the addition of Dinesh Chandimal will certainly strengthen things for the tourists. Let's not forget that Chandimal is a man that has an ODI century to his name against England on English soil. Sangakarra finally got his Lord's century in the first innings of the first test and it wasn't until he was out in the 2nd innings that Sri Lanka looked like they may lose the match, so he has really showed himself to be the key man in their order, especially as he no longer has any keeping or captaincy to worry about. However, captaincy has had a really big effect on Mathews game as his batting average in games as captain is huge and he made a century himself in the 1st innings so I don't think this is a Sri Lankan batting line-up that the England bowlers will be able to rip through like it's not even there.
Meanwhile, for me it is Sri Lankan's bowling that needs to improve here with Newan Kulasekara not really causing any problems for the England batsmen while Rangana Herath the spinner can only really have any kind of influence in the 2nd innings and that will be the same again here in this game. Eranga though was quite impressive on a pitch that didn't offer up too much and I think he will have a very big part to play in this test match if Sri Lanka are to have any chance of victory. Kulasekara though should do a lot better on this Headingley pitch as I think the conditions in Leeds will be a lot more suited to his style of bowling if he can improve slightly than they were at Lord's, and I think he will be man that causes England's top order a lot more problems than he has done so far. Pradeep also had an average first test match, taking 4 first innings wickets but failing to take one in the 2nd innings, but he will again have an important role to play here as could the medium pace of captain Angelo Mathews though he may want to focus more on his captaincy and batting than his bowling as he did at Lord's where he only bowled a total of 11 overs in 200 that Sri Lanka bowled over the course of the game.
Key Man: For me it has to be the pure experience and the rock of the middle order for Sri Lanka in Kumar Sangakarra who really showed his brilliance and class in the first test match scoring a total of 208 runs with a 147 in the first innings and a 61 in the second innings from 168 balls as Sri Lanka needed to save the test match, showing how Kumar has the experience to adapt to every situation that Sri Lanka could come across and prosper both for his sake and the teams.
Hopefully it should be another exciting test match this week as both sides will be going all out for the victory in this deciding test match and the conditions should be a bit better for an a more even contest between bat and ball that should provide a result over the five days if the weather up in Leeds isn't too bad. For me both sides look to be in a good place and it is a very tough match to call, so let's just sit back, enjoy and see how it plays out.
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