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Is there a chance that for the next two weeks a competitive Test series could start in London? Remarkably, since August 1991, Sri Lanka has not dropped a Test in six visits to this city. Five of those have, admittedly, ended in draws at Lord’s, but one of the more derided touring sides has long had the ability to defy expectations on their rare trips to England, as they will once again play at The Oval next week for the first time since Murali’s match in 1998.
Which is, over the course of four improbable competitive days at Emirates Old Trafford, roughly what Sri Lanka accomplished. Eventually, England triumphed in their fourth Test match of the summer, but not before they had to fight for control of the ball and, later, the bat, as Joe Root led a demanding 205-run chase with a distinctly un-Bazballian 62 not out from 128 balls.
There were several and diverse subplots along the route. For example, what would have happened on the opening night if England had not conceded to the umpires’ claim that it was too dark to bowl their quicks and had instead chosen to abandon play due to poor light rather than give Milan Rathnayake 12 overs of spin to set a record for the highest score by a No. 9 on Test debut?
On the other hand, what could have happened if England hadn’t been able to force a ball change in the 41st over of Sri Lanka’s second innings, at which point Kamindu Mendis was on track for his third Test century in as many composed and commanding Test appearances, and Angelo Mathews was reliving his 2014 glory days?
With their management of their original ball, England had created their bed and deserved to sleep in it, just as they had in the Oval Ashes Test a year earlier. In their pursuit of a worn surface and some of the incredible reversal that Asitha Fernando in particular had harvested, they had sacrificed new-ball swing. It would have been like to comparing a 41-year-old Hollywood actress with a vagabond who has spent his whole adult life in a ditch, even if their substitute ball was the same age as the original.
Given that these problems are becoming more common over the English Test summer, it is obvious that this is a weakness that needs to be closed for upcoming matches.
It was difficult to refute, though, that Sri Lanka was taken advantage of during the first Test. There is reason to believe that history won’t repeat itself this week, as few teams that struggle to 6 for 3 in the first innings and then 1 for 2 in the second can expect to escape with it. However, one of the reasons for those scorelines was a particularly poor performance from the otherwise reliable Dimuth Karunaratne, who averages just under 41 in his 92 Tests and who made 87 runs for one wicket on his last visit to Lord’s in 2016.
In any case, since their initial attempts to visit England in the 1980s, Sri Lanka has been waiting impatiently for this opportunity in the calendar. Instead of an early-season trial by seam and swing, as per 2002 onwards, or a one-off afterthought, as was the case from 1984 to 1998, here we are, in the heart of a full Test series at the tail end of the English summer. The class of 2024 has the responsibility to live up to the expectations placed on them.