Key events
66th over: England 283-6 (Smith 89, Atkinson 11) Sri Lanka are already chasing their tail. Jayasuriya is back in the attack, which probably means Asitha will change ends for the second time inside the first half-hour. A pretty good over from Jayasuriya, two from it.
65th over: England 281-6 (Smith 87, Atkinson 11) Atkinson gets off strike with an easy single to deep point from Vishwa. âBizarreâ says Athers of the Sri Lankan field. Stuart Broad sees that and raises him a âwoefulâ.
Sri Lanka havenât started at all well this morning. Smith takes a single and then Atkinson cuts a wide ball between slip and gully for four. It was finer than intended but safe enough as he smacked it into the ground.
âI think itâs important that we celebrate the good-kind-of-weird OBO as a place where glorious captions such as âKumar Sangakkara and his lovely hairâ can be written and enjoyed,â writes Ant. âThanks, Rob et al.â
Thereâs a bad kind of weird? I canât take credit for the caption â that was our picture editor John Windmill. Iâm now distracted by the thought of a Lovely Hair competition on Craggy Island.
64th over: England 273-6 (Smith 86, Atkinson 4) The reason Asitha didnât bowl is that he wanted to change ends from last night. His first ball of day three is driven beautifully whence it came for four by Smith, a shot that takes him into the 80s.
The last ball of the over brings an even better shot, a pristine drive between extra cover and mid off. With each emphatic boundary it becomes a little harder to not get carried away about what Jamie Smith might achieve in this thing of ours.
âJust an update on Darren Stevens,â writes Sam Smith, who got in touch on day one. âHe led the English Over 40s to defeat yesterday in Dublin. Ireland chased 262 to win by five wickets with 11 balls to spare, Darren scored 12 runs. Scorecard here. And match report here. I wonât share the videos of the after match karaoke, to spare your readers and the participants alike.
63rd over: England 263-6 (Smith 76, Atkinson 4) Sri Lanka start with the left-armer Vishwa Fernando, a bit of a surprise given the success of Asitha yesterday. Smith flicks him wristily for two, a shot which, as Mike Atherton notes on Sky, has a touch of Kevin Pietersen about it.
Vishwa has to abort his run-up when the heavy bails are blown off by the wind. His second attempt is a good delivery that beats Atkinson.
âTalking about windâ is the rather ominous start to Krishnamoorthyâs email. âIn our college team we had a pace bowler who was extremely thin. As our college ground was close to the Arabian Sea, strong winds were the norm. This guy used to start his run up aiming for over the wicket and ended up bowling round the wicket.â
I hope he had a Bob Willis run-up for maximum comedy, being blown of course with his arm going everywhere.
62nd over: England 260-6 (Smith 73, Atkinson 4) Jayasuriya starts around the wicket to Atkinson, with a slip and short leg. Tight line, bit of turn; Atkinson defends solidly on the front foot.
The players are about to take the field on a very blustery morning in Manchester. Imagine Shane Warne bowling in this; heâd be drifting it square.
In other news, the TMS overseas link is here. Thanks again to Ruth for that.
It looks like play will start on time. As I type, Kumar Sangakkaraâs usually immaculate hair is being buffeted while he chats with Nasser Hussain and Ian Ward on the outfield, but it doesnât seem too bad. No such problems for Nasser #baldcommunity.
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Preamble
As a great man once said: thereâs good news and bad news. The good news is that itâs dry at Old Trafford and should stay that way. The bad news is that there could an outside chance of wind stopping play this morning. Oh, behave.
Thereâs a yellow warning for wind in Manchester, specifically the beast known as Storm Lilian. We know for sure there are no cricket fans at the Met Office, because the urge to christen it Storm Lilian Thomson would have been irresistible.
At some stage, hopefully 11am, England will resume on 259 for six, a lead of 23, with the impressive Jamie Smith needing 28 for his maiden Test century. Smithâs last two innings have had an undeniable aroma of Gilchrist. Dynamism is one thing but Adam Gilchristâs greatest quality was his ability to seize the initiative before the opposition knew what day it was.
In his last two innings Smith has arrived with England in bother and left with them in the ascendancy; he made 95 from 109 balls at Edgbaston and 72 not out from 97 yesterday. Itâs important we donât get carried away, as tougher challenges await. But nor should we sit still and act like nothing is happening.