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LEEDS: On this occasion, there were not too many secrets to unravel. Headingley can still become treacherous for batsmen when the mood takes it, but this was a day when it rolled over and allowed its tummy to be tickled. Sri Lanka's trio of pace bowlers maintained disciplined lines, but they received little assistance and, as such, the procession of right-armers seeking to move the ball away from the right-hander became samey.
Robson's first Test fifty, in his second Test, was assembled in two-and-three-quarter hours. Oddly, he reached it with a moment of impatience, forcing Nuwan Pradeep off the back foot between slip and gully. Concentration disturbed, he had a nibble at the next one and almost edged to the wicketkeeper. Slim and fresh faced, he quietly admonished himself: a silent witness to his own error.
His strength looks to be the off-side drive, off the front foot, but partial to that shot or not, he will not be drawn into anything extravagant.
Ballance approaches an innings, one suspects, with less complexity. When Sri Lanka pitched the ball around off stump, his surname was inappropriate; he was liable to get into a tangle. If he was a forensic scientist, he would drop the odd test tube. Give him a clip off his hips, the chance to sweep the spinner or pretty much anything on the back foot and he looks more at home.
As for Cook, he continues to struggle, 17 to follow scores of 17 and 28 in the first Test at Lord's. Headingley was the venue for his last Test century, but this year it was the source of more breast beating. He fell to Dhammika Prasad, a bat dangler as he pushed forward half-heartedly, held low by Kumar Sangakkara at first slip.
Bowlers think that by maintaining a fuller length they have his measure. He will probably have to play forward for the rest of his Test career and he needs to find a response.
His strength looks to be the off-side drive, off the front foot, but partial to that shot or not, he will not be drawn into anything extravagant.
Ballance approaches an innings, one suspects, with less complexity. When Sri Lanka pitched the ball around off stump, his surname was inappropriate; he was liable to get into a tangle. If he was a forensic scientist, he would drop the odd test tube. Give him a clip off his hips, the chance to sweep the spinner or pretty much anything on the back foot and he looks more at home.
As for Cook, he continues to struggle, 17 to follow scores of 17 and 28 in the first Test at Lord's. Headingley was the venue for his last Test century, but this year it was the source of more breast beating. He fell to Dhammika Prasad, a bat dangler as he pushed forward half-heartedly, held low by Kumar Sangakkara at first slip.
Bowlers think that by maintaining a fuller length they have his measure. He will probably have to play forward for the rest of his Test career and he needs to find a response.
