If you want to become a complete batsman in modern day cricket, the ‘sweep’, is a must in your repertoire of strokes.
Reporting from Pallekelle
Although, the sweep isn’t the easiest shot in the world to perfect, it is very effective if it’s played with the correct technique, especially on turning pitches in all forms of the game.
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There’s always an element of risk when you play the sweep, as well as the other forms of the sweep – the reverse and the slog.
On a dry, slow turner, such as the pitch in Pallekelle, the sweep was the go-to stroke for England against a three-pronged spin attack of Sri Lanka.
From the openers to the number 11, almost all the English batsmen had looked to bring out the ‘Broom’ to negate the Lankan spin threat.
Winning the toss and opting to bat, was a crucial decision for the visitors, as they posted a reasonable first innings score of 285 after being 225 for 9 at one stage.
Sam Curran punishes defensive Sri Lanka with late blitz
A wonderful half-century from Sam Curran in the later part of England’s innings..
The highlights of the England innings were vice-captain, Jos Buttler’s counter-attacking knock in the middle overs and Sam Curran’s late blitz.
Buttler, after being promoted to number five, showcased his versatility, the ability to dominate spin. Buttler was very effective with the sweep, while Curran took the long handle and cleared the rope with ease.
As per CricViz, Buttler’s 67-ball knock of 63, had 51 runs from sweeps, reverse sweeps and slog-sweeps. It is the fifth instance in the last decade, where a player scored more than 50 runs from different sorts of sweeps. The record is held by Younis Khan who scored 86 on his way to 313 against the same opposition in Karachi in 2009.
England used the sweeps, for more than 65% of the balls delivered by the Sri Lankan spinners. But it also brought the downfall, of two batsmen – Ben Foakes and Buttler, as they fell attempting a conventional sweep and a reverse sweep respectively.
“We had planned for that him (Buttler). We knew he will play those shots if the wicket spins and we tried to cover those areas. We knew he will play those kind of shots, but we made adjustments.” Left-arm spinner Malinda Pushpakumara, who took three wickets said.
Compared to the Galle surface on day one, the Pallekelle pitch offered plenty of turn, while some balls kept relatively low as well. Batting on a pitch like this will get tougher and tougher in the coming days as there’ll be plenty of balls with your name on it.
Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain Suranga Lakmal had a successful day with the reviews – two successful calls and one umpire’s call. But, his tactics when the last pair was batting were damning and disappointing.
Sri Lanka allowed Sam Curran to milk through some loose bowling, smash six sixes and farm the strike at will to rack up 60 valuable runs for the last wicket.
As always, a couple of dropped catches by Sri Lanka helped too. But, the body language shown by the home team was very poor for almost an hour.
Curran’s wise shot selection and clean striking brought up his third fifty in Test cricket. In doing so, he also became the first player to reach each of his first three Test fifties with a six.
Photo Album – Sri Lanka vs England | 2nd Test – (Day 01)
His knock certainly changed the complexion of the day’s play as the momentum, slowly but surely drifted towards the visitors.
“Me and Jimmy (Anderson) had quite a bit of fun out there, he was probably the one telling me to calm down and trust him. It was real, good fun out there. A nice score on the board with the surface breaking up and cracks getting a bit bigger. The spinners are going have a huge role tomorrow. We’ve got three great spinners, who are all bowling very nicely. The wicket is starting to turn from straight which is a great sign for us, with a score we are fairly happy with.” Curran said after first day’s play.
With already one wicket down, the Lankan batsmen are also certain of playing more sweep shots to deny the turn of the visiting spinners. The pitch might turn into a minefield in the coming days, making run-scoring far more difficult.
