Pallekele – Day one of the second Sri Lanka vs. England Test and from the get-go the pitch was taking spin. When Jos Buttler came to the wicket England were in difficulty at 89-4.
With the Sri Lankan spinners in the ascendency Jos set about shifting the balance of the game.
His innings of 63 in 67 balls extolled the new orthodoxy of twenty-first century test match batting. His innings was not about survival before the inevitable ball that claims the batter’s wicket. Rather, Jos picked at the Sri Lankan spinners with variations of the sweep honed in white ball cricket.
When he was out, Jos had helped England to 171-7 giving them a base to build a total of 285 all out in the first innings.
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