A few key numbers, leading into England’s Test series against Sri Lanka
Shiva Jayaraman17-May-20161995 The last time before this when England started a Test series at Headingley. That series was against West Indies. The hosts lost that Test by nine wickets. Overall this is only the ninth time that the first Test of a series is being played at Headingley.4 Number of Tests lost by England at Headingley, Leeds, since 2005 – the most they have lost at any home venue in this period. This is the only home venue where they have lost more Tests than they have won in the last ten years. England have lost their previous two Tests here – to New Zealand last year and to Sri Lanka in 2014.1978 The last time a Test in Leeds in the month of May or June ended in a draw. Each of the ten Tests played in these months at this venue since then has ended with a decisive result.3-6 Sri Lanka’s win-loss record against England in away Tests. Their previous tour in 2014 was the first time they won a Test series in England involving two or more matches. Sri Lanka’s 15 Tests in England are the fewest played by any of the top-ranked teams in the country. Only Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have played fewer Tests in England.36 Runs Alastair Cook needs to complete 10,000 runs in Tests. He will be the first England batsman to the landmark, and the youngest batsman overall should he score the required runs this summer. Sachin Tendulkar holds the record currently for being the youngest to the milestone – he achieved it at the age of 31 years and 327 days. Cook will also be the quickest in terms of time taken from debut* to 10,000 Test runs beating Rahul Dravid, who took 11 years and 280 days. Click here for a list of batsmen who have 10,000-plus runs in Tests.9 Number of openers besides Alastair Cook that England have played since Andrew Strauss retired from Tests in 2012. While Cook has made 3409 runs at an average of 44.27 in this period, the others have ordinary numbers to show for their efforts, scoring 1996 runs at an average of 25.26. Cook’s current opening partner Alex Hales averages 17.00 from eight innings. However, Leeds has been a lucky venue for them of late; the last two hundreds made by England openers other than Cook have both come here: Adam Lyth made 107 in the first innings against New Zealand last year, and Sam Robson made 127 against Sri Lanka.37 Number of innings since Sri Lanka openers have added a century stand in Tests. Sri Lanka have had opening problems of their own: their last century stand in Tests came against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2014. Since then Sri Lanka’s first wicket has averaged 30.13 runs and has had seven fifty stands with a highest of 85.1078 Runs scored by Cook against Sri Lanka in Tests. He is one of the only three non-Asian batsmen – the others being Stephen Fleming and Brian Lara – to make 1000-plus runs against Sri Lanka. Besides Cook, Joe Root and Moeen Ali are the other recognised batsmen in England’s batting line-up to have played Tests against Sri Lanka.
Batsman Inns Runs Ave 100s 50sAlastair Cook 23 1078 51.33 3 9Joe Root 4 259 86.33 1 1Moeen Ali 4 162 54.00 1 1409 Runs by Angelo Mathews against England in three Tests. He averages 68.16, and has hit two hundreds and a fifty in six innings. Lahiru Thirimanne has managed to score only 80 runs in ten innings against England. On Sri Lanka’s previous tour to England, Thirimanne got just four runs in four innings including a pair at Leeds. Among top-order batsmen with at least ten innings against any opposition, only five other batsmen’s averages are worse than Thirimanne’s average of 8.00 against England.
Batsman Inns Runs Ave 100s 50sAngelo Mathews 6 409 68.16 2 3Kaushal Silva 4 146 36.50 0 2Dimuth Karunaratne 4 127 31.75 0 0Dinesh Chandimal 4 110 27.50 0 0Lahiru Thirimanne 10 80 8.00 0 046.42 Rangana Herath’s bowling average against England in away Tests, as opposed to an average of 17.94 in home Tests. He has taken 14 wickets from five Tests in England with a best of 4 for 95 at Lord’s in 2014. Herath is the leading wicket-taker from Sri Lanka’s current squad against the hosts and has taken three five-fors against them none of which, however, have come in England. The only Sri Lanka bowler to take a five-for in England is Dhammika Prasad who, unfortunately for the visitors, is sitting out of the first Test due to shoulder injury. Prasad’s 5 for 50 in the second innings of the Headingley Test in 2014 is the best figures by a Sri Lanka pacer in Tests in England.
Bowler Mats Wkts Ave 5-forsRangana Herath 7 33 30.03 3Shaminda Eranga 2 11 32.45 0Suranga Lakmal 5 8 63.87 0Dhammika Prasad 2 7 26.85 1Nuwan Pradeep 2 6 50.83 0Angelo Mathews 3 4 24.75 046.16 Stuart Broad’s bowling average against Sri Lanka – his worst against any team in Tests. Broad has taken 18 wickets against them from seven matches with a best of 3 for 43. James Anderson is the leading wicket-taker for England against Sri Lanka. He has taken 30 wickets at an average of 30.30. Sri Lanka are the only opposition against whom Anderson doesn’t have a five-for from three or more home Tests.
Bowler Mats Wkts Ave 5-forsJM Anderson 8 30 30.30 1SCJ Broad 7 18 46.16 0ST Finn 2 7 31.42 0MM Ali 2 3 60.33 0*
