@Cricket Tadka

Sri Lanka v England, 2nd Test, Colombo, 2nd day

England openers make solid start

Tea England 83 for 0 (Strauss 42*, Cook 40*) trail Sri Lanka 275 (Jayawardene 105, Samaraweera 54, Mathews 57, Swann 4-74) by 192 runs

England have the captain they want and the debate they do not need, and Andrew Strauss was battling at the P Sara Oval to bring all the conjecture to an end. Strauss, an England captain in need of runs, was undefeated on 42 at tea, his alliance with Alastair Cook worth 83 as England made a careworn but secure start to their first innings.

     It would be easy to misconstrue England's painstaking approach as proof of the pressure brought about by four successive Test defeats and a captain whose position is under scrutiny for the first time. If that is the bigger picture, it was the minutiae of the match situation that carried considerably more weight, in particular an inhibiting surface that made adventurous strokeplay highly risky.

       Sri Lanka, 238-6 overnight, scored only 37 runs from 21 overs for the loss of their last four wickets on a somnolent morning as England's bowlers again summoned a disciplined performance with Graeme Swann, who is enjoying a late flurry of form as England's winter programme nears its end, taking 3 for 4 in 6.1 overs as his offspin found plenty of bite.