Cricket:Alastair Cook's fifth successive Test half-century helped England overcome the loss of Andrew Strauss for a second-ball duck and move towards safety against Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Strauss fell lbw on the back foot to Chanaka Welegedara for the second time in this second Test, having made only four in two attempts, before England recovered to reach 149 for two by stumps on day four.
They had banked a lead of only seven runs after Steven Finn finished with four wickets and took his Test career tally to 50 the youngest Englishman to reach that landmark in Sri Lanka’s 479 all out.
The match therefore appeared to come down to a straight second-innings shoot-out. But despite England’s immediate setback, Cook (61no) and Jonathan Trott (58) settled nerves sufficiently to make a stalemate by far the likeliest outcome tomorrow in this three-match series which England currently lead 1-0.