Cook rolls on as England build lead

Alastair Cook (left) and Kevin Pietersen (right)
12 April 2012

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 npower 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.

Despite England's immediate setback, Cook (61no) and Jonathan Trott (58) settled nerves sufficiently to make a stalemate by far the likeliest outcome on Tuesday in this three-match series which England currently lead 1-0.

England's player of the year Trott and his fellow Ashes run machine Cook were the ideal men to stave off more trouble, after the hosts stumbled to 22 for three in their first innings.

So it proved too, in a century stand which calmly restored the premise that - even under murk and floodlight glare - there was not enough firepower in this Sri Lanka attack to open up a shot at a surprise victory. Instead, it seemed, Strauss would have the luxury of deciding whether or not to push seriously for a win on Tuesday.

One of precious few false shots from England's second-wicket pair brought Trott four runs, edged through a vacant third slip off Dilhara Fernando, to take him to within one run of his 66-ball half-century.

Cook followed him to 50, from 86 balls. But by then Kevin Pietersen's long sentence to wait with his pads on - as in Cardiff last week - was over.

Trott yorked himself in Rangana Herath's first over, leaving Pietersen to block his first two balls against his nemesis left-arm spin.

The applause of a small crowd might have been read as supportive or ironic. But either way, Pietersen could be in no doubt he had a point to prove - and he took a small step towards doing so by closing out the last hour with Cook.

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