England, Woakes again benefit from ball change

For the second time in as many Test summers, England found themselves on the right side of a ball change.

After the 41st over of Sri Lanka's second innings on day two of this first Test at Emirates Old Trafford, standing umpires Chris Gaffaney and Paul Reiffel agreed to the hosts' request to swap out a raggedy Dukes ball. At the time, Sri Lanka were 146 for 4, nursing a slender lead of 24, but with Angelo Mathews not out on 59 and Kamindu Mendis on 33.

A firmer ball with a prouder seam brought the quicks back into the game. The prized wicket of Mathews came in the 10th over with the replacement ball as the veteran was squared up by Chris Woakes and caught at gully to end the fifth-wicket stand on 78.

Though England would only go on to take one more wicket before the close, they did create a host of chances with the replacement ball. Mathews (on 65) and Kamindu (39) were dropped by Joe Root and Gus Atkinson at first slip and gully respectively, both off the bowling of Matthew Potts. The extra movement into the left-handers also saw two lbw decisions go in Woakes' favour, only for reviews to find inside edges from Milan Rathnayake and Kamindu, who remained unbeaten overnight on 56.

Coincidentally, Woakes was also the main beneficiary of last season's controversial ball change during the fifth and final Ashes Test at the Kia Oval, which turned a tense final innings England's way to secure a 2-2 series draw. Australia opener Usman Khawaja queried the switch to a newer, harder ball at the time, which did not reflect the one that had been in use for the previous 37 overs.

Ricky Ponting went as far as to call the change "a huge blunder that needs to be investigated". Dilip Jajodia, the owner of British Cricket Limited, the company which manufactures the Dukes ball, vowed to investigate the complaints himself while attempting to quash theories that a five-year-old replacement ball might have been used.

Sri Lanka, however, appeared to have no such complaints at stumps on Friday. Former England international Ian Bell, who is working with Sri Lanka as their batting coach for this tour, understood the ball change given the state of the seam on the original, while accepting the shift in conditions contributed to more challenging batting conditions. He also called for consistency for his adopted team with future ball changes this series.

"[It is] unfortunate, but the team are in good spirits," Bell said. "I don't think they worried too much about that or are moaning about that. I think it's about accepting that and trying to put as many runs on tomorrow to put England under a bit of pressure in the last innings.

"The lights did come on. The clouds rolled over. And that's the beauty of playing cricket in England - you have to adapt to conditions. But again, England put the ball in the right areas.

"In England that can happen. All you ask for is that [it] is consistent for both teams. I know we tried to change it a couple of time in the first innings, but they didn't. But the seam did look pretty awful on that last ball, and unfortunately, you have to accept in these conditions a ball change can swing around."

England centurion Jamie Smith, who had a good gauge on the new ball from his position as wicketkeeper, echoed Bell's sentiments. He also credited Woakes for making the best use of conditions.

"It's hard to gauge because once the ball was changed, the overheads came into play and the lights came on, and it sort of coincided with both factors. If there's one man to exploit them conditions, it's Chris Woakes. Any extra zip, it's him who was going to find it."

Meanwhile, England will provide an update on Mark Wood 's fitness on Saturday morning after the quick experienced discomfort in his right thigh in the 56th over when running in for the third ball of his 11th over. Joe Root bowled the remainder of the over, snaring Rathnayake with his second delivery.

That brought Dinesh Chandimal back to the middle after he had retired hurt on 10 having been struck on the right thumb by an 89mph delivery from Wood. Chandimal was taken to hospital where X-rays showed no break and was able to return to the ground to resume his innings. What fears there were that his batting may be affected were allayed by a lofted four over mid-on off the final ball of the day which took to Sri Lanka to 204 for 6 and a lead of 82.