Sixth Wicket Stand Powers England To Day One Dominance

Towards the end of day one, mired in the middle of England's biggest sixth wicket stand against Sri Lanka, the tourists struggled visibly against an England side that seemingly carried forward all of their swagger from the last series. Eoin Morgan was ultimately trapped LBW after a referral that originally didn't look to be heading towards a dismissal. The new ball switch was a smart decision and it effectively kept Sri Lanka in the running.

The exchanges now have England at odds-on to win the match with Betfair's layers pricing them around 1.7 at the time of this writing. The draw still remains a tangible possibility at 3.35 and Sri Lanka fans who are confident that their side will not fail with the bat in their next over will probably enjoy those odds.

Sri Lanka are considered well back in their efforts to take a victory here and it appears as though they are effectively playing for the draw. As it currently stands, Sri Lanka are floating around 8.5 to pull off an unlikely victory at Lords.

Alastair Cook posted the top day's score for England with a 96 that must have disappointed him – so close to another century at the hallowed home of cricket. Punters will find Cook floating at 1.2 to finish as top English 1st innings batsman while any other batsmen would reward at 1.6.

One of the most interesting markets looks to be when the test will end with most punters seemingly believing that it will go all the way and end on evening of day 5. It trades at 2.1 right now and you'd almost figure you're better of backing the draw there as it pays around 3.3. Should the match end during the morning session, afternoon or evening session on day four you're looking at around 8.0 to 12.0. A day five finish in the morning or afternoon pays 5.0 and 4.0, respectively.

England look on-course for this one and Sri Lanka must have their recent thrashing in the back of their minds at the moment. The tourists look short of confidence, and they will need to prove resilient with the bat as England have clearly not shifted into high tempo – they are just sitting in fourth gear at the moment.