ROOKIE FABIO IS FLYING
Tons of fun for Rory as Lions roar at Edgbaston
(inset) conditions for an English opener in Sri Lanka before providing a glimpse of something more in the Caribbean with 84 in Bridgetown.
Here he put it all together to ensure that Smith’s innings on day one wouldn’t be the defining knock of the match.
He added 132 with Joe Root and an unbroken 73 with Ben Stokes to close out the day in tune with the Edgbaston crowd.
They enjoyed an early evening sing-along because the early part of the day was largely quiet, reflecting how tense and tight it was as Burns and Root earned the right to cash in.
The fact Root scored 11 runs from his first 60 balls and 42 from the next 50 tells the story. A fired up James Pattinson took two of the wickets to fall with pace and hostility, while Pat Cummins hit Burns on the helmet in the opening tussle.
Peter Siddle did for Root with a sharp caught and bowled when he had made 57, although he had a huge let-off on nine when he was given out caught behind.
He reviewed and the noise was the ball clipping the stump but failing to dislodge the bail out of the groove
Lyon bowled superbly and had he reviewed an early lbw appeal against Burns when he had made just 21, it could have been a different day altogether.
But name me a batsman who doesn’t need a slice of luck now and again?
This was the epitome of tough cricket, with Burns leading the way.
How far he and Stokes can take things over the weekend could be decisive. FABIO QUARTARARO expects to be fighting for pole position in Brno today after topping the timesheets on MotoGP’s return from the summer break.
The French rookie, back after arm and shoulder problems, says the Petronas Yamaha squad will come out fighting.
He said: “We can be really fast in qualifying, so we can expect even better than this.
“I’m close to 100 per cent and not having many problems with my arm. My goal is to qualify on the front two rows of the grid as we know that Brno can be a difficult track to overtake Test on.” Quartararo (inset) can expect to have reigning champion and points leader Marc Marquez on his tail today. The Repsol Honda rider was second quickest ahead of Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller as he got to grips with several different tyre and chassis options. Marquez said: “Today we concentrated on the set-up more than the one lap speed until the last run.
“We are happy with how the day went and we will see what qualifying brings – we are in a good place.”