Test Match. Day 2.

Dawn saw a few bleary eyes, but also a magnificent team of athletes, raring for another day’s play.

Unfortunately, they were the Sri Lankan team. BMCC players looked a little more woebegone.

We knew that today could be the crunch part of the match. We must make that early breakthrough, and ideally get the opposition out for less than the 329 we’d scored – or else our second innings was likely to be very hard work indeed.

Unfortunately, our fast bowlers just couldn’t get a wicket, so eventually I asked Jona to try an over of slow bowling – and one kept very low and achieved our first wicket of the day – by which time, though, the score had moved on to 201-3.

The old ball was doing nothing for us at all; in an effort to get through it without tiring out our main bowlers, I allowed the more junior players to make use of it – entirely unsuccessfully - so just before lunch I brought Tom back, and he broke through, with two wickets in two balls, leaving them on 271-5 at the interval.

We took the new ball straight after lunch, but went through the entire next session without a single wicket. They went in for tea on 355-5, 26 runs ahead of us, and with five wickets in hand. There were some very glum faces over the tea table. Many of us couldn’t face eating anything. Even Phil only managed four pies.

And some sandwiches.

And a couple of cakes.

Oh, and some trifle.

We came out after tea determined to break this stand. Eventually I did it, with a tricky, flighted ball, which dipped at the last minute and took his off-stump. My next ball also took a wicket, and suddenly at 396-7 things looked a little more hopeful.

Tom and I wrapped the innings up between us, bowling them out for 401 – a first innings lead to Sri Lanka of 72. Tom achieved a five-fer, as the scoreboard shows.

That left us a tricky nine overs to get through before the close of play. I ordered our batsmen to block as much as possible, and only to play at loose balls. With three more days to get through, a result is certain (weather permitting) and we must use up as many of those hours as we can, in batting.

First, though, we had that deficit of 72 runs to clear up.

By the time the final over came round, we had scored 70 of those runs, without losing a wicket. Sadly in that last over, Merithitheran managed to get Carol to play on.

We ended the day on 71-1, with Jona poised at 49, likely to spend a restless night, wondering whether she would make her half-century in the morning.