Alastair Cook gives England the runs

It IS like they have never been away. Five months after they drove, cut and pulled Australia to distraction with a series of dominant partnerships, Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott did similar to a rather beleaguered Sri Lanka. The weather may be a lot colder and wetter in Cardiff than Sydney but it bothered the pair little as the both moved comfortably into triple figures.

They are both so comfortable with their individual games and so obviously at ease batting with each other that conditions and opposition become irrelevant.

Indeed when nightwatchman James Anderson was dismissed almost immediately when play started at 2pm it offered some excitement. The game has lost enough time already without a stonewalling tailender holding up proceedings, so the buzz was: could the England top order continue their form from down under.

A resounding yes was the answer and with minimum fuss and fanfare. Exactly how it should be.

Cook cut well and worked the ball off his legs while Trott played a couple of lovely drives and then started his favourite shot of shovelling the ball from off-stump through the straight midwicket region. When will bowlers learn that bowling straight to Trott is the wrong plan?

Their batting is simple, clinical and mightily effective and without the retired Lasith Malinga and Mutiah Muralitharan Sri Lanka had no bowler who could attack or contain the duo.

It became a bit of a procession, first the 50 partnership, then their fourth century partnership as a pair and onward. It was unfussed and unfussy but there is some sympathy for the bowlers on both sides in this match.

The pitch is far too slow for international cricket.

The ECB may have pocketed 2 million for giving Cardiff a Test match but the quality of the game has been poor.

This is a problem when money men are in charge of sport. It is laudable taking international cricket to other grounds but the game must come first and this is Cardiff's second match and both pitches have been tediously slow.

Sri Lanka benefited in the first innings accumulating an impressive 400 while the England bowlers toiled and once they had such a big first innings score it made a draw the most likely outcome.

The fact is though both sides would settle for stalemate and move to Lord's next week with the series still open. Sri Lanka would feel happy as they have a new captain, Tillakaratne Dilshan, whose captaincy is a lot more cautious than his freewheeling batting and new bowling attack, and England because they know Cardiff suits stalemate and they have lost Anderson to a bad back.He will not bowl again this match and is a serious doubt for next week. His injury is a concern as he is the main leader of England's bowling attack and is in the prime form of his career.

Not only is he England's only consistent swing bowler but he is also one of the main exponents of reverse swing.

These skills will be desperately needed later in the summer when the princely Indian batsmen arrive for a test series. The sawbones need to get him right or England's hopes of moving up the rankings and displacing India from the number one spot will be almost impossible.

That is for later in the summer though. For now England must plan a victory over Sri Lanka.

Clearly the Sri Lankan bowling attack is somewhat toothless so England should assume scoring runs.

Getting 20 wickets is the difficulty as this Test has shown, but the bowlers did pass the edge on many occasions and enjoyed very little good fortune.

That is not to belittle the Sri Lankan effort as all their batsmen have well-developed techniques. Prasanna Jayawardene was very impressive and fully deserved his century but on a harder, faster pitch with more bounce the tall England bowlers would fancy roughing up the batsman with some rib-ticklers.

It is a lot more difficult striding confidently on to the front foot to play favourite drives when every other ball is threatening your chest and throat.

A drier pitch would also suit Graeme Swann more. He is the best spin bowler in the world and given the right conditions can make high class players look fools.

The problem in this match has been all spinners have been easy to play off the pitch, which has negated the effect of their deception. That is also why Ajantha Mendis was somewhat lacklustre. He flicks the ball and spins it both ways and both Cook and Trott misread some, but he never found the right pace for the pitch, possibly because there is not one.

Lord's next week may be lot more aggressive, indeed it could hardly be anything but.