Cricket: Alastair Cook steadies the ship for England after early wobble

The hosts, 1-0 up already in this three-match series after their remarkable innings victory over Sri Lanka in Cardiff, had a jolting experience on the way to 22 for three yesterday morning.

But Cook (96), Eoin Morgan (79), Ian Bell (52) and finally Matt Prior, who hit a rapid and undefeated 73 helped them close on an acceptable if hardly dominant 342 for six.

Fourth-wicket pair Cook and Bell were first and most crucially to the rescue in a stand of 108 in 32 overs, and Morgan and Prior's century partnership consolidated the recovery.

Those earnest efforts were much needed after Tillakaratne Dilshan sprang a surprise by asking England to bat first in glorious conditions, but on a pitch which was tinged with green, and his new-ball bowlers did not let him down.

Captain Andrew Strauss, England player-of-the-year Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen mustered only eight runs between them as Chanaka Welegedara and Suranga Lakmal, who finished the day with three for 79, fully vindicated Dilshan's decision in the first hour of play.

In truth, though, batter error was at least as responsible as notable sideways or vertical movement for England's difficulties against bowlers who largely stuck to testing lines.

It was therefore incumbent on Cook, following up a century in the First Test in Cardiff, to stand his ground, and he did so for more than two sessions and 61 overs until he flapped an attempted big hit off Dilhara Fernando high to mid-on - falling short of what would have been a third successive Test century.

His fellow major contributor Morgan left especially well against the seamers and climbed into the spin of both specialist Rangana Herath and part-timer Dilshan, clubbing each for driven sixes from the crease.

He was less impressive against the ball coming into him at pace, fortunate several times to profit from rather than pay for contact with only the inside half of the bat.

England were nonetheless indebted to him and Cook in particular, after their chastening start. Left-arm seamer Welegedara, replacing Ajantha Mendis from the team which fell short at Cardiff, saw off Strauss in only the third over.The left-hander failed to get bat on a delivery slanted into the pads up the slope, and accepted Rod Tucker's lbw verdict without consulting DRS.

Lakmal then made short work of Trott, who helped himself to a double hundred in the last game, the number three aiming across a length ball and missing to be lbw - despite recourse to DRS.

Pietersen, in need of runs for himself and his team, made his entrance in a pressure situation and failed to cope with it.

He had made only two when he followed a full ball from Lakmal and steered a catch to gully, where Dilshan himself held on well, diving at full stretch to his right.

The new man for the mini-crisis was Bell, and he announced himself with a resounding pull for four off Lakmal from the first ball he faced.

He retained a high boundary count, several via controlled edges through a packed slip cordon off Lakmal's outswing but also producing a crunching drive past a vacant cover as Dilshan kept an attacking field.

Cook beat his partner to 50, from 90 balls, with a pull off Fernando for his ninth four in a sudden surge of early-afternoon strokeplay.

Bell, like Cook and Trott a centurion at the SWALEC, eventually guided a catch to slip off Welegedara but had done much in a 106-ball stay to leave behind England's early wobbles.

Cook then put on 79 more with Morgan, and it had begun to look inevitable that he would add another three-figure haul to his prolific gains of late when instead he fell to Fernando.

On an increasingly benign surface, the opener was doubtless kicking himself.

But his departure gave Prior another chance to demonstrate his importance to England as a batsman, and he made no mistake with a succession of his favourite cuts and off-drives on his way to and beyond the quickest 50 of the day - containing nine fours from only 63 balls.

Morgan was happy to play second fiddle until he became the third lbw victim of the day, to Lakmal's swing from his first delivery with the second new ball after the Sri Lankans successfully reviewed Billy Doctrove's initial not-out verdict.

The left-hander had banked ten fours and those two sixes from 128 balls. But a second Test century, on his home ground, would have served England even better.

ENGLAND First innings

AJ Strauss lbw b Welegedara 4

AN Cook c Maharoof b Fernando 96

IJL Trott lbw b Lakmal 2

KP Pietersen c Dilshan b Lakmal 2

IR Bell c Paranavitana b Welegedara 52

EJG Morgan lbw b Lakmal 79

MJ Prior not out 73

SJ Broad not out 17

Extras (b3 lb2 w3 nb9) 17

Total (88 overs) 342

Fall: 1-5, 2-18, 3-22, 4-130, 5-201, 6-302.

Bowling: Welegedara 18-4-65-2; Lakmal 19-2-79-3; Maharoof 17-5-57-0; Fernando 13-2-57-1; Herath 14-1-49-0; Dilshan 7-1-30-0