England vs Sri Lanka (Day 2, 1st Test) - Lords, London - Friday 12th May 2006

My last trip to Lords, for the first Ashes test last summer, ended in disaster. It rained almost all day, we saw virtually no cricket, and England capitulated during the 11 overs we did get to see, meaning no refund on the £54 tickets. This time, no such misfortune, on a day of scorching sunshine throughout, where England dominated utterly.

Of course, since last summer, England have become Ashes holders, and are now officially the best thing since sliced bread. So, starting the first home test since beating the Aussies, there was always going to be expectation on the team. Lucky, then, that England had won the toss, gone into bat, and racked up 300 runs on the first day. Doing that is what the Aussies do so well (usually), and huge first innings totals are definitely something that are a habit for great sides.

So, in the glorious sunshine, where at times it was oppressively hot (most unusually for England in May), England continued to pile runs onto the board. Pietersen went eventually for 158, England kept going, and when Flintoff hit a massive six at about 3:30, to take the score to 551, England declared and took tea.

The final session, where everybody in the crowd was getting increasingly pissed, saw 6 Sri Lankans fall for under 100 runs - much better than the 3 wickets that would have been a decent result at the start of the session. Masses of England runs, lots of opposition wickets falling, and all on the hottest day of the year so far. Much better than last year's experience, it couldn't have been more different!