First Test, day one: England 171-5 v Sri Lanka Alex Hales (71*) and Jonny Bairstow (54*) counterattack from 83-5 Before the rain came to wash out play beyond the tea interval, we had the makings of a game at Headingley. A first session to Sri Lanka, in the course of which a young debutant seamer managed to take three wickets for the loss of just one run, was countered in the afternoon by an unbroken retaliatory partnership of 88 in 21 overs between Alex Hales, playing what is even now comfortably his most accomplished Test innings, and Jonny Bairstow, batting with real urgency but without any recklessness, that left the day evenly poised. Hales will resume on 71 and Bairstow 54, as England, 83 for five at one stage and staring at an embarrassing start to the series, reached 171 without further loss . England’s slump was dismally processional and to some extent self-inflicted, the mindset that suggests a moving ball can best be countered by flinging the bat at it and teeing off p...