Michael Vandort’s hundred for Sri Lanka

Well played Michael Vandort. Well played indeed. With all the politics surrounding Sri Lanka’s opening batsmen, it was nice to see one of them do so well, even if his opening partner, Upul Tharanga, did bag a pair.

Much as we hate sticking to convention, we’ll have to call Vandort’s innings ‘an obdurate knock’. There were a couple of chances, but it never really felt like England were going to get him out and, crucially, it certainly didn’t feel like Michael Vandort was going to get himself out.

Michael Vandort has gone some way to proving his temperament and ability, batting against a decent attack, in a difficult situation and in relatively unfriendly conditions. If he can do it once, he can do it again, so he deserves an extended run in the side.

We also have a suspicion that he may be one of the giants. Not one of the giants of the game – one of the race of beings, ‘giants’. As we previously mentioned in our post about Essex’s Will Jefferson, giants are far superior to the rest of us, having mastered space travel during prehistory. They are our benevolent overlords, yet they only intervene when absolutely necessary. Clearly the soap opera surrounding Sanath Jayasuriya and Sri Lanka’s next generation of opening batsmen has led the giants to renounce their non-interventionist policy. They have sent us Michael Vandort.