LEEDS, England : James Anderson and Liam Plunkett took a wicket each as Sri Lanka crawled to lunch at 74-2 against England on the opening day of the second test at Headingley on Friday.Alastair Cook won the toss and chose to bowl, hoping his four-man pace attack could make the most of the early overcast conditions.
But openers Kaushal Silva and Dimuth Karunaratne took Sri Lanka to 37 in the first hour before Silva edged Anderson through to Matt Prior for England's breakthrough. Silva, who posted two half-centuries at Lord's, made only 13.
Kumar Sangakkara then survived a run-out appeal in the next over when Karunaratne refused a single. Stuart Broad's throw missed the stumps before Prior followed up, but television replays showed he was safe.
Plunkett bowled Karunaratne for 28 from around the wicket in his first over, removing leg stump, before Mahela Jayawardene and Sangakkara, Nos. 6 and 7 on the all-time test run-scorers list, saw out the remaining overs to lunch.
Anderson, who has never taken a five-wicket haul at Headingley, found so much swing that Cook bowled him for 10 overs straight. He conceded only 16 runs for his dismissal.
Sri Lanka will hope the sun that came out towards the end of the opening session will remain, and harden a pitch that favors the bowlers as the day progresses.