Trott bags his latest hundred

Unexpected interruption of the day
A few spots of rain threatened to delay play just as players walked on to the field after tea. Within a minute the drizzle disappeared and cricket resumed, only for a couple of deliveries though. Jonathan Trott complained about the Cathedral Road end sightscreen, which is not a permanent structure but a giant white sheet draped over a stretch of navy blue seats. The wind blew an orange-and-white shopping bag right onto the middle of the sightscreen, distracting Trott and no one was sure how to retrieve it. After a couple of minutes of waiting for the gust to solve the problem, Trott just decided to get on with it. It wasn't till the end of the over that a spectator managed to grab hold of the errant bag after several comic failed attempts.

Cameo of the day
Shortly before the start of play, it was confirmed that James Anderson had a grade one side strain that would prevent him from bowling for the remainder of the match. With the Lord's Test starting on Friday, his recovery is clearly in some doubt, although England did not feel any need to curtail his role as nightwatchman. Stuart Broad, an expert on side strains after his winter travails, explained that the stresses of batting were entirely different, and so long as Jimmy didn't take on any wild pulls, he would probably be just fine. There was no danger of that in a brief and ugly stay. Eleven runless deliveries ended with a stab to slip, and off he went to resume his position on the treatment table.

Not-our-day moments of the day
In the 49th over, Trott pushed the ball towards mid-off and sprinted through for a quick single. There was a direct hit but Trott was home, and the ball cannoned off the stumps for four overthrows. Some overs later, Sri Lanka had their best chance to end the relentless Alastair Cook-Trott stand when another quick single was attempted - this time, though, the throw from Thisara Perera was well wide of the stumps with Trott well short of his crease.

Persistence of the day
With Cook closing in on his fifth Test century in 10 innings, the England players came out to the balcony to cheer the milestone. Suranga Lakmal seemed in a generous mood to help Cook reach triple-digits, repeatedly dishing out short and wide deliveries. Cook slapped the first one powerfully towards backward point bringing a roar from the fans but substitute Suraj Randiv cut that off. The second of those was again cracked in the same direction, and once more Randiv proved impassable, the second false alarm causing a bout of giggling from Andrew Strauss. Lakmal soon gave Cook a third chance in the over, which the batsman crashed past Randiv to finally get to his hundred.