A Sound Head On Broad Shoulders

Good to see England snatching victory from the jaws of what would have been self-imposed defeat in Dambulla this afternoon.

Chasing 164 off 48 overs, they contrived to be 107-7. Enter Stuart Broad. I have to say I am hugely impressed by this young man. His bowling is improving with the experience he's getting at this level and his supposedly tail-end batting, not for the first time, guided England home from a highly precarious position.

Such is the maturity and pure common sense with which he bats that I had a strange kind of certainty as the game built to its climax that England would win. During the summer he helped Ravi Bropara put on 100 to turn the tables on a bemused Indian side and this time he frustrated Sri Lanka with another calm, no-nonsense innings.

Like his dad Chris, he is steady and steadfast in a crisis. Just as well, really; he sees plenty of them.