Moeen Ali has retained his place in the England side for the second Investec Test against Sri Lanka which got underway at Headingley today.
The Worcestershire all-rounder had made his Test debut in the drawn match with the Sri Lankans at Lord's last week.
Ali scored 48 and four and claimed the prized wicket of Kumar Sangakkara for his first dismissal in Test cricket during the Sri Lankan first innings.
The 26-year-old will be looking for an impressive performance to bolster his chances of being selected for the five match series with India later in the summer.
England named an unchanged side and skipper Alastair Cook put the tourists into bat after winning the toss in overcast conditions.
But Sri Lanka showed two changes from the team that hung on for a draw at Lord's with nine wickets down in their second innings.
Dinesh Chandimal replaced Prasanna Jayawardene behind the stumps and seamer Dhammika Prasad came into the eleven at the expense of Nuwan Kulasekara.
Ali bowled three overs for 16 runs as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 257 and then England reached 36-0 by the close of the first day.
He had to wait until the final half hour of the second day to have a bat at 311-4 and got off the mark with a push for two off Shaminda Eranga.
It was Ali's only scoring stroke before he was caught behind by Dinesh Chandimal off the same bowler as England ended the day on 320-6 – a lead of 63.
