When he won the toss and put Sri Lanka in, Nasser Hussain would have expected his side to take three, maybe four, wickets in the first session. England doubled that, reducing Sri Lanka to 108 for 6 to seize the initiative in the match. That was thanks mainly to Andrew Caddick, who was as fiery here as he was listless at Lord's. Unlike in the first Test, there was bounce, zip and sideways movement on offer at Edgbaston, and Caddick took full advantage. As our graphic shows, almost half of his deliveries in the first session were short of a length. For many this would be bad bowling, but Caddick is like Glenn McGrath, in that just short of a length is a good length.

For the most part, Caddick's line was impeccable too. Of 30 balls to Sri Lanka's right-handers, over 95% pitched on off-and-middle or further across to the off side; to the left-handers Caddick homed in on off-and-middle, rather than outside off stump. He pitched 17 out of 39 balls in that area, successfully angling the ball across to earn the wickets of Sanath Jayasuriya and Russel Arnold.

From the 56 deliveries that Caddick bowled on or short of a good length, he took three wickets and conceded only seven runs. That's a rate of only 0.75 per over. When he hit an orthodox good length, his figures were effectively 3 for 2 off four overs.

When he overpitched, by contrast, he went for 13 off 14 balls - almost six an over. Back-of-a-length bowling may suit Caddick, but not all of his team-mates: whereas he conceded five runs off 32 short deliveries, the rest went for 43 off 44 balls.

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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