SL-Eng. Day One.

A topsy-turvy day in Colombo at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground ended with the hosts Sri Lanka taking 8 wickets at the cost of 259 runs and the game nicely balanced

England won the toss for the first time since the 3rd NPower Test against South Africa in the summer which is a run of 6 games and the England skipper Michael Vaughan chose the obvious option of batting first.

The tourists had made just one change with James Anderson coming in and Nasser Hussain being preferred over Paul Collingwood. Sri Lanka made two changes from the side which dominated the 2nd Test match in Kandy with Upul Chandana replacing Kumar Dharmasena and Dilhara Fernando coming in for his namesake Dinusha Fernando.

With England's attitude coming under attack from John Dyson, it seemed like Marcus Trescothick had taken it personally as he swatted the bowlers all around the ground during an opening stand of 78 with Michael Vaughan which came in just 19 overs.

Trescothick marking Fernando's return with a couple of crunching boundaries in his first over and Chaminda Vaas fared no better. Michael Vaughan had no need to take risks as his opening partner was racing along, therefore he played a relatively gentle innings of 18 before nicking one to slip off Chandana. England 78/1.

Trescothick, unperturbed, continued in the same vein except with a different partner. However, he couldn't continue on and Muralitharan ripped an off-break across Trescothick and edged to slip; the Sri Lankan spinner exacting some revenge for the England opener wafting several boundaries. 108/2.

Cue another English middle order batting collapse as Mark Butcher (23), Nasser Hussain (8), Graham Thorpe (13) fell for just 21 runs added to the total and Fernando, Vaas and Murali respectively sharing the spoils. England 139/5 and most definitely having a wobble with only Andrew Flintoff as a recognised batsman left with his wicket intact.

However, Gareth Batty has become an enigma to the Sri Lankans in the past 2 Test matches. Facing 346 deliveries and scoring 103 runs, he has shown steely defence and the ability to stick around the crease when required whereas Andy Flintoff has had a relatively poor series with just 36 runs. These two however combined together to repair some of the damage done by the hosts.

Flintoff obviously had a plan that he wanted to implement which was to get as far forward as you possibly can and combat the turn. It worked with dramatic results. 14 boundaries (10 fours and 4 sixes) were despatched by the powerful Lancastrian all-rounder as partnership of 87 between him and Batty turned a wobbly situation into a solid if not spectacular score.

Batty (14) after all his good work threw his wicket away with a rash pull which skied to Atapattu at midwicket. 226/5 and Flintoff was joined by Chris Read. This didn't last long as Flintoff fed the ball back to Murali who took a good diving catch and the explosive innings was over. 77 runs from 109 balls and an innings which was crucial to England’s chances.

Sri Lanka looking to close the innings out found stubborn resistance in Chris Read and Ashley Giles as 22 more runs were ground out until Giles ran himself out for 10.

Kirtley and Read blocked the remaining deliveries and the day finished with England on 259/8. Muttiah Muralitharan was again heavily used and again heavily successful with figures of 37-20-38-3 to show for the hard work.

The game lies in the balance with England probably happy after the mid-innings collapse to be on 259/8 but Sri Lanka will be by no means unhappy with their days work.

3rd Test, Day One

England 259/8 (Flintoff 77, Trescothick 70; Murilitharan 3/38, Chandana 2/82)

England lead by 259 runs with 2 wickets remaining.


Posted by Peter