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SL-Eng-Murali shines again

Friday, December 5 2003

Muttiah Murilitharan again tormented England on the 3rd day of this Test match in Galle as there was a downpour during the first session; it wasn't the usual rain but the wickets of England's middle order.

The 31 year old unorthodox spinner who on Day 2 had bludgeoned 38 runs in no time, this time rattled off 5 more wickets (to add to his two scalps on Day 2) for the cost of just 27 extra runs.
At the resumption of play, England were looking slightly on top with the score at 97/2 with Mark Butcher (15*) and Graham Thorpe (20*) and these two continued their partnership through 50 at a snail's pace as the Sri Lankan bowlers kept it tight at both ends and threw away several catch chances. It was beginning to look promising for England as the score reached 142/2 with both batsmen into the forties but never looking comfortable.

In the fifth over of Vaas' second spell, the first delivery angled in towards Thorpe and the breakthrough was finally made by the hosts as Thorpe shuffled across his stumps resulting in being caught plumb in front of the stumps and Umpire Venkat had no trouble raising the finger. This was the catalyst for disaster in the England camp as Collingwood, Flintoff and Read all fell in the space of 10 overs for the addition of just 2 runs between them. That man Muralitharan taking all three wickets with help from sharp catches by Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne at first slip and silly point respectively.

The score at 155/6 was looking dangerously short of what might be expected. Gareth Batty and Mark Butcher managed to negotiate the last 6 overs of the session before the lunch interval. After the interval, it took just 6 overs to remove the key wicket of Mark Butcher as Jayasuriya scraped a little extra bounce from the surface and Butcher tickled a top edge to Kumar Sangakkara behind the stumps. The tourists' tail managed to add 58 runs as the ball was despatched over the boundary rope five times. Once by Batty (14), twice by Giles (18) and twice by Johnson who played a very handy 26 from 28 balls before falling to, you guessed it, Muttiah Murilitharan.

England will have been very disappointed to have conceded a 96 run first innings lead on a deteriorating pitch with the world's number one spinner waiting in the wings. However their disappointment will have been assuaged slightly by England's mainstream spinners, Giles and Batty, who repaired some of the damage with 4 top order wickets between them. Sri Lanka had ground out 72 runs for the loss of one wicket and with a lead of 166 runs must have felt they were well on top and could push on for victory but the complexion of the game was slightly changed as 4 wickets fell with the scores on 72, 72, 78 and 85. One being a ill-judged run to Paul Collingwood who punished the hesitation from the batsmen and Sangakkara was left well short of his crease.

England may feel slightly better after the bowling display in the evening session but still much is to be done if this Test is to be saved. The bowlers must be on top of their game and whittle out the Sri Lankans to leave a target of at the very most 240 for their batsmen. Even if 240 is the target, England will not find it at all easy to hit their target. It’s all about the first 20 overs of tomorrow’s play which could decide this Test match.


Sri Lanka 331 (KC Sangakkara 71, AF Giles 4/69, A Flintoff 3/42) and 99/5 (Atapattu 35; Giles 2/24, Batty 2/28)

England 235 all out (Butcher 50, Thorpe 43; M Muralitharan 7/42)

Sri Lanka lead by 195 runs

Close of Play, Day 3


Posted by Peter