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England defy Murali

Monday, December 8 2003

Day 5 , England v Sri Lanka at Galle

Some stubborn resistance from Paul Collingwood , Mark Butcher & Ashley Giles combined with the poor timing of Galle’s weather , was sufficient to deny Sri Lanka victory in the first test.

Beginning the day at 0-4 in pursuit of an unlikely 323 , England needed a start to write home about , unfortunately the openers could not provide , skipper Vaughan well caught off paceman Kandana Fernando for 8 , giving the erratic quick his first test wicket.
The left handed pairing of Trescothick & Butcher then offered some brief respite , until the Somerset southpaw attempted to hit left arm spinner Sanath Jayasuria into a nearby paddock & was bowled for 24 , Graham Thorpe then holed out off Muralitharan for 10 leaving the tourists in more than a spot of bother at 3-73.
However some stubborn batting from Butcher & Collingwood kept England in the game until lunch , Butcher eventually opening his shoulders to hit Kumar Dharmasena over his head for 6.


However just as Butcher looked like turning the game in Englands favour he was removed by Chaminda Vaas , his 54 including 6 boundaries & 1 six , Andy Flintoff then completed an inglorious match with the bat , adding a duck to his 1 in the first innings , at 5-125 England were on the verge of exposing their tail to Muttiah Muralitharan , a fear which became reality when Chris Read fell victim to the illustrious off spinner for an unconvincing 14 , he now averages just 16 from 6 tests , without a single half century , his place must now be coming under considerable threat from Kent keeper Geraint Jones.
Paul Collingwood then fell to the persistent Dharmasena for a determined 36 , an innings which showed the fighting qualities that earned him a test debut.
Gareth Batty was bowled neck & crop by Murali for 26 , leaving the tourists poised to surrender the match at 8-204 , however by this point the sky’s were closing in on the Galle international stadium at a rate of knots , light checks becoming overly events , Richard Johnson lost off stump trying to leave a ball from Murali , which he only succeeded in helping onto the stumps , 9-208 , only the weather could save England.
Matthew Hoggard then played out the most important innings of 0 in a long time , keeping out 7 deliveries & defying the daunting Murali & his umbrella fields.
At 9-210 the umpires elected the light had become to much of a factor & offered the batsman the chance to come off , they needed no second invitation & appeared to be celebrating as they hastily left the field.
The Sri Lankans waited nervously on the boundary , ready to restart play at a minutes notice , however in the end weather had the final say , a heavy storm shattering any prospect of play being continued.


England have the weather to thank for their lucky draw , while Muttiah Muralitharan was unsurprisingly the man of the match , his haul of 11-93 taking him to 470 test wickets , and with Shane Warne’s playing future in doubt the modest Kandy man now appears likely to become the second member of test crickets 500 wicket club at some time in the near future.

Summary – Sri Lanka 331 (Sangakkara 71 , Samaraweera 45 , Giles 4-69 , Flintoff 3-42) & 226 (Jayawardene 86* , Atapattu 35 , Giles 4-63)
Drew with
England 235 (Butcher 51 , Thorpe 43 , Muralitharan 7-46) & 9-210 (Butcher 54 , Collingwood 36 , Muralitharan 4-47)
Man of the match – Muttiah Muralitharan


Posted by DavidH