Cricket First TestEngland will have talked the positive talk last night of chasing 350 to win but, for realists, survival in the first Test is the name of the game at Asgiriya Stadium today. If this will be no easy task, then at least they have the memory, some of them, of doing just that the last time they played here four years ago, albeit by the skin of their teeth and a Michael Vaughan century.
More of the same might be required for, after Mahela Jayawardene had called a halt to a day of torment for the bowlers, Chaminda Vaas removed Alastair Cook in his opening over, just as he did in the first innings, leaving Vaughan and James Anderson, in as a nightwatchman, to survive the five overs before bad light interfered.
Sri Lanka, 93 behind on first innings, have so dominated proceedings since the first session on Monday that they were able to extend their second innings to 130 overs, during which time they reached 442 for eight with the truly remarkable Kumar Sangakkara batting remorselessly for 152, his first hundred against England. It was also the fourth successive Test match in which he has passed 150 in one innings or the other, another world record in a match that has yielded several.
If Sangakkara was a brilliant player before he abandoned the wicketkeeping gloves at the end of the tour of England last year, then there is no more formidable player in the world at the moment. Fourteen innings in that period have now produced 1,529 runs at an average of 152.9, including seven hundreds, three of them doubles and one as near as dammit.
After playing some excellent, combative cricket at times during the first three days, England unravelled yesterday, with some shoddy ground fielding, a missed stumping by Matt Prior that would have completed a pair for Jehan Mubarak and the sort of misfields that epitomise a malaise.
In fairness to Prior, he has otherwise kept wicket competently, with an excellent leg-side catch yesterday standing up to Hoggard to see the back of Jayawardene for 65, a bonus wicket after a third-wicket stand with Sangakkara of 122.
In such circumstances, when a game appears to be slipping away and damage limitation starts to seem like the only option, bowlers need all the backing they can get from the field but the intensity was not maintained.
The bowlers need to play their part, too, and at times the discipline evaporated. Anderson, in particular, was chastised mercilessly as he strove to keep the ball up and find reverse swing that failed to materialise: 128 runs conceded at almost a run a ball was his reward and probably he will not make the second Test.
Vaughan lost a reliable ally in Hoggard, who has been grimacing with his back for much of the game. He gave it a go yesterday but was forced to retire. The next Test starts in Colombo on Sunday and he is a doubt.
Scoreboard
Overnight: England 281 (I Bell 83; Muralitharan 6-55) Sri Lanka 188 (Sangakkara 92, Jayawardene 51; M Hoggard 4-29) and 167-2 (S T Jayasuriya 78).
Sri Lanka Second Innings
K Sangakkara c Vaughan b Collingwood 152
D Jayawardene c Prior b Hoggard 65
L Silva lbw b Panesar 37
J Mubarak c Sub b Panesar 9
H Jayawardene b Collingwood 20
W Vaas not out 6
S Malinga b Panesar 2
C Fernando not out 9
Extras (b5 lb10) 15
Total (8 wkts dec, 130 overs) 442
Fall of wickets: 1-113, 2-166, 3-288, 4-359, 5-387, 6-423, 7-426, 8-429.
Did not bat: M Muralitharan.
Bowling: Hoggard 18-5-55-2, Sidebottom 25-5-65-0, Panesar 45-5-132-3, Anderson 23-4-128-1, Bopara 8-3-16-0, Vaughan 3-0-6-0, Collingwood 8-0-25-2.
England Second Innings
A Cook c Silva b Vaas 4
M Vaughan not out 1
J Anderson not out 4
Extras 0
Total (1 wkt, 5 overs) 9
Fall of wickets: 1-4.
To Bat: I Bell, K Pietersen, P Collingwood, R Bopara, M Prior, R Sidebottom, M Hoggard, M Panesar.
Bowling: Vaas 2-0-7-1, Malinga 1-1-0-0, Muralitharan 1-0-2-0, Jayasuriya 1-1-0-0.
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