England's brave rearguard can't pull off great escape

CricketSri Lanka won the first Test in Kandy just as they had threatened to do once their batting had put an England victory out of the question, and condemned the tourists instead to surviving three sessions on a wearing last-day pitch against the most prolific bowler in Test history.

That England came within sniffing distance of a draw, spiking the guns of Muttiah Muralitharan until the very end, does them much credit.

Perhaps 20 minutes of good light were remaining when Lasith Malinga's ferocious slung yorker seared past Matthew Hoggard to peg back his middle stump and seal the 88-run win. Yet an hour earlier, with Ian Bell and Matthew Prior batting wonderfully well in a seventh-wicket stand that was to produce 109 runs, but more pertinently occupy 44 overs, the Barmy Army trumpeter's rendition of The Great Escape did not seem so out of place.

This was a pitch on which the new ball was key, however. With the first one, Sri Lanka made inroads to dent any ambition England may have had beyond survival, removing not just Alastair Cook on the fourth evening but also Michael Vaughan, Jimmy Anderson, Kevin Pietersen (torpedoed horribly by a fast shooter) and Paul Collingwood while there was a semblance of hardness to it.

Now, as England dug in, Sri Lanka rushed through their overs to avail themselves of a second new ball. With it Murali removed Prior for 63 and Bell for 74 in successive overs to deliveries that skidded on rather than bit and stopped, and then dismissed Ryan Sidebottom to a horrible decision by Asad Rauf that brought the boos ringing down from the stands. Murali had toiled through 31 fruitless overs before his first wicket: he finished with three for 85 and match figures of nine for 140.

England left Kandy immediately after the match for the tortuous drive back down to Colombo for the second Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club which begins on Sunday.

From a physical point the biggest concern is Matthew Hoggard whose injured facet joint so incapacitated him. In the end he opted for Cook as a runner (a process which used up time rather neatly) and bent over his blade well enough.

However there can surely be no chance of him being fit for the next match and quite probably the one after that as well. His tour might be done and no doubt we can expect the arrival of Chris Tremlett sooner rather than later from Chennai where he is playing.

The situation with Kevin Pietersen is different and with the aid of painkillers he overcame the incapacity of a cracked right little finger. He should be able to play on Sunday.

Ravi Bopara, jittery in the first innings, played with considerable character second time around in making 34 yesterday, hitting seven boundaries, playing Murali comfortably in the process and victim of a marginal lbw decision that might easily have gone in his favour on another day. He will retain his place.

It is the bowling that requires real thought, a situation made more complex by Hoggard's injury. For several reasons - insurance, form and the demands of the game - England, needing to get back into the series, may feel they need three frontline seamers, which would preclude playing Graeme Swann as a second spinner with the added doubt that he is up to the mark in any case against such adept players of spin.

Logically, it should be Steve Harmison who replaces Hoggard, in the hope that he can produce bowling such as Dilhara Fernando has managed. But in practice during the intervals he has looked as wayward and lethargic as ever and, it is Stuart Broad who should be first choice to accompany Sidebottom with Harmison or Anderson for the third spot.

First Test Scoreboard

Sri Lanka 188 (K C Sangakkara 92, H A P W Jayawardene 51; M J Hoggard 4-29) and 442-8 dec (K C Sangakkara 152, S T Jayasuriya 78, D P M D Jayawardene 65). England 281 (I R Bell 83; M Muralitharan 6-55) and 9-1.

England Second Innings

M Vaughan c Jayawardene b Vaas 5

J Anderson b Vaas 11

I Bell b Muralitharan 74

K Pietersen b Fernando 18

P Collingwood c Sangakkara b Fernando 16

R S Bopara lbw b Jayasuriya 34

M J Prior b Muralitharan 63

R J Sidebottom lbw b Muralitharan 1

M J Hoggard b Malinga 8

M S Panesar not out 2

Extras b5 lb9 nb11 pens 0 25

Total (94 overs) 261

Fall: 1-4 2-22 3-27 4-55 5-90 6-139 7-248 8-249 9-253.

Bowling: Vaas 17 3 56 3 Malinga 15 3 39 1 Muralitharan 36 12 85 3 Jayasuriya 14 6 28 1 Fernando 12 1 39 2