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Cricket
By Ted Corbett
England 265 Sri Lanka 563 for 5
Hashan Tillekeratne has been cast as the villain of both drawn matches but that is rather more than the captain deserves. In Galle he was unlucky with rain and umpiring that teetered between the incredible and the unbelievable. In Kandy his nerve gave way after a perfectly acceptable declaration which he spoilt by bowling Muttiah Muralitharan with fields designed to avoid defeat rather than encourage victory even though no England batsman attempted to hit the ball into the outfield in 140 overs. If England is to save the Test — and so take honour but not the honours home after its short tour — its batsmen will have to stay at the crease 50 per cent longer than in any of their five innings so far. And they have batted for at least 100 overs in each innings to date. It is possible. Thilan Samaraweera showed them how today when he made 140 in 125 overs and put on 262 for the third wicket with Mahela Jayawardene. They rubbed in the lesson that has been clear from the start of this series. Sri Lanka is the superior team, even if it needs to prove it by bowling England out a second time. Play It Again, Sam At the close of day three, Sri Lanka was 563 for five, ahead by 298 runs, thanks to the infinite patience of Samaraweera who appears to think that the phrase `Play It Again, Sam', from the film Casablanca was entirely dedicated to his batting. It was not, at nearly nine hours, the longest innings in history but, with its 408 balls and its 64 singles, it was one of the most wearing. It was also a highly effective foil to the strokes played by the quick-footed Jayawardene and a teasing reminder to England that if Marcus Trescothick, its slip fielder of choice, cannot hold on to the ball in three successive attempts it might be a good idea to put someone else in his place until he recovers his confidence. Samaraweera, encouraged by a band which played jolly tunes all day — and whose trumpeters and drummer must have a great deal more stamina than many cricketers and the silent Barmy Army — crawled to 142 from his four-hour 68 overnight. In the first two hours, Jayawardene and Samaraweera chose a path as cruel as Chinese water torture. They frequently stole a single from the first ball of the over and then watched as their partner blocked out the next five balls. There were just 60 runs in the session; lunch has never been so welcome. Oh yes, some coach will explain that it is necessary to have this sort of spell in any game if you are to establish command yet there were more runs available than is suggested by the dozen in the first half hour and the accuracy with which both batsmen hit defensive fielders when it seemed easier to guide the ball into space. By lunch Trescothick had dropped another slip catch and Butcher had been in the pavilion for an hour having hurt his hand trying to pull off what would have been a blinding catch in the gully when Jayawardene was 71. That was at 291; five runs later Jayawardene hooked high to deep long-leg where Giles could not pouch a catch as he dived forward. In the following over Jayawardene drove the ball high towards the sightscreen where a boy of no more than 12 took the ball with an ease and threw it back to wicketkeeper Chris Read with a big grin on his face. You can see it as a metaphor for everything that has happened in the Sri Lankan first innings: England being shown up by a friendly bunch of guys who can still treat a Test like a friendly. Butcher had made no reappearance — despite assurances from the England camp that he was in fine fettle — by the afternoon when the Sri Lankan batsmen turned to attack. Sixty-five runs came in the first hour as Jayawardene went to his hundred in 287 minutes with his ninth four plus that easily caught six and the intractable Samaraweera followed in the next over. He had laboured for five hours, and faced 345 balls which had brought him just seven 4s. Call it boring or unselfish according to your point of view but I have no doubt the Sri Lankan dressing room loved it. It was always going to need a remarkable fielder to hold a chance for England after six errors, but at 400, Jayawardene pulled a ball from Flintoff which Paul Collingwood, the 12th man for Butcher, turned into an easy catch at long leg. His 134 was only scintillating if you also had to watch Samaraweera but he hit six 4s after his century and ensured that Sri Lanka went to tea in sight of a lead of 180. It also required a remarkable incident to get rid of Samaraweera. Tillekeratne Dilshan nudged the ball a few feet forward and Read ran round to pick it up only to find Samaraweera had rushed down the pitch and was stranded. His innings lasted 493 minutes, 403 balls or to put it another way, by the time Samaraweera was out 20 minutes before tea it had stretched across 27 hours. It certainly seemed that long. Upul Chandana, as thin as a supermodel in a sauna, found the strength to strike two fours and a six from a Gareth Batty over and make fifty off 71 balls; Dilshan hit his third fifty in three Tests; to its credit the England morale never flagged. It may tomorrow when it will face an Everest of a climb to reach the 400 runs it will need for safety. As 294 is its highest total in the three Tests it is difficult to suggest anything except the sort of Christmas stuffing that makes you feel very miserable.
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