The Hindu : Sport : Sedate start to Galle Test

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Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007
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Sedate start to Galle Test

Ted Corbett

Jayawardene, Sangakkara in good stand

GALLE: It would be Monty Panesar, wouldn’t it? To the point when England’s own spinning top took the catch that changed the course of the third Test, very little had happened.

Sri Lanka, put in, got two bad decisions and Paul Collingwood, England’s safest catcher, dropped Kumar Sangakkara in the slips; but at lunch on 71 for two and tea at 132 for two you needed patience to enjoy this match.

We had expected more. This final Test is about Phoenix rising from the ashes, about new hope for a region destroyed by a cruel tsunami and a celebration of rebirth.

We thought that when Michael Vaughan won the toss and asked Sri Lanka to bat we might see wickets go down in a heap because no one had any idea how the pitch would play. Instead we spent the day wondering whether other England bowlers from different eras might have used it better: S.F. Barnes, Maurice Tate, Alec Bedser, Derek Underwood, Andrew Caddick, Angus Fraser.

Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard and Ryan Sidebottom made the ball swing sometimes, dart hither and thither and beat the bat on both sides but once Michael Vandort and Upul Tharanga had gone, marginally unlucky, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara settled in to bat for the rest of the match.

Good toss to lose

They were probably pleased to be put in, and Jayawardene happy that Vaughan had to make the decision. “Good toss to lose” the cricketers say and this occasion had that definition.

Vaughan probably thought his decision might frighten a wicket or two but Sangakkara is in the form of his life and Jayawardene does not know fear.

I cannot remember anyone calmer: pick the length, play the shot, walk away. He did that for 10 hours in Colombo; Sangakkara, minimally more excitable, lasted two-and-a-half hours and never seemed in much trouble.

As the seventh ball after tea was halfway down the pitch, Sangakkara’s eyes lit up. Short — oh yes, come here. He needed an eighth boundary for his fifty and the area around square-leg was empty, wasn’t it?

Monty’s moment

Sangakkara whirled and lofted his hook and who was underneath but Panesar — such a miserable fielder he has to concentrate 100 per cent just to throw the ball back to the keeper but who says with every movement that he would sell his parents sooner than let down his adopted country.

Two strides forward and the catch was comfortably his, a brief panic in the eyes and it settled into his hands and he could leap and dance and jump into the arms of his pals.

Chamara Silva made one in 36 minutes before he became Harmison’s third victim and the darkness stopped play at 147 for four after 55 overs. It was still a memorable day. Twenty-five national flags flew bravely from the Fort, and if groundstaff were still putting down boundary markers 10 minutes before the start at noon, it was a sign of hard work not tardiness.

SCOREBOARD

Sri Lanka — 1st innings: M. Vandort lbw b Sidebottom 18, U. Tharanga lbw b Harmison 16, K. Sangakkara c Panesar b Harmison 46, M. Jayawardene (batting) 51, C. Silva c Bell b Harmison 1, T. Dilshan (batting) 7; Extras (lb-7, w-1): 8. Total (for four wkts. in 55 overs): 147.

Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-44, 3-132, 4-138.

England bowling: Sidebottom 15-4-33-1, Hoggard 13-3-48-0, Harmison 13-2-28-3, Panesar 11-1-25-0, Bopara 2-0-6-0, Collingwood 1-1-0-0.

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