Kandy, 1-5 December 2007
First Test, Kandy: Sri Lanka 188 & 442-8d beat England 281 & 261 by 88 runs
Muralitharan had been unable to add to his world record tally of 710 wickets until the final session and after tea it looked like Prior and Bell would hold out for a remarkable draw. But Murali found it easier to spin the new ball, and Sri Lanka just had enough time to register the victory they needed to end a poor run of form and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. England appeared to be sliding irretrievably to defeat during the morning session on Wednesday. Skipper Michael Vaughan was dismissed in the fourth over of the morning. He came half-forward to a straight ball from the left-arm seam of Chaminda Vaas, and perhaps expecting the ball to swing into his pads only succeeded in edging to wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene. Soon afterwards nightwatchman James Anderson saw the top of his off-stump clipped by a very fine Vaas delivery and the score was a miserable 27-3 with the victory target of 350 no longer a realistic proposition. Kevin Pietersen did not seem troubled by a broken bone in his hand and hit two confident boundaries off successive balls from Dilhara Fernando. But Fernando did not have to wait long for his revenge, and Pietersen failed to get enough bat on a ball that kept slightly low, inside-edging it onto his stumps. Paul Collingwood was the most culpable of England's batsmen, driving Fernando loosely to short extra cover to make it 90-5.
| 606: DEBATE Source: BBC Sport 
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
|
No comments:
Post a Comment