Sri Lanka v. England - 3rd. Test

[Donny]

A 262 run stand from Samaraweera (142) and Jayswardene (134) have all but ruined England in this Test.

S.L. are 5/474, 205 ahead.

[Donny]

England will face at least a 300 deficit - if they're lucky.

Dilshan (69 n.o.) and Chandana (54 n.o.)have added 100 for the 6th. wicket and don't look like stopping. It's 5/556.

England's spinning hopes, Giles and Batty have bowled 101 overs for a return of 1/296.

Compare that to Murali and Chandana's 66 overs for 5/122. Therein lies England's plight. Well one of their plights.

[London Dave]

their 'plight' have no 'flight'
they only bowl 'old darts' mate!
your turn, Donny!

[Donny]

They reckon it's alright
coz they're boring old farts, mate
-----------------

Spin it hard and toss it high
above the old eye level
Then you may find great success
Just like that Lankan devil

[JLC]

The difference has been Murali and he is under investigation for his bowling action once again.

jlc

[Donny]

6/605 with Chandana on 75 n.o.

The lead is 340.

[Donny]

I reckon the Poms sledged the wrong man.

Since Hussain had a go at Murali, he's come out in this Test and taken 3/40 from 40 overs and has just smacked Giles for 20 runs in one over before Tilla pulled the plug and declared.

England start their second innings 363 behind.

[Donny]

Trescothick goes for a duck to Vaas and Vaughan made 14.

England are 2/32.

[Donny]

Well, guess who dismissed Hussain for 11 ?

Murali (2/23) just claimed Thorpe (19) as well.

England are 4/82 with Butcher on 35 n.o. They are still 281 runs behind.

[Donny]

Batty stumped first ball !! How do you get stumped first ball ? Sheesh.

[Donny]

Jayasuriya joins the party as he bowls Butcher for 37. 6/84

Is this the wicket on which the other team scored 8 for 628 ?

[Donny]

Jaya has 2/5 from 8 overs. 7/87.

[JLC]

If Murali gets found guilty of throwing do you think any of the test matches should have the result reversed ??

jlc

[Donny]

Sri Lanka won by an innings and 215 runs and also won the series 1-0.

Murali took the last wicket to finish with 4/63 and 8/103 for the Test.

Thilan Samaraweera won Man of the Match and Muttiah Muralitharan won the Player of the Series award.

[Donny]

Murali and Fernando blow England away

The Wisden Bulletin by Freddie Auld

Sri Lanka swept to a colossal victory against England in the final Test in Colombo. They romped home by an innings and 215 runs, and thus took the series 1-0. After setting England the small matter of scoring 363 runs just to avoid an innings defeat, the Sri Lankan attack blew away the batsmen for a meagre 148, in 68 overs.

It was a deserved victory for Sri Lanka, who won their first series against England. They have been the dominant team throughout this match and the previous two, and Hashan Tillakaratne's belated first triumph as captain could hardly have been more emphatic. Meanwhile, a demoralised England were left to contemplate their poor first-innings display and some shoddy fielding – they never looked like performing yet another Great Escape this time.

It was that man Muttiah Muralitharan who again led the way with four wickets, including his 100th in Tests at the Sinhalese Sports Club. But the rest of the bowlers contributed as well. Dilhara Fernando claimed three scalps with an impressive display of swing bowling, while the wily Sanath Jayasuriya chipped in with two.

Indeed, it was the seamers, Fernando and Chaminda Vaas, who made the early impact to start England's collapse. Marcus Trescothick, who has rarely been at his best in this series, flashed loosely at the final ball of Vaas's first over, and steered a simple catch to the substitute fielder, Michael Vandort, in the gully (0 for 1). And just to make things worse for Trescothick, it appeared to be an uncalled no-ball. When Michael Vaughan was then suckered by a Fernando slower ball and popped a drive up to Jayasuriya in the covers for 14, England's realistic hopes of battling for a draw departed with him.

It was just a matter of time until Murali struck, and he became the first player to take 100 Test wickets on a single ground with the scalp of his old mate Nasser Hussain. After serving up a succession of offbreaks, Murali turned one the other way, and Hussain got the faintest of edges through to Kumar Sangakkara (49 for 3).

Mark Butcher and Graham Thorpe battled on carefully, and looked to score when they could. Thorpe latched on to anything short, pulling Vaas and Upul Chandana to the boundary, while Butcher flicked Chandana past midwicket and played one peachy cover-drive off Murali.

They were just beginning to steady the ship, but it wasn't long before Murali blew the SS England way off course again with two wickets in as many balls. Thorpe came down the track, was completely bamboozled in the flight, and was stumped by yards (82 for 4).

Gareth Batty then came in ahead of Andrew Flintoff, who could not bat until the fall of the fifth wicket because of the time he spent off the field yesterday. Batty completed a forgettable match by bowing out of the tour with a golden duck. In a dismissal similar to Butcher's second stumping at Kandy, Batty prodded forward to Murali and Sangakkara whipped off the bails with the toe on the line, but not behind it (82 for 5).

The ship was now sinking fast, and Jayasuriya ripped away England's last anchor with the big wicket of Butcher. Bowling over the wicket, Jayasuriya ripped a big-turning ball through Butcher's flat-footed defence and hit middle stump (84 for 6). Chris Read was the next to go, palpably lbw to Jayasuriya's quicker ball.

Flintoff and Ashley Giles added a stubborn 40 either side of tea before Giles was sent packing by a beauty of an inswinging yorker from Fernando (124 for . Flintoff mixed defence with a few beefy blows in his 30. Finally, attempting to guide Fernando over the slips, Flintoff misdirected the ball high to Sangakkara's right (137 for 9). Fittingly, it was Murali who wrapped things up with his 26th victim of the series when he bowled James Kirtley all ends up to start the celebrations – and the England inquest.

The only thing that didn't go to plan for Sri Lanka was that Chandana and Tillakaratne Dilshan failed to reach their centuries before the declaration at 628 for 8 in the morning. Giles did for Dilshan with a sharply turning leg-stump delivery, and followed that up with a sprightly piece of fielding off his own bowling, as he deftly deflected a straight-drive from Chandana into the stumps at the non-striker's end, to run out Vaas for 9. Chandana, who had thwacked Kirtley for a big six over midwicket, then carved to a leaping Vaughan at short cover for 76.

But, for the umpteenth time in this series, Murali was in the mood for a slog. Giles's figures took another turn for the worse as 20 runs came from his 65th and final over of the innings, including two vast sixes. It was the most entertaining mini-session of the innings – but it was all immaterial in the light of England's later collapse.