England bounced back after being spun out cheaply by Sri Lanka to leave the first Test evenly poised at the Galle International Stadium on Tuesday. At the end of an eventful second day's play in which 17 wickets tumbled on a slow pitch, Sri Lanka led the tourists by 209 runs with five second innings wickets in hand.
Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath grabbed six wickets as England were bowled out for 193 in their first innings after skipper Mahela Jayawardene's 180 had lifted Sri Lanka to 318 earlier in the day. But the hosts slumped to 84-5 in their second knock, four of those wickets falling to off-spinner Graeme Swann, to set up a thrilling finale. Swann, who failed to take a wicket in the first innings, ripped through the top order in the final session of play, including the dismissals of senior pros Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. At stumps, Dinesh Chandimal was unbeaten on 17 and Suraj Randiv was on two.
"It's going to be a hard Test match to win," said Jayawardene. "We definitely need 70 to 80 more runs and anything above that will be a bonus. England lasted just 46.4 overs as the world's number one Test side, still to recover from a 3-0 thrashing by Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year, fumbled again against spin.
Ian Bell top-scored with 52, but England lost their way before defiant batting by the tailenders pushed the total from a shaky 92-6. Stuart Broad smashed 28 in a 30-run partnership for the seventh wicket with Bell, taking 18 runs in four balls from seamer Suranga Lakmal that included three boundaries and a six. Swann's 24 runs came from six fours and England's tail prospered further when James Anderson (23 not out) and Monty Panesar (13) put on 36 runs for the last wicket. England will slip to number two behind South Africa in the official rankings if they lose the two-Test series, but Bell insisted all was not lost yet in this match. Earlier, Sri Lanka added 29 runs to their overnight score of 289-8 before being dismissed in their first innings 30 minutes after the start of play.
Anderson finished with a five-wicket haul when he ended Mahela Jayawardene's 394-minute knock through a catch by wicket-keeper Matt Prior. The Sri Lankan captain hit 22 boundaries and three sixes in his 30th Test century which helped the hosts recover from a disastrous 15-3 on the opening day.
Scoreboard
========================================
Sri Lanka 1st innings (overnight 289-8):
========================================
L. Thirimanne c Swann b Anderson 3
T. Dilshan c Strauss b Broad 11
K. Sangakkara c Prior b Anderson 0
M. Jayawardene c Prior b Anderson 180
T. Samaraweera run out 20
D. Chandimal c Bell b Patel 27
P. Jayawardene lbw b Anderson 23
S. Randiv run out 12
R. Herath lbw b Patel 5
C. Welegedara lbw b Anderson 19
S. Lakmal not out 0
----------------------------------------
Extras: (lb14, nb4) 18
Total: (all out, 96.3 overs) 318
========================================
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-11, 3-15, 4-67, 5-128, 6-17, 7-191, 8-253, 9-307, 10-318
Bowling: Anderson 20.3-5-72-5, Broad 21-3-71-1 (nb4), Panesar 23-11-42-0, Swann 23-3-92-0, Patel 9-1-27-2.
========================================
England 1st innings:
========================================
A. Strauss lbw b Herath 26
A. Cook lbw b Lakmal 0
J. Trott st P. Jayawardene b Herath 12
K. Pietersen b Welegedara 3
Ian Bell b Herath 52
M. Prior lbw b Herath 7
S. Patel lbw b Herath 2
S. Broad lbw b Herath 28
G. Swann c Dilshan b Randiv 24
J. Anderson not out 23
M. Panesar lbw b Randiv 13
----------------------------------------
Extras: (lb2, w1) 3
Total: (all out, 46.4 overs) 193
========================================
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-40, 3-43, 4-65, 5-72, 6-92, 7-122, 8-157, 9-157, 10-193.
Bowling: Welegedara 11-2-46-1, Lakmal 9-2-45-1 (w1), Herath 19-5-74-6, Randiv 7.4-0-26-2.
========================================
Sri Lanka 2nd innings:
========================================
L. Thirimanne b Swann 6
T. Dilshan b Broad 0
K. Sangakkara c Bell b Swann 14
M. Jayawardene c Anderson b Swann 5
T. Samaraweera st Prior b Swann 36
D. Chandimal not out 17
S. Randiv not out 2
----------------------------------------
Extras: (b1, lb3) 4
Total: (for 5 wkts, 34 overs) 84
========================================
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-8, 3-14, 4-41, 5-72
Bowling: Anderson 5-0-18-0, Broad 5-2-8-1, Swann 12-2-28-4, Panesar 7-1-19-0, Patel 5-2-7-0.
Result: Sri Lanka lead by 209 runs with five wickets in hand
Toss: Sri Lanka
Umpires: Asad Rauf (PAK) and Rod Tucker (AUS)
TV umpire: Bruce Oxenford (AUS)
Match referee: Javagal Srinath (IND).
Comments
Comments are closed.