da apostaganha： England’s return to the historic P
Charlie Austin09-Feb-2001England’s return to the historic P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, 19 years after SriLanka’s inaugural Test Match, is proving to be a gainful one. Yesterdaythere was Nasser Hussain shaking off the shackles of poor form, the temperedclass of Vaughan and further confirmation of Craig White’s growing statureas a batsman. Then, today, we witnessed a disciplined bowling performance insapping heat and an encouraging signs that Robert Croft can play aninfluential role in the Test series.That is not say that England have had it all their own way in this four-daygame against a Sri Lankan board President’s XI. Indeed, the match isintriguingly poised after a gleaming century by Tillakaratne Dilshan.England eventually dismissed the Sri Lankans for 265 and will start theirsecond innings tomorrow with a lead of 64Robert Croft’s bowling figures of three for 77 from 19 overs may not havebeen his most economical performance ever and he admits that he “still needsto elimate the one bad ball an over”, but his action is looking morecomfortable with each over he bowls. For a man who, in the words of Hussain,”has spent the last four months sitting on his backside back home”, he isadapting well to Sri Lankan conditions.Having been dropped from the Test side last summer and after a public showof petulance, in which he openly considered making himself unavailable forEngland, he buckled down to work on his action with Tom Cartwright in anattempt to rediscover the form that brought him success when he first playedfor England in 1996/7.The hours spent in the Cardiff indoor nets appear to have paid off. He hasshortened his delivery stride, slowed his pace and as a result the ball isonce again dipping in the air and gripping the pitch.”I have been spinning the ball hard and there is a fair amount of variablebounce in the pitches. It’s a building process for me but I think I am goingin the right direction,” he said afterwards. He realises though that it’sgoing to far from easy against Sri Lanka’s fleet footed batsmen. “Thebatsmen in these parts of the world are very quick on their feet. You haveto vary the pace of the delivery and put fielders in different positionsbecause of some of the unconventional shots that are played.”He will never spin the ball like Muralitharan and Saqlain Mustaq, but on thebiscuit-dry surfaces of Sri Lanka he has an important role to play withAshley Giles. He took three crucial middle-order wickets today. First he hadthe gangly Michael Vandort snapped up at short leg with his very firstdelivery. Then, in his second spell, he trapped both Chamara Silva andPrassana Jayawardene lbw with successive deliveries.Croft’s double strike left the President’s XI on 143 for six and Englandwould have had high hopes of securing a sizeable first innings lead.Tillakaratne Dilshan came into this match, however, with a point to prove. Hedid little wrong in South Africa with the national side, but became thescapegoat for the top order’s failures and was dropped for the one-day squadfor New Zealand.Nevertheless, he remains the most technically accomplished batsman of SriLanka’s young crop of reserves and went a long way towards booking his berthfor the First Test Match in Galle with his hundred today. He came to thecrease at the fall of the second wicket, batted for 250 minutes in all forhis 121 and rescued an innings that could have gone into freefall.Dilshan’s footwork against the spin of Giles and Croft was simplybreathtaking. Dancers would have marvelled at the speed with which he movedinto position and the balance that he then retained for the stroke. He hitsixteen crisp boundaries in all and, a missed run out apart, hisinnings was unblemished.Take away the innings of Dilshan and the performance of the Sri Lankans wasdecidedly average. Three players – Jehan Mubarak, Michael Vandort andChamara Silva – threatened to play major innings, but all failed to go on tomake a half century. Fortunately for them, Thilan Samaraweera supportedDilshan stoically and the pair added 93 runs for the seventh wicket.A largely satisfactory day, in which the bowlers had stuck manfully to their tasks throughout, was suddenly being threatened. Then, Craig White had Samaraweera caught by a sprawling Croft at square leg and Gough, bowling with impressive speed in such draining conditions, brushed the glove of Dilshan as the right hander tried to glance down the leg side. Michael Vaughan chipped in with the wickets of Ravindra Puspakumara and Sujeewa de Silva and the Sri Lankan’s had slumped from 236 for six to 265 all out.