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| Sunday, 19 May 2002 |
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Ruchira and Buddhika force England to follow-on Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from England LONDON, May 18 - Two seam bowlers with Test bowling averages of over 40, left-armer Ruchira Perera and right-armer Buddhika Fernando rocked England, subjecting them to the humiliation of being asked to follow-on in the first cricket Test at Lord's here today. England replying to Sri Lanka's imposing total of 555 for eight declared, were dismissed for 275 with Perera finishing with three for 48 and Fernando with three for 83. Forced to follow on 280 runs in arrears, England had replied with 53 for no loss before bad light forced the players to come off early with nearly seven overs to be bowled. England still trail by 227 runs with two days play remaining. It was a splendid performance by Sri Lanka's four-pronged seam attack to bowl England out especially with the home country playing eight front-line batsmen. It also reflected the input of bowling coach Daryl Foster who worked hard to ensure the bowlers put the ball in the right place consistently. England did not look in any trouble at all at one stage when they were cruising at 203 for three losing only Mark Butcher's wicket for 17 when he was caught at third slip by Mahela Jayawardene off Fernando in the fifth over of the morning. But Perera coming for his second spell following an unsuccessful first of none for 23 off three overs, changed all that. He struck a double blow in his seventh over by dismissing top scorer Michael Vaughan for 64 and the durable Graham Thorpe for 27 off successive balls. Alex Stewart survived the hat-trick ball to deny Perera of that achievement. Perera whose bowling action is being questioned by some of the TV and radio commentators here, rattled England by having Vaughan hooking a short ball to long leg where the tall Nuwan Zoysa and little Fernando almost collided with each other before Zoysa with his height advantage held the ball above Fernando's head. Vaughan who had dropped anchor was out for 64 after a stay of four hours at the wicket during which period he faced 148 balls and hit nine fours. The batsmen having crossed at the stroke, Perera had Thorpe trapped in front of the wicket playing across the line off the next delivery to reduce England from 203 for 3 to 203 for 5 within a matter of just two balls. Thorpe made 27 in an hour at the crease and with Vaughan added 54 for the fourth wicket. It was a successful afternoon session for Sri Lanka who captured three wickets while 91 runs were added. Nasser Hussain went reaching out for a ball pitched outside off stump and moving away and edging a catch behind the wicket to Sangakkara who went diving in front of first slip to catch the ball. The wicket was Zoysa's second and brought to an end a threatening third wicket stand of 106 off 153 ball between Hussain and Vaughan. Vaughan was obdurate as can be. He was bent on occupying the crease as long as possible and despite having a head start on Hussain, his contribution in the partnership was just 37 runs while Hussain it was who played the positive role taking on as much of the strike to complete a stroke-filled half-century off 51 balls in 91 minutes inclusive of ten fours. Vaughan who didn't have much of the strike in the first hour facing only 19 balls, finally reached his half-century after Hussain's dismissal, taking 186 minutes over it and facing 110 balls. He had eight fours. Almost immediately after the tea break, Upul Chandana substituting for Marvan Atapattu (stiff neck) ran out Alec Stewart for seven with a direct hit from point to make England 214 for six. On the last tour here in 1998, it was Chandana who deprived Muttiah Muralitharan of all ten wickets in an innings at the Oval when in the brief period he was on the field as substitute he ran out Stewart. Today there was no Muralitharan, but yet for all Chandana's contribution on the field helped Sri Lanka force England to follow-on. England's decline continued as Fernando in his 19th over also struck a double blow by sending back Andy Flintoff for 12 and Dominic Cork without scoring, both caught behind the wicket by Sangakkara. Perera then induced Andy Caddick to edge another delivery behind the wicket for 13 to make England 267 for nine, and all this had taken place without the key strike bowler after Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas not playing any major part in the wicket-taking process. Vaas was eventually rewarded for his fine bowling with the final wicket when he had John Crawley edging a catch behind for Sangakkara to hold onto his fifth catch of the innings. Crawley made 31 in 108 minutes with four fours. There was no doubt that Sri Lanka's bowlers were determined to raise their standard of bowling in the absence of Muralitharan and show the world that they can bowl sides out without the master spinner. Today's performance ranked on those lines. If Sri Lanka can pull this Test through, it will be the first time they will win a Test match overseas without Muralitharan. SRI LANKA -1ST INNINGS
( 555-8 declared)
(M.Atapattu 185, M.Jayawardene 107,
A.de Silva 88, R.Arnold 50)
ENGLAND- 1 ST INNINGS
(overnight 27-1)
M. Trescothick c Jayasuriya b Zoysa 13
M. Vaughan c Zoysa b Perera 64
M. Butcher c Jayawardene b Fernando 17
N. Hussain c Sangakkara b Zoysa 57
G. Thorpe lbw b Perera 27
J. Crawley c Sangakkara b Vaas 31
A. Stewart run out 7
A. Flintoff c Sangakkara b Fernando 12
D. Cork c Sangakkara b Fernando 0
A. Caddick c Sangakkara b Perera 13
M. Hoggard not out 0
EXTRAS (b-4 lb-7 w-9 nb-14) 34
TOTAL (73.1 overs) 275
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-17 2-43 3-149 4-203 5-203
6-214 7-237 8-237 9-267
BOWLING: Vaas 21.1-4-51-1, Zoysa 19-3-82-2,
Fernando 22-5-83-3, Perera 11-0-48-3
ENGLAND - 2ND INNINGS
M.Trescothick not out 31
M. Vaughan not out 20
Extras (lb-1 nb-1) 2
Total (for no wicket) 53
Bowling (to date):Vaas 6-1-20-0, Zoysa 3-1-12-0,
Perera 4.5-0-15-0,A.de Silva 3-1-5-0
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