Sri Lanka teach England a lesson

by AC de Silva

CRICKET: Though confronted by many problems throughout their short tour of England, Sri Lanka stunned England with a sterling performance and attractive performance in their inaugural Test at Lord’s, after England won the Colombo inaugural.

England underestimated Sri Lanka in this London game after their torrid games against the West Indies, this five-day match against Sri Lanka would be the cricketing equivalent of a week in a holiday camp. As a result poor decisions were made and England took yet another blasting from its own supporters.

England skipper Gower won the toss and made the mistake of sending the Sri Lankans into bat and get some quick wickets. But England’s attack was weak and it was a tall order. As this was Jim Fairbrothers’ last wicket as the Lord’s groundsman, it was likely to be a beauty and so it proved. It was the first decent wicket the Sri Lankans played on during their entire tour.

Skill and courage

Sri Lanka’s opening batsman Sidath Wettimuny played an innings of considerable skill and courage on the difficult Howe wicket in the previous match and he carried on from the half century he scored there.

He lost wicket-keeper Silva - his opening partner and Ranjan Madugalle whose eyesight seemed certainly been effected by the blow he took from a drunken man outside the team’s hotel in Canterbury, the most bizarre of a succession of injuries the Sri Lankans have suffered.

But Wettimuny got fine support from Dias, Ranatunga and Duleep Mendis and in the process won the hearts of the English public. The Sri Lankans played according to the book, backwards or forwards quite decisively according to the length of the ball. They scored most effectively in the area between third man and extra-cover.

Sidath - rapid hundred

Opener Sidath Wettimuny, though affected by cramp, played a superb innings and put himself into Wisdom as one of the five cricketers of the year with his vital innings of 190 and Mendis, the dasher, hitting a quicker century - 111.

Sri Lanka declared at 491 for 7 wickets on the third day about 20 minutes before the lunch interval and it looked as if there would be no result with little time left in the match.

Sri Lanka made sure before the third day was over that England would be thoroughly embarrassed by its display. England batsmen Broad and Tavare were off their normal attacking style and they were barracked by the spectators. Gower played himself in.

Though Broad was slow in his batting, he made 86 and then Gower played himself in and made 55. Then Lamb made a century (107). Lamb’s was a careful innings made in very difficult circumstances.

England succeeded in avoiding the follow-on and reached 370 in their first innings - a total of some respectability. However, in the first 75 minutes of the final day, England bowled only 14 overs, a somewhat slow rate and Gower utterly, bemused and depressed by the proceedings had clearly given up all hope of rocking the Sri Lankans and trying to squeeze a win.

Mendis missed record

After such a lethargic start, the only interest on the fifth day was whether Duleep Mendis, the Sri Lankan captain, would equal George Headley’s historic feat in scoring a century in both innings of a Lord’s Test. He somewhat carelessly failed by six runs in the second innings, getting to 94.

So, it was left for young wicket-keeper Silva who had never before made a Test century, became the third Sri Lankan with a three figure memory to take away from the headquarters. He made 102 not out in opening the innings for Sri Lanka in the second innings.

Gower - the England skipper apologised for not having batted first after he won the toss.

Though the spectators were not present in large numbers at the match, the people who had come for the match on the first two days saw some quality batting by the Sri Lankans.

SCORE BOARD

SRI LANKA - 1ST INNINGS

S. Wettimuny c Downton b Allott 		190
S.A.R. Silva lbw b Botham 			 08
R.S. Madugalle b Ellison 			 05
R.L. Dias c Lamb b Pocock 			 32
A. Ranatunga b Agnew 				 84
L.R.D. Mendis c Fowler b Pocock 		111
P.A. de Silva c Downton b Agnew 		 16
A.L.F. de Mel not out 				 20
J.R. Ratnayake not out 			 	 05
EXTRAS 						 20
TOTAL (for 7 wkts dec) 				491

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-17, 2-43, 3-144, 4-292, 5-442, 6-458, 7-464

BOWLING: J. Agnew 30-3-123-2, I.T. Botham 29-6-114-1, R.M.Ellison 28-6-70-1,
	 P.I. Pocock 41-17-75-2, P.J.W. Allott 36-2-89-1.

ENGLAND - 1ST INNINGS

G. Fowler c Madugalle b Vinodhan John 		 25
B.C. Broad c Silva b de Mel 			 86
C.J. Tavare c Ranatunga b D.S. de Silva 	 14
D.I. Gower c Silva b de Mel 			 55
A.J. Lamb c Dias b V. John 			107
I.T. Botham c sub (Van Hagt) b V. John 		 06
R.M. Ellison c Ratnayaka b D.S. de Silva 	 41
P.R. Downton c Dias b de Mel 			 10
P.J.W. Allott b de Mel 				 00
P.I. Pocock c Silva b V. John 			 02
J.P. Agnew not out 				 01
EXTRAS 						 23
TOTAL 						370

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-49, 2-105, 3-190, 4-210, 5-218, 6-305, 7-354, 8-354, 9-369.

BOWLING: A.L.F. de Mel 37-10-110-4, V. John 39.1-12-98-4, J.B.Ratnayake 22-5-50-0,
	 D.S. de Silva 45-16-85-2, A. Ranatunga 1-1-0-0, R.S. Madugalle 3-0-4-0.

SRI LANKA - 2ND INNINGS

S. Wettimuny c Gower b Botham 			 13
S.A.R. Silva not out 				102
R.S. Madugalle b Botham 			 03
R.L. Dias lbw b Botham 				 38
A. Ranatunga lbw b Botham 			 00
L.R.D. Mendis c Fowler b Botham 		 94
P.A. de Silva c Downtown b Pocock 		 03
A.L.F. de Mel C. Ellison b Botham 		 14
J.R. Ratnayake not out 				 07
EXTRAS 						 20
TOTAL (for seven wkts at close)			294

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-19, 2-27, 3-111, 4-118, 5-118, 6-216, 7-278.

BOWLING: J. Agnew 11-3-54-0, I.T. Botham 27-6-90-6, R.M. Ellison 7-0-36-0, 
	P.I. Pocock 29-10-78-1, P.J.W. Allot 1-0-2-0,A.J. Lamb 1-0-6-0, 
	C.J. Tavare 3-3-0-0, G. Fowler 1-0-8-0.