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| Sunday, 7 December 2003 |
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England's great escape Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Galle
GALLE, December 6 - England escaped with a draw in the first cricket Test against Sri Lanka after an absorbing fifth and final day at the Galle International Stadium here today. Needing 323 for victory the match went to the wire as England held out grimly to be 210 for nine wickets when the umpires finally offered the light to them with four of the 15 mandatory overs remaining. Try as they might Sri Lanka failed to get the last England wicket as Ashley Giles and Matthew Hoggard held out for 13 minutes under fading light. England batted with bulldog determination to draw the match as Sri Lanka were left to rue a third umpire's decision which probably would have cost them the match. The incident took place in the final over before lunch when Paul Collingwood on four pushed forward at a delivery from Chandana and Tillakaratne fielding at gully claimed a catch. Umpire Daryl Harper referred it to the third umpire Gamini Silva to confirm whether it was a bump ball and Silva gave the answer in the affirmative. TV replays however proved otherwise and showed the ball clear taking the edge of Collingwood's bat and going to the fielder. Collingwood riding his luck then stuck it out for 176 minutes defying and frustrating the Sri Lankan bowlers. He batted almost the entire afternoon session and was finally dismissed five minutes before the tea break when he was once again caught by Tillakaratne at silly point off Dharmasena. England then were 170-7 and Sri Lanka may have smelt victory at his departure. But the England tail comprising Batty, Giles and Johnson continued to frustrate Sri Lanka further batting with grim determination. Batty hung around 82 minutes for 26 runs, Johnson 41 minutes for three and Giles 106 minutes for an unbeaten 17. Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan who was expected to run through the England batting having taken seven wickets in the first innings was thwarted not only by the England batsmen, but also by a pitch which had slowed down considerably due to Friday night's heavy rain.The pitch did not turn out to be as dangerous as it had on the previous four days and played well enough if the batsmen did not play any silly shots. The pitch thus nullified Muralitharan's spin to the extent that he could not weave his magic as he had on the first innings, although he picked up a further four wickets in the second innings for a match bag of 11 for 93 - figures which gave him the man-of-the-match award. The weather surprisingly held throughout despite the sun not making its appearance for much of the day. England began the day at four for no loss and survival was their first priority. In the first session delayed by 30 minutes because of a wet outfield, Sri Lanka picked up the wickets of Vaughan, Trescothick and Thorpe for 73 runs with Fernando, Vaas and Muralitharan claiming the wickets. The Collingwood incident put them back, but they did not give up although eventually it turned out to be the turning point. Captains comments Sri Lanka captain Hashan Tillakaratne hiding his disappointment at not winning his first Test match as captain blamed the weather for the draw. "The weather made the difference here," said Tillakaratne. I must congratulate my boys for playing so well especially when we were in a spot of bother. They came to our rescue and played very well. There were so many positives from this game for us to take to the Kandy Test," he said. "We almost won this game and our morale is high. We want to regroup and come back and play very good cricket in the next two Tests. "Murali of course is a captain's dream. He bowled very well. We are thinking whether to promote him in the batting in the next two Test matches," said Tillakaratne. "We were disappointed the catch off Collingwood was not given. But then again it is up to the umpires to decide on it. I can't comment on that," he said. England captain Michael Vaughan said that he was delighted to come out with a draw after losing the toss. "I think it is an outstanding effort," said Vaughan. "The way our boys played Murali and nullified him today it was a very good effort. For our tailenders to bat for nearly three hours against a world class performer like Murali, it was an outstanding effort." He said that Collingwood on his Test debut did "an outstanding job". "He did not score so many runs but the time he took out there was a huge key to getting us that draw," said Vaughan. "The last few hours were very tense moments. We were pretty nervous. It was a fantastic draw for us. Three years ago we lost this game with seven experienced players. To see off those last few balls took a tremendous amount of courage," said Vaughan. The England captain also praised Mark Butcher who made a half-century in each innings and said that England had some homework to do before the Kandy Test citing the last wicket partnerships in both Sri Lankan innings. SRI LANKA - 1ST INNINGS 331 (K. Sangakkara 71)
ENGLAND - 1ST INNINGS
235 (M. Butcher 51; M. Muralitharan 7-46)
SRI LANKA - 2ND INNINGS
226 (M. Jayawardene 86 not out)
ENGLAND - 2ND INNINGS
(overnight 4-0)
M. Trescothick b Jayasuriya 24
M. Vaughan c Tillakaratne b Fernando 8
M. Butcher c Sangakkara b Vaas 54
G. Thorpe c Vaas b Muralitharan 10
P. Collingwood c Tillakaratne b Dharmasena 36
A. Flintoff c Tillakaratne b Vaas 0
C. Read c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 14
G. Batty b Muralitharan 26
A. Giles not out 17
R. Johnson b Muralitharan 3
M. Hoggard not out 0
EXTRAS (B-10, LB-1, NB-7) 18
TOTAL (for nine wickets, 108 overs) 210
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16, 2-62, 3-73, 4-125, 5-125,
6-148, 7-170, 8-204, 9-208
BOWLING: Vaas 14-4-23-2 (nb-2), Fernando 4-0-29-1 (nb-4),
Samaraweera 3-1-9-0, Jayasuriya 21-5-31-1 (nb-1),
Muralitharan 37-18-47-4, Chandana 11-2-24-0,
Dharmasena 18-8-36-1
Man of the Match: Muttiah Muralitharan.
Second Test: December 10-14, Kandy.
Third Test: December 18-22, Colombo.
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