Intriguing tussle for Galle crowd
An excellent crowd gathered to enjoy the return of Test cricket to Galle, and they were rewarded not merely with good weather, but an intriguing tussle too.
It is impossible to assess this unknown pitch, and therefore to gauge which team have the upper hand at present, but I can't help but feel that England would have been hoping for more than just four wickets when they saw how much the ball moved about in the early overs.
Michael Vaughan had something of a dilemma when he won the toss, because any short-term gain by bowling first had to be balanced with the prospect of batting last on, possibly, a badly worn pitch.
Therefore, it was really important that England made early inroads - but this they failed to do. Had it not been for a couple of debatable lbw decisions by Mr Rauf - who at least took his time before raising his finger - Sri Lanka might have been sitting pretty at the close. (This has to be weighed with England's absolute conviction that Kumar Sangakkara edged Matthew Hoggard to the ‘keeper when on two).
The ball swung, seamed and bounced and, when Monty Panesar came on, he immediately made it spin. Yet the bat was barely beaten and all that England could claim was that they kept the scoring rate in check.
Finally, up stepped Steve Harmison with two wickets in the final session. First, a loosener to Sangakkara was pulled to deep square leg where, while every Englishman on the ground held his breath, Panesar clutched on to a simple catch.
Then, after more than 30 tortuous minutes at the crease, Silva edged Harmison to Bell at slip and was out for a single. If the pitch does deteriorate over time, Harmison's height and bounce could prove to be England’s main weapon.
Mahela Jayawardene stands (again) between England and a good day. If he is disposed of early, Sri Lanka could yet be bowled out for 250 which would give England the chance of posting a lead when, presumably, the pitch is at its best.
This represents England's best prospect of levelling the series, but we have yet to see what life Muralitharan can extract from this unproven surface.
