If only they were all as good as Jimmy!
PAUL NEWMAN REPORTS FROM THE SECOND TEST
JIMMY ANDERSON produced the perfect demonstration of a modern fast bowler’s art yesterday only to come up once more against the classiest barrier in world cricket in Mahela Jayawardene on the first day of a Test England simply must win.
Twice Jayawardene has entered with Anderson on a hat-trick after the immediate fall of Kumar Sangakkara and twice he has not only repelled the threat but moved on to what was a Test- defining century in Galle and another here which might be equally significant.
Jayawardene was the difference between these sides in the first Test when he made one of the great centuries and he was almost as impressive here until Graeme Swann snared him in the nick of time for England to retain hope that they can level this mini-series.
Sri Lanka finished on 238 for six at the end of an evenly-matched day but with the P Sara Oval wicket showing signs of uneven bounce and turn the onus will be on England’s batsmen at last to make the big first-innings total that has been beyond them all winter.
This is a hugely important match for an England side who cannot afford to lose their fifth successive Test of an Asian winter that threatens to knock them off the top of the world rankings.
They can have no complaints again about the quality of their attack, inspired by their leader in Anderson who, approaching his 30th birthday, is at the peak of his powers.
Once Anderson needed conventional swing to make an impact but, after conquering first Australia and now the sub-continent, he can thrive in all conditions and it is no exaggeration to say his first spell yesterday was one of his most skilful in Test cricket.
Figures of 7-1-29-3 barely did justice to Anderson’s expertise, his efforts eclipsing even his first-innings five-wicket haul in Galle, but when the shine went off the new ball and Jayawardene began to establish himself, the Test returned to a familiar pattern.
The P Sara Oval, venue for Sri Lanka’s first ever Test 30 years ago, looked a picture for this second Test, a small ground packed to the rafters, with the 4,000 or so England fans who sweated on gaining admission all seemingly finding tickets.
All eyes were on Andrew Strauss at the toss, the tetchy way he was prematurely withdrawn by the ECB from his pre-test press conference apparently betraying the nervousness of those who do not want to admit that the captain is under additional pressure here.
Strauss could have done with a stroke of good fortune — instead he lost his fourth successive toss — but then the cricketing gods seemed to be smiling on him when he fumbled but then clutched a regulation chance offered by Sangakkara to his first ball.
That followed another failure for Tillakaratne Dilshan, who, permanently in Twenty20 mode these days, smashed Anderson for two successive fours but then edged a seaming delivery to Matt Prior.
When Lahiru Thirimanne played no stroke to Anderson and foolishly wasted a review by questioning the lbw decision Sri Lanka were in trouble and this time England had a third seamer to back up Anderson and Steven Finn, replacing the injured Stuart Broad, with Tim Bresnan being preferred at the last moment to Monty Panesar.
The failure of Bresnan to make further inroads with a poor first spell could be offered as evidence that England had got their selection wrong but in truth this was a tricky pick for Strauss and Andy Flower without the key figure of Broad.
Panesar could have been invaluable, particularly with Samit Patel’s spin proving innocuous yesterday, but Patel is mainly in the side for his batting and needs to show his worth when his turn comes.
Bresnan, England’s lucky charm with victory in all of his previous 10 Tests, did return to take the wicket of Thilan Samaraweera but not before he had added 124 with Jayawardene and survived another technology-induced controversy.
England were convinced Samaraweera had gloved Finn to short leg when he was on 36 and reviewed Asad Rauf’s not out decision. Third umpire Rod Tucker then took an eternity before deciding, without Hotspot, that there was not enough evidence for him to overturn, even though the stump mic picked up two noises.
This led to Flower, not for the first time, visiting match referee Javagal Srinath to clarify the thinking behind the decision but England could hardly blame Tucker for backing up his onfield colleague. While a mish-mash of technology is made available for the infernal referral system it will remain a far from perfect supplement to the excellence of the elite umpiring panel.
Samaraweera’s reward for his reprieve was being struck a nasty blow on the helmet by Finn before Bresnan trapped him lbw but then the returning Angelo Mathews joined Jayawardene to ride his luck and take Sri Lanka towards a decent position.
This was not as masterful a display from Jayawardene as in Galle and he could have fallen both on 46 when Alastair Cook was unable to cling on to a firm push off Graeme Swann to short leg and on 79 when Strauss really should have got closer to snaffling an edge to his left at wide slip off Anderson.
But the only real surprise came when Jayawardene fell for 105, lbw on the front foot to Swann, who otherwise had struggled to make the impact he did in taking six second-innings wickets in Galle.
Jayawardene could barely believe that he had been given out to a spinner but it was just the breakthrough England needed ahead of the second new ball and Finn gained the wicket he deserved when Prasanna Jayawardene succumbed to a bit of extra bounce.
So England remain in the game but that has been the story of their winter until the batsmen have repeatedly let them down. This time they just have to deliver a score of 400 plus. Otherwise the implications could be enormous.