Cricket: Sri Lanka show fight but still face defeat

Sri Lanka, having shown all the grit and fight of a lap dog in the first two days of their test match against England, at last exhibited something akin to tenacity last night.

Singhalese bulldog, say.

They will lose all the same.

So dire were their efforts in both first innings of the match, almost an affront to previous Sri Lankan sides at Lord's, that at the start of the third day it was already over as a legitimate contest in the sense that either side could win or lose.

But the tourists altered the nature of the inevitable defeat with belated resistance in their first innings yesterday and some proper endeavour in their second.

For England, it was probably as well for them to be so engaged.

There was a danger that international reputations were being secured, or at least trumpeted, on the basis of easy pickings.

Not that anybody's performance deserves belittling - full house at Lord's and all that - but there is a danger in creating overnight heroes.

One copper-bottomed hero could be properly celebrated.

Matthew Hoggard became the 10th England player and third Yorkshireman to take 200 Test wickets when he executed a sharp catch to his left off his own bowling to dismiss Farvez Maharoof.

He had advanced to 202 wickets by the close and must have a chance of overtaking the others from the Broad Acres who are above him, Fred Trueman (307) and Darren Gough (229).

Sri Lanka extended their first innings to 192, their last four wickets adding 101 in the morning, which defied belief in the wake of their submission on the second afternoon.

As night follows day, they then lost an early wicket in following on, Jehan Mubarak at least avoiding the enduring indignity of a pair.

Just as the jazz band near the pavilion, not to mention the female choir at the other end of the ground, were presumably warming up for their respective versions of Tell Me The Same Old Story, Upul Tharanga and Kumar Sangakkara began to show the full face of the bat.

It was not always pretty and it probably defied many natural instincts but at last the home side had something to think about.

Perhaps minds in the tourists' dressing room were being concentrated by the arrival in England of the previously retired Sanath Jayasuriya, whose Test career has apparently been resurrected by the intervention of the President, Mahinda Rajapakse.

The fact that Sri Lanka were obviously assumed at home not be up to the task before the first serious match of the tour had finished was bound either to concentrate minds or break them.

It will be interesting to see if Tom Moody, Sri Lanka's coach, thinks that Jayasuriya is too short of match practice to play but it is the sort of decision you are glad he has to make and not you.

Mubarak probably will not be getting a game at Edgbaston, Tharanga will be difficult to drop.

After Mubarak chopped on during a thoroughly probing opening spell from Hoggard he redoubled his determination.

He was not always assured - far from it - but England's bowling lacked zip whereas the previous night it had so much zip it was impossible to count the teeth.

While the shine was extant, Andrew Flintoff rotated his four seamers.

Conditions were so favourable that he introduced a fifth, Paul Collingwood.

But eventually, by the 30th over of the second innings and England's 86th over of the match, he could delay no longer.

To the biggest cheer of the day, slightly louder than when he fielded or even failed to field anything, Monty Panesar was introduced.

Without ever having made a Test appearance in England, meaning he had probably been seen live before by no more than five per cent of the crowd, he has become a cult hero.

This says something about the influence of newspapers and the reach of that controversial beast, satellite television, since it was on Sky in the winter that most of the audience will have seen Monty for the first time.

What a big-timer he would have been if it had been on the Beeb.

He was hopeless in the field occasionally.

When he let a straightforward drive through his legs at mid-off, the fans thought it was a hoot, and telly was enjoying the moment before panning to a stern-faced Duncan Fletcher on the dressing room balcony.

But it was Panesar who made the second breakthrough after the second-wicket stand had reached 109 in 36 overs.

Tharanga was deceived by the lack of turn and the faint nick was well held by Geraint Jones, who managed to stay low.

To everyone's delight Panesar whooped and danced with pleasure, actions that are now almost de rigueur.

He bowled a controlled first spell in England of 12 overs from the Pavilion End.

He may have a long Test career though he must somehow improve his fielding and it is important to avoid suggesting that he is better than he is.

Having the goodwill of the public, however, in a way that less vulnerable souls do not, is an asset not to be lightly treated at all.

Sangakkara was a model of denial throughout the afternoon, reaching 50 from 121 balls, uncommonly slow for him, but still beautifully measured.

The deficit of 359 seemed too mountainous to climb, though it might have been more.

Assisted by some less than exacting bowling in the morning Sri Lanka's tail was almost roistering.

Sajid Mahmood found a repeat of the exciting deeds of Friday beyond him.

It was left to the trained executives of Hoggard and Flintoff, to round things up, not the apprentices.

Sri Lanka should still be fired before tomorrow, by England if not by their president.

- INDEPENDENT