da betsson： In front of a sprinkling of English spectators being cooled by circular fansin the pavilion and five contented ponies chewing on a grass bank, Englandcompleted their first victory of the tour at P
Charile Austin11-Feb-2001In front of a sprinkling of English spectators being cooled by circular fansin the pavilion and five contented ponies chewing on a grass bank, Englandcompleted their first victory of the tour at P. Saravanamuttu Oval today.They defeated a Sri Lanka board President’s XI, which contained four playerswith Test experience, by 165 runs and will travel south to the coastal townof Matara tomorrow satisfied with their first 10 days in Sri Lanka.They will be given extra cheer by the news from New Zealand that Sri Lanka’smaster off spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan, has aggravated the groin injurythat he sustained during Sri Lanka’s ill-fated tour of South Africa. Thetrue extent of the injury is as yet unclear. The fact that it is arecurrence of an earlier injury though is bound to be of great concern tothe Sri Lankan management.Hussain was delighted with his team’s performance: “I was very pleased withthe team. We bowled well and created a lot of chances.” Nevertheless, hewarned that the team would have improve if they are to succeed in the Testseries: “We beat a decent side today, but in ten days’ time the side we playis going to be a lot better. We saw how well that Dilshan and Tillakaratneplayed here and they can’t even get in the national team. Everybody has gotsome work to do.”The Sri Lankan board President’s XI resisted the English bowlers for 63overs today, but were always unlikely to bat out the day having lost threewickets last night. They started the morning well though as the impressiveTillakaratne Dilshan followed his sparkling knock in the first innings with acameo 45 from 78 balls in the second.In contrast to his dour defence last night as Darren Gough pounded up to thewicket under the cool evening sun, he began like a man determined to win thematch in time for an afternoon dip in the Indian Ocean. When Giles wasintroduced into the attack after a five-over opening burst from AndyCaddick, Dilshan danced down the wicket and essayed him over long off forsix and then drove powerfully through the off side for four.However, Dilshan failed to temper his aggression and he skimmed a low catchto Michael Atherton at short extra cover in the 16th over of the day.England breathed a sigh of relief and Ashley Giles frustrated Chamara Silvainto lofting a catch to Andrew Caddick at mid on for a duck. The President’sXI were 78 for five.An embarrassing slump in front of the national selectors was then avoided byHashan Tillakaratne who batted 199 minutes for his 43 runs and survivednumerous appeals from a frustrated fielding side.Indeed, the frequency of appeals was a disappointing feature of the match.On two occasions today the England players prematurely commenced acongratulatory huddle in the middle of the wicket only to be denied by theumpires. England looked to have learned from the rowdy and speculativeappealing of the opposition in the first two games and adopted an “if youcan’t beat them join them attitude”.”There was a lot of appealing in the game by both sides as there is likelyto be with the spinners on and men around the bat,” Hussain saidafterwards. “You have to play the percentages, but not over-appeal.Sometimes the umpires agreed with us and sometimes they didn’t, but we willkeep appealing.”Prassana Jayawardene joined Hashan Tillakaratne at the crease and the pairadded 41 runs for the sixth wicket. Jayawardene would have dearly loved someruns in front of the selectors, who are reluctant to select a wicket-keeperunless he is able to score a Test century. His opportunity to impress,however, was cut short by Darren Gough who mixed up his bowling well and wasrewarded when he induced an edge that was snapped up by Atherton lowdown to his right at first slip.Seven overs later the Sri Lankan resistance was effectively ended whenTillakaratne gloved a sweep and was caught by Nasser Hussain at leg slip toleave the President’s XI on 128 for seven. Puspakumara was then paddedMichael Vaughan a catch at silly point to give Ashley Giles his fourthwicket and Michael Vaughan mopped up, like he did in the first innings, withtwo wickets from 3.2 overs.The England team departs for Galle tomorrow where they will train on Tuesdayafternoon and Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, they start their last practicegame before the First Test Match.The Sri Lankan team meanwhile returns home from New Zealand tomorrow as theSri Lankan selectors deliberate over the final squad for the First TestMatch in Galle, which commences in 11 days’ time. Assuming that Muralitharanis fit, then their primary concerns will be identifying the best spinner topartner him and whether to include seven batsmen at the expense of a topclass wicket-keeper.