What a cracking day it was. My mate messaged me shortly after it, having only caught snippets, and was surprised at my post-match adrenaline. Today was Test cricket at its gnarliest, epitomised by Ian Bell and Matt Prior’s stand. They played magnificently and it took a genius, Muttiah Muralitharan, to dismiss them both. With them went England’s hopes of salvaging a draw (if not a win). Had the tail managed to wag, England were about 20 minutes away from the safe confines of a draw owing to the fading light…but it wasn’t to be.
It was fun on comms, too. In the last three hours we had a consistent 40,000 people reading the live scorecard. That’s a heck of a number, and several hundred emailed in to say hello. We had people from Warsaw, librarians in Warwick and a school-teacher with his feet up setting his pupils a long (and quiet…) test.
What made Murali’s day all the more remarkable was that he was wicketless for most of the day. Only on receipt of a juicy, shiny new ball did he strike, and how, with the crushing double blow of Prior and Bell.
Worrying for England, they only have three days in which to recover – and Matthew Hoggard won’t be part of their Colombo gameplans. Come on down, scattergun Steve Harmison.
What did you make of England’s performance? Or, for that matter, Sri Lanka’s?
Super game – I was in Sri Lanka and yet following most of the game on cricinfo bc I was at work! hugely frustrating – but i yelled out as soon as it refreshed that Murali had got through Prior. Raced back home in time to catch Malinga rip through Hoggard.
Difference between the two sides was Sangakkara (specially how he handled Monty), and the morning session today – poor footwork by the top order let England down. Hats off to Bell and Prior though – however slow and low the wicket was, concentrating in that heat is no mean effort. Galle may not produce a result but Colombo’s SSC is a good wicket and it should be an even contest.
Pretty good game, I’d say. Is it me or did the pitch seemingly improve over the five days? We certainly didn’t see the kind of inconsistent bounce that it had on the first two days.
Was it you, Will, who said that Bell and Prior had been undone by Murali’s latest delivery – the non-spinning off spinner? I thought that was hilarious.
As an aside, that Sidebottom decision was a howler. The inside edge was so obvious that most of us at work saw it real time without the aid of any slow motion replays.
i don’t think the wicket improved as such – what usually happens in Kandy is it just gets slower and slower and slower. It’s difficult to score and it’s also difficult to get wickets – so in that sense it doesn’t improve. But it does create good old fashioned test cricket, testing temperament and patience – which is a plus.
Sri Lanka now officially have the best batsman and the best bowler in the world – that’s what won this match for them.
Top test match.
I’m glad it was Bell and Prior who stuck around for so long. Both have had criticism for their batting recently; Bell has been struggling to get past (perceived?) his lack of grit and Prior hasn’t been making the scores.
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