CRICKET/Test matches:There is always a spoilsport to mess things up, so blame Ryan Sidebottom for disturbing the peace of a sunny, soporific day. Perhaps they should run him in as they did with the first-day streaker. Until he interfered precisely at the halfway point of the day, match and series, there had been the sort of cricket to savour from the depths of a deckchair, eyes shaded, with little to upset the reverie other than bees buzzing and the noise of a light aircraft stitching its way across the blue.
Then Sidebottom, hair streaming, did what had seemed impossible for England until then and thereafter for the rest of the day, until Steve Harmison gained late reward for his effort, by taking a wicket. Just the one, mind, with the second new ball, his third of the innings and it got rid of the gangling centurion Michael Vandort for 138 after he and Mahela Jayawardene had given a 227-run impression of immovable forces.
That was it, until Chamara Silva failed to keep down some steep bounce and looped a catch to gully. The excitement was too much to take, and it was back to dreamland as Jayawardene, Sri Lanka's highest run scorer now, completed the 20th Test century of his career, his eighth on this ground (on which he has now scored more runs than anyone has on any other) and his third in successive innings here.
His undefeated 167 - compiled over eight and a half hours of flawless technique, with 13 fours and a six - together with Vandort's fourth Test century and Silva's 49 has taken Sri Lanka to a position from which they may very well go on to force a result in this match.
At 379 for four at stumps, the lead of 28 was not yet of undue consequence but the wickets in hand were, for if the pace bowlers found the going hard, then there was some turn and, contrary to expectation, some bounce for Monty Panesar, who none the less worked his way through 30 fruitless overs, creating neither attritional pressure nor mayhem with spin. Muttiah Muralitharan may have other ideas and, with support from the other end, a lead of 150 or so could prove insurmountable.
England's seam bowlers, emasculated by the moribund pitch, toiled manfully but, Sidebottom apart, with neither success nor luck. In such conditions, with reverse swing apparently not an option, the chief weapon left to the pace bowlers is patience, bowling on the offside of the wicket only to restrictive fields. To this end they acquitted themselves well, not least Harmison, who flogged as much life out of the surface as reasonably could be expected and was rewarded right at the end of the day with the wicket of Silva.
Some of Harmison's best work for England has been in adversity, something to which Mohammad Yousuf, who was tested severely during a mammoth innings on a flat track in Lahore two years ago, will testify. It has been a more chastening experience for Stuart Broad, however, who bowled with enthusiasm and control but is not quite as sharp as he might appear.
Panesar is fast becoming an enigma on this tour, still a spin bowler whose career is in its infancy and one whose strike rate is heady for someone in that position but suffering from expectation here perhaps. This is a test not just of craftsmanship but character. Guardian Service
Overnight: England 351 (M P Vaughan 87, A N Cook 81, M J Prior 79, P D Collingwood 52; M Muralitharan 5 for116). Sri Lanka 105 for 2 (M G Vandort 50 no).
Sri Lanka: First Innings:
M G Vandort lbw b Sidebottom 138
D P M Jayawardene not out 167
L P C Silva c Bopara b S J Harmison 49
J Mubarak not out 2
Extras b5 lb6 w1 pens 0 12
Total 4 wkts (128 overs) 379
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-22, 3-249, 4-377.
To Bat: H A P W Jayawardene, W P U J C Vaas, C R D Fernando, S L Malinga, M Muralitharan.
Bowling: Sidebottom 25-3-72-3; Broad 25-4-63-0; S J Harmison 28-8-67-1; Panesar 32-4-111-0; Pietersen 12-0-43-0; Collingwood 1-1-0-0; Bopara 5-2-12-0.
