SOUTHAMPTON (Sri Lanka won toss): England have scored 118 for three wickets against Sri Lanka
A MISERABLE day for spectators would have been sorrier still for England had Sri Lanka fielded even half decently. With play halted at 12.35 and then abandoned for the day at 4 o’clock, both sides had plenty of time to reflect and the hosts could only conclude that they had got away with some erratic batting.
Rain came at an unfortunate time for Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Flintoff because they were beginning to push on after both survived chances early in their innings. Weather permitting, they will start again this morning with 18 overs remaining and the fourth-wicket partnership so far worth 48.
While another early start will present obvious difficulties, the ball is now soft and the frontline pace attack has only six overs remaining of its allocation. Therein lies a dilemma for Marvan Atappatu, the Sri Lanka captain, who must decide how far to press for early wickets with Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa.
Farveez Maharoof, a promising third seamer, has bowled his full stint and if Trescothick and Flintoff are still at the crease with ten overs remaining, England must stand a decent chance of reaching the 230 or so that will constitute a challenging score on a slow, testing surface.
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Should they pass the 200 mark at all then Sri Lanka can blame only themselves. Zoysa dropped Trescothick on nine, flapping at a hanging chance at mid-off that would not have troubled a more athletic fielder, even allowing for the cross-wind. Then Flintoff survived on one when Mahela Jayawardena spilt a near- routine catch at slip.
Atapattu had recalled Vaas specifically to remove the most dangerous batsman of the England middle order and it seemed like an inspired piece of captaincy when Flintoff nibbled at one slanting away. The fact that Vaas has gone wicketless so far is misleading because he has caused problems in both his spells.
Michael Vaughan did well to avoid a grimace or a groan when he lost the toss and Sri Lanka did not have to wait long for a first wicket. Vikram Solanki had played one superb straight drive and a couple of streaky shots through gully before he inside-edged a drive against Maharoof, who had been nipping the ball both ways from an accurate line at medium pace.
As Trescothick admitted, England had to lower any ambitions of a total about the 260 mark and at 44 for one in the thirteenth over they were progressing steadily. For some reason, however, Vaughan chose to step across his stumps to try to hoist Zoysa into the leg side and turned round in horror to see his middle stump removed.
The shot may be acceptable from Viv Richards at the end of an innings — it recalled his audacious swipe against Mike Hendrick in the 1979 World Cup final. But this was not the place or the situation — and Vaughan is not Viv Richards. With Andrew Strauss run out attempting a second to Maharoof five overs later, the innings had stalled.
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Flintoff looked uncertain against the wrist spin of Upul Chandana but Trescothick, while relatively careful, was never so becalmed that he failed to punish anything wide or over-pitched. His half- century, from 74 balls, included seven fours. The loss of wickets will enter the equation if the game becomes a Duckworth/Lewis affair today. If there is no play then England will proceed to a semi-final against Australia by virtue of a better run-rate.
Sri Lanka have managed to overcome the loss of Muttiah Muralitharan to a shoulder injury over the past few weeks but this tournament has shown how serious is the loss of their brilliant spin bowler. He expects to play again in January and has agreed to rejoin Lancashire in 2005 subject to approval from Sri Lanka Cricket.