Nasser Hussain, the only England Test captain to win a series there, once described Sri Lanka as the most hostile cricketing terrain on the planet and Andrew Strauss’s side learnt something yesterday of the challenges facing them there over the coming weeks.
England won their first warm-up against a Board President’s XI at a sweltering Premadasa stadium in Colombo by an innings and 15 runs, dismissing the local side for 119 in two sessions, but found their frustration spilling over a little too easily.
When the number seven batsman Dilruwan Perera stood his ground after Strauss claimed to catch him low at slip off the bowling of James Anderson, the England players made no secret of their dissatisfaction, especially when the umpires backed the batsman.
It was surely not coincidental that tempers frayed on the hottest, most humid day of the tour so far. Team director Andy Flower warned last week that conditions might threaten the ability of the players to concentrate and make the correct decisions. And so, it seems, they did.
The players should have accepted the umpires’ decision and got on with the game rather than waste energy in pointless protests. Their mood hardly improved when a confident appeal for a run-out was also rejected.
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“It was just frustrating with Straussy being the honest, upstanding citizen that he is. He wouldn’t lie about something like that,” said Anderson, who still finished with three wickets to add to the four he captured in the first innings. “You can’t tell without the replay, so you have to take Straussy’s word. The other slip and wicketkeeper thought he’d taken it too. Add the heat into it and it was a lesson for us that situations like that are going to be hard to deal with and we have to deal with them well. We’ve shown over the last three days that we’re trying to simulate as much as we can the way we’re going to play in Test matches. We want to play with the same intensity. It was a pretty good three days. We know it is going to get harder throughout the tour — with the heat and the opposition.”
Anderson, who removed first-innings top-scorer Ashen Silva with his third ball of the day after England had declared at their overnight score, was well supported by new-ball partner Steven Finn, who claimed three wickets to catches by keeper and slips, while Graeme Swann picked up his first scalps of the tour, also finishing with three wickets.
Yesterday’s incident provoked memories of a spat during a warm-up on Hussain’s victorious tour of 2001, when Darren Gough wagged his finger at a local umpire in frustration and appeared to be sent from the field by Hussain, something the team later denied. That Test series was marred by both teams losing patience with umpires — there was no DRS in those days — but England emerged victors thanks to the heroic bowling of Gough and one of the greatest innings played in an England shirt by Graham Thorpe in the sauna of Colombo.
DRS will be used in the two Tests on this tour, though without the most expensive gizmo of Hot-Spot. The Sri Lankan board being skint, England are underwriting some of the costs, believing it a worthwhile investment if it delivers them, say, Kumar Sangakkara leg-before to Swann.
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Most teams tour Sri Lanka later in the year because from March to May temperatures rise go well beyond yesterday’s 31C and 70% humidity. When New Zealand played in Colombo in May 1998, the temperature topped 40C, which made Stephen Fleming’s 78 and 174 not out one of the most remarkable feats by a non-Asian batsman, though one he rivalled with an unbeaten 274 in the same city five years later.
The difficult conditions may have contributed to Anderson, normally prehensile at slip to the spinners, putting down three chances in the match. Despite that, Panesar and Swann took nine wickets between them and the plan to play them both in the first Test starting tomorrow week looks assured. Two of Swann’s wickets yesterday were right-handers, which helps his belief that he can still threaten a type of player whom Panesar is currently eating for breakfast.
England will also take encouragement from the strong start given them by openers Alastair Cook and Strauss. Cook’s six-hour stay was further proof not only of his own superman qualities in hostile conditions but also the difficulty Sri Lankans have had bowling at left-handers in their own back yard. Two winters ago, Chris Gayle scored a triple-century on a tour here and last year Australia’s series win was built around big runs from three lefties, Mike Hussey, Shaun Marsh and Phil Hughes.
Of more concern will be the form of Ian Bell. His duck was his ninth single-figure score in his past 13 outings. He has another chance in Tuesday’s second warm-up, when interest will centre on whether Ravi Bopara makes way for Samit Patel. Stuart Broad, fit again, must play.
Sri Lanka’s priority will be the fitness of allrounder Angelo Mathews, who has been out of action with a calf injury.