CRICKET: England's new generation of seam bowlers responded to their extra responsibility caused by the loss of Andrew Caddick to leave Sri Lanka battling to avoid defeat in the final Test at Old Trafford.
Without their most experienced bowler, who limped out of the Test on Saturday with a strain to his left side, England could have struggled to make inroads into Sri Lanka's powerful batting line-up on a wicket which gave little assistance to bowlers.
But Alex Tudor, Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff provided evidence that England's seam bowling future is bright even though the fitness of Caddick and Darren Gough, who is still recovering from a knee injury, remains unclear.
Gough is by no means certain to make the start of the NatWest Triangular Series on June 27th and Caddick is due to visit a specialist tomorrow to determine the damage to his left side, which must make him doubtful for the one-day tournament and could sideline him for the remainder of the summer if it is diagnosed as an inter-costal.
With doubts over their two premier fast bowlers, the performance of their younger colleagues was never more timely and earned England an unexpected opportunity to wrap up only their second Test victory at Old Trafford since 1981.
Resuming on a comfortable 130 for one in reply to England's daunting 512, Sri Lanka's batsmen buckled when faced with the pace and hostility offered by Hoggard, Tudor and Flintoff.
Perhaps unsettled by the sight of Marvan Atapattu dancing around the crease on Saturday evening after being hit on the right index finger by Flintoff - an injury which will prevent him batting again for the rest of the Test - Sri Lanka's batting simply crumbled.
The tourists lost their last six wickets for 34 runs in only 10.2 overs to be dismissed for 253 and after following on 259 runs adrift, reached 63 for one at the close of the fourth day when bad light and rain ended the day 33 overs prematurely.
ENGLAND: First Innings 512 (M. Butcher 123, A. Stewart 123, M. Trescothick 81; M. Muralitharan 3-137, D. Fernando 3-154).
SRI LANKA: First Innings (overnight 130-1)
M. Atapattu retired hurt 10
R. Arnold c Vaughan b Tudor 62
K. Sangakkara c Thorpe b Hoggard 40
M. Jayawardene c and b Tudor 17
A. de Silva c Hussain b Flintoff 18
S. Jayasuriya lbw b Hoggard 35
H. Tillekeratne c Flintoff b Giles 20
C. Vaas lbw b Hoggard 14
E. Upashantha c Stewart b Tudor 1
D. Fernando not out 6
M. Muralitharan c Stewart b Tudor 6
Extras (b1, lb3, nb20) 24
Total (9wkts, 92.3 overs, 422 mins) 253
Fall of wickets: 1-107, 2-142, 3-149, 4-171, 5-219, 6-227, 7-228, 8-240, 9-253
Bowling: Caddick 5.3-2-17-0 (1nb); Hoggard 16-4-38-3 (8nb); Flintoff 23-5-65-1 (8nb); Tudor 25-8-65-4 (3nb); Giles 23-4-64-1.
SRI LANKA: Second Innings (following on)
R. Arnold not out 26
S. Jayasuriya b Hoggard 26
K. Sangakkara not out 9
Extras (lb1, nb1) 2
Total (1wkt, 16.3 overs, 75 mins) 63
Fall of wickets: 1-44.
To bat: M Atapattu, M Jayawardene, A de Silva, H Tillekeratne, C Vaas, E Upashantha, D Fernando, M Muralitharan.
Bowling: Hoggard 8-1-27-1; Flintoff 7-0-32-0 (1nb); Giles 1-0-2-0; Tudor 0.3-0-1-0.
England: Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain (capt), Graham Thorpe, Alec Stewart (wkt), Andrew Flintoff, Alex Tudor, Ashley Giles, Andrew Caddick, Matthew Hoggard.
Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WIs), David Orchard (Rsa). Third umpire: Neil Mallender (Eng).
Match referee: Gundappa Viswanath (Ind).
