CRICKET:For a period of little more than 10 minutes during a debilitating middle session yesterday, as Ryan Sidebottom steamed in with the new ball, England could dream of better things than they achieved.
With it he removed Upul Tharanga, the young replacement for Sanath Jayasuriya whose transition from pitch to punditry has been as rapid as his hundreds. This was to a reflex one-handed catch by the excellent Matt Prior.
Then he did what many were starting to think might be the impossible by getting rid of Kumar Sangakkara - a perfect delivery, pitched on a length, shifting away half a bat's width so that it drew a batsman not yet acclimatised and with a single run to his name into a defensive prod. Prior snaffled his second edge of the afternoon and Sidebottom whooped and hollered his triumphant way round the infield.
It left Sri Lanka at 22 for two and floundering. Butch Cassidy may have been gunned down, though, but not the Sundance Kid and by the close, brought on by bad light once more as evening descended, Mahela Jayawardene and the gawky opener Michael Vandort had taken the score to 105 without further loss.
Forty-three of the the runs had gone to the Sri Lanka captain and 50 to his partner as England, with a disciplined bowling display from the three pace bowlers kept the lid on things without threatening further beyond a half chance to short-leg offered by Vandort when 15 that would have given Stuart Broad a maiden Test wicket.
Earlier England, 258 for five overnight, and reduced subsequently to 272 for seven, had extended their first innings well into the second session, thanks to an eighth-wicket stand of 78 between Prior and the redoubtably stubborn Sidebottom.
Prior, batting with skill and panache, went on to make 79 before he slogged Muttiah Muralitharan straight up in the air to give the bowler his fifth wicket at the last gasp.
If a Murali five-for is not quite as inevitable as death and taxes, then he takes them at around the same rate that Bradman scored hundreds: five for 116 represented the 62nd time he has managed it. With England all out for 351, they will have gone into the third day with a lead of 246 but in the knowledge that the pitch, true to form, is at its flattest.
If Sidebottom struck two fine blows with the new ball, then hereafter, unless there are some morning jitters from Sri Lanka, it will require discipline and patience. The new ball swings but not for long - hence Michael Vaughan's decision to hand it to Sidebottom and Broad rather than Steve Harmison - and later it will reverse too for those who know how to do it.
Harmison, on his return to Test cricket after six months away with injury, was nervy at first but produced some methodical, well-directed pace bowling to back up the work done by Sidebottom and Broad. Batsmen were made to work hard which is how it should be on good pitches.
