da premier bet： Andrew Miller provides the plays of the third day at Galle
Andrew Miller at Galle20-Dec-2007
A tailender no more: Chaminda Vaas cracked an agricultural 90 © Getty Images
Batsman of the day
Mahela Jayawardene may have been Sri Lanka’s stand-out performer, butthe most fluent batsman of the day was his partner Chaminda Vaas. He’smore than just a tailender these days – earlier this year he picked uphis maiden Test hundred against Bangladesh. He deserved a secondcentury today, as he flogged England into submission with a successionof thumps, drives and swishes. They were agricultural but hugelyeffective, but in the end the allure of three figures proved too much.Mind you, Michael Vaughan did his utmost to drop the steeplingtop-edge that eventually did for Vaas. The bowler, Matthew Hoggard,didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.Drop of the day
He’s at it again. Matt Prior’s third clanger of the match came atprecisely the right moment to destroy what remained of England’sdwindling resolve. Jayawardene had only added five runs to hisovernight 149, when he edged low to Prior’s right, off the lucklessRyan Sidebottom. He got both mitts to the chance but couldn’t clingon, and a furious Sidebottom stalked down to fine leg in anunderstandable huff. That was the fifth chance that Prior has spilledoff his bowling in six Tests, and the missed victims – Jaffer,Tendulkar, Laxman, Dilshan and Jayawardene – are not exactly the typeof players who squander such lifelines.Fielder of the day
If England were slipshod, Sri Lanka were electric when their turn cameto field. Doubtless they were gagging for a run-about after two dayscooped up in the pavilion, but the stand-out performer wasTillakaratne Dilshan. Yesterday he was himself run out for 84; todayhe put the skids under England’s innings with a superb swoop and shyfrom the covers, to dismiss Ian Bell at the non-striker’s end. It wasa crass bit of calling from Bell’s partner Alastair Cook, but suddenlyEngland’s innings was reminiscent of the last time Bell was run out ina Test … on that fateful day at Adelaide last winter.Crass dismissal of the day
It’s hard to quantity the various depths that England plumbed in theirday’s work, but two men were more culpable than their colleagues.First there was Michael Vaughan, who set the tone for England’sinnings with arguably the most stone-cold lbw of the year. He’dwatched from the non-strikers’ end as Vaas zipped hisoffcutters past Cook’s prodding edge, but then – when he finally goton strike – he decided to offer no stroke to a ball that started afraction outside off stump, and sure enough snaked back in to rap thepads.
Michael Vaughan fatally padded up to Chaminda Vaas © Getty Images
Crass dismissal of the day no. 2
England’s cricket in this series can best be summed up as naïve, andalas, Ravi Bopara epitomised that in the manner of his departure.England had only been back on the field for three balls after lunchwhen he lobbed an awful whip across the line straight to mid-on. Thecatcher, incidentally, was the debutant Chanaka Welegedara, who canhardly have hoped for a tamer introduction to Test cricket. Two dayswith his feet up in the dressing room, then a lollipop of a catch tosettle the nerves.Delivery of the day
Kevin Pietersen has faced some snorters in his lifetime, but few havebeen as blisteringly quick, accurate or unexpected as the exocet thatLasith Malinga unleashed before lunch. It skimmed off the deck like atennis ball out of the surf, fizzed at Pietersen’s face, and brushedhis glove as he whipped his body out of line in a movement reminiscentof Robin Smith against the West Indian quicks. Up went the finger, asPietersen froze at the crease, transfixed by the venom of thedelivery. Subcontinental wickets aren’t meant to provide bounce likethat, but it’s thrilling when they do.Contest of the day
Seeing as the English weren’t providing any opposition, the SriLankans decided to play among themselves. After the rain-break theyre-emerged 20 minutes early for a warm-up, most of which time wasspent playing bowls with a set of spare cricket balls. Muralitharan,as you might imagine, produced some wicked spin to land his attemptson a sixpence. He’s a pretty handy allrounder, it would appear.Hold-up of the day
So far in this series we’ve been held up by bees, dogs and an awfullot of rain, but “cultural experience stops play” is a new one, I’msure. Play was all set to resume after lunch, but down on theconcourse in front of the indoor nets, a frenzy of Kandyan drummersand dancers were bongoing away to themselves, quite oblivious to theumpires’ gesticulations. Eventually they got the message and troopedoff, a touch disconsolately. And with good reason too. No-one has yetasked the Barmy Army to shut up.