Sri Lanka hold up England charge

James Anderson (right)
12 April 2012

James Anderson struck with the new ball but Sri Lanka were continuing to frustrate England on the second afternoon of the first Test in Cardiff.

The tourists had resumed after lunch on 207 for four, and batsmen Thilan Samaraweera and Prasanna Jayawardene (59 not out) enjoyed a comfortable six-over spell immediately after the interval, adding 35 runs to the score as Graeme Swann and Jonathan Trott saw out the overs until the new ball was available.

But Anderson (three for 62) was instantly on the money and with the sixth ball of his new spell he squared up Samaraweera (58) and saw him edge to Swann in the slips to depart with the score on 243. Farveez Maharoof then departed in unusual fashion as Trott deflected a straight drive onto the stumps to run out the all-rounder and leave the tourists on 290 for six.

The early part of the afternoon session had been very easy going for Samaraweera and Jayawardene as they milked Swann and Trott. Trott's first ball after lunch was dispatched crisply by Samaraweera, who then reached his half-century off 72 balls by taking a single off the same bowler.

Jayawardene had already bunted Swann through the leg side for another boundary while Samaraweera guided a gentle Trott ball down to the rope at third man as the runs flowed. But there was a clear shift once Anderson took the new ball as soon as it was available, finding the edge from Samaraweera for Swann to snaffle the chance in the slips.

Broad, searching for his 100th Test wicket, had a string of lbw appeals turned down by umpires Billy Doctrove and Aleem Dar, with Andrew Strauss choosing to review one of Dar's decisions, but Maharoof had been hit outside the line.

England were soon out of reviews after Anderson felt he had trapped his Lancashire colleague in front. Doctrove turned down the appeal and the review showed enough doubt for the umpire to stick with his original decision.

The morning session had seen Sri Lanka move from 133 for two to 207 for four, with Mahela Jayawardene (four) and Tharanga Paranavitana (66) the men to go. Jayawardene endured a miserable start to his 34th birthday as he went without adding to his overnight score by edging a brilliant inswinger from Anderson to Strauss at first slip.

And opener Paranavitana's 191-ball vigil was ended as he dragged on a Chris Tremlett delivery.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in