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| Thursday, 20 November 2003 |
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Dambulla confirms England's worst fears By Sa'adi Thawfeeq England's worst fears were realized at Rangiri Dambulla Stadium on Tuesday when Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan, two bowlers whom captain Michael Vaughan had singled out as a threat to his side, fashioned out a convincing ten-wicket win for Sri Lanka in the first of three one-day internationals.
If England were looking to salvage something late in their innings through the persistent Collingwood that gambit was snuffed by the lethal spin of Muralitharan who spun the ball on the slow surface not by inches but by feet and was dead on target depriving the Englishmen of any liberties they may have wanted to take. Muralitharan had only one wicket to show for his skills, but he conceded only 15 runs in his 10 overs. England who so confidently bestrode the playing fields of Bangladesh unconquered (they made a clean sweep of the two Tests and the three one-day internationals), suddenly found themselves in a position, which was more suited to the vanquished. Bangladesh at least managed to average over two runs per over and reach triple figure totals. England couldn't even muster an equivalent recovery. That England barely escaped the humiliation of being bowled out for their lowest ever one-day total (86) was largely due to Giles and Anderson. The pair fashioned out 21 runs for the last wicket after the ninth wicket had fallen for 67. Giles contributed with 21 and joined Collingwood in an exclusive club of reaching double figures for England. Vaas, who picked up the man-of-the-match award with three wickets, had splendid support from two newcomers making their debuts - Fernando and Kulasekera who shared four wickets between them. England who decided to take first lease of the Dambulla pitch after Vaughan had won the toss showed that they were not only uncomfortable against seam but also against spin as leg-spinner Chandana chipped in with two wickets for 23 in 10 overs. The manner in which the Sri Lankan fielders threw themselves around the field and held onto some excellent catches a la Jayawardene, showed how mustard keen they were to resume international cricket following the long break they had from it since the end of June. The win demonstrated that Dyson, Duff and Klarenaar, the new Australian trio who replaced Whatmore and Kountouri had done a thorough job on the players in their pre-season preparations for the series. There is nothing more pleasing to get off to a winning start in any job one undertakes. And Dyson must be pleased with the result that a more skilful and determined opponent soundly thrashed England. England was further ridiculed when Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana made short work of their total by knocking it off the required runs in just 13.5 overs. If Sri Lanka can maintain this winning streak for the rest of the series they have a good chance of regaining their former position of three in the ICC One-day International Championship table. Tuesday's win has seen both teams change positions. Sri Lanka has moved from sixth to third with a total of 107 points while England have moved in the other direction sliding from third to sixth with 106 points. The last two tours here had resulted in defeats of 2-0 in 1993 and 3-0 in 2001 for England. There is no reason why Sri Lanka should not repeat that success this time too. England are surely capable of better performances than the one they displayed under lights at Dambulla, and will be keen to prevent that happening at the R. Premadasa Stadium, venue of the next two matches on Friday and Sunday. As Vaughan found out for himself at Dambulla: "I said it was going to be tough before the series but we didn't expect it to be that tough. It will be a true test of character to bounce back from this position against a very experienced opposition." The Dambulla Stadium lived upto its reputation as a slow scoring venue. The water content beneath the surface is such that unless there is strong sunshine and wind for days the chances are the pitch will always favour the bowlers, especially the seamers. This was quite evident during the Bank Alfallah Cup triangualar tournament early this year where Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand players struggled to get the ball out of the square and 175-200 were winning totals. |
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The contest, if it that is the right term to use in this context was
all over bar the shouting by the 13th over when Sri Lankan seamer Vaas and
his latest new ball partner Dinusha Fernando ripped through the top order
to reduce England to 26 for 4. Among the victims were Trescothick, Vaughan
and Flintoff, who represent the cream of the England batting.
