Controversy should have gone to 3rd Umpire - Vaughan

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss said that his team had shown great character in staging a good late rally to reduce England to 258 for 5 in their first innings on the opening day of the second Test match which got underway at the SSC ground in Maitland Place yesterday.

Bayliss praised his bowlers for a splendid performance late in the evening where they captured four wickets after a pretty ordinary first two sessions. He said that they were bowling on either side of the wicket and also did not field well and dropped a vital catch which turned out to be a costly one.

Bayliss said that his team came back strongly to slow down the pace during the second session and then had a very successful period in the latter stages of the day with paceman Lasith Malinga striking twice in successive deliveries.

Bayliss said that the wicket is bit slow and looks much better for batting during the next couple of days but is hoping that his team could restrict England for a total of under 350 runs. He added there is some interesting cricket left in this game and the side which gets on top and stays on top for the next few days could win the game.

Meanwhile England captain Michael Vaughan believes that Kevin Pietersen’s controversial dismissal should have been referred to the television umpire. The Umpires Aleem Dar and Daryl Harper gave the England batsman caught for one in a slip cordon ricochet, although the television replays suggested the ball was grounded.

Vaughn said that the umpires could have requested for a television replay as common sense should have prevailed at that stage.

The England captain said that the bad decision has cost his team an important wicket but felt that a total of 258 runs is still a lot of runs on a first day of a Test mach.

Vaughn said that they will be looking forward to increasing their total at least to 400 runs with the intention of putting pressure on the Sri Lankan team on the second day.

Vaughan himself was disappointed and frustrated because Pieterson did not reach a century after having batted quite confidently. But he believed that still England could score lot of runs on the second day where the conditions will be more helpful for the batsmen.