‘It was a great knock’- Croft

Dilshan (193) betters Sidath’s Lords record, as rain interrupts play on day three:

Elmo Rodrigopulle - Reporting from England

Sri Lanka were 372 for 3 in reply to England’s 486 when rain stopped play after an early tea at 3.40 pm on the second day of the Second Npower Test here, today. At the time of writing, it was still raining and the chances of the Test resuming looked bleak. In the gloom and the rain what stood out was Tillekeratne Dilshan’s grand stand knock. It was majestic and he was lord at Lord’s as he lorded over the Englishmen and made the bowlers obey his command with the bat as he unleashed strokes from the book to send the ball screeching to the boundary.

The cricket crazy fans who packed the ground to watch the action left the ground having got their pounds worth and walking behind some of them and travelling in the tube after the day’s, the conversation was Dilshan and his batting that was an example to the youngsters.

I managed to meet Colin Croft the former West Indian speed great and Henry Bloefeld the renowned radio, TV and cricket writer for the ‘Guardian’ and ask what they thought of Dilshan’s innings. ‘I was very impressed with Dilshan’s approach and batting. It was a great knock’, said Croft. ‘It was a nice knock full of courage and character and coming after the debacle that was Cardiff, it was marvelous and I really enjoyed it’. said Bloefeld.

Lights come on

Early tea was taken with rain falling and when play resumed the lights were switched on as the conditions were gloomy. After five balls play was halted. At the stoppage Sri Lanka were 372 for three with Jayawardena on 40 and going well and Thilan Samaraweera 1. Play was stopped as soon as the rain started the covers came on.

Continuing from their overnight score of 231 for 1, Tillekeratne Dilshan 127 and Kumar Sangakkara 13, dug in and did well not to allow the England bowlers who were trying to atone for their listless effort on day two. Dilshan was his usual confidence self, while Sangakkara was slow, probably wanting to fight his way back into form.

Dilshan and Sangakkara added 81 for the second wicket when Sangakkara went caught behind by Matt Prior off Tremlett’s fourth ball after the new ball was taken at 285 for the addition of three runs at 288. It was an unlike Sangakkara knock of 26 that came off 93 balls with 4 fours. Dilshan was batting beautifully and went to his150 in 192 balls with 16 fours and two sixes. With Mahela Jayawardena joining him they went to lunch on 344 with Dilshan on 187 and Jayawardena on 25, adding 56.

Dilshan’s cruel end

After putting on another 26 after lunch with Jayawardena, Dilshan made another six when Finn got a ball to cut back viciously to hit the batsman on the thigh and then cannon on to hit his off stump. It was a cruel end to an innings that was high class in concentration, courage, guts and determination. His knock came in 253 balls, 421 minutes with 22 fours and 2 sixes.

Dilshan thus joins former Sri Lankan also opening batsman Sidat Wettimuny who made a flawless 190 at Lord’s on the 1984 tour. However Dilshan’s 194 is the highest. Wettimuny was tagged ‘Lord Sid’ after that marathon innings that lasted over 10 hours. Dilshan made his in half that time.

In contrast to the first two day’s of play, the third day’s play started in cool and windy conditions in slightly overcast conditions that should have helped the England seam trio of Stuart Broad, Chris Tremlett and Steven Finn.

After England dominated the first session of the second day, the Sri Lankans made the lunch and the tea and close of play sessions all their own with a splendid batting show by openers skipper Tillekeratne Dilshan and Tharanga Paranavitana.

Batting friendly

The Lord’s wicket is traditionally known to be lively on the first day and settle down to being batting friendly on days two and three and that’s how it stayed.

The two openers made the highly rated England seamers look up and downers as they began to first have a close look and then unwind, play responsibly and starve the bowlers of wickets and as the stand grew punished the bowlers with some high class stroke play.

It looked as though the responsibility of captaincy was the best thing that could have happened to Dilshan. It has helped tighten his game and the way he went about accumulating runs, not pinch hitting as he usually does, but making it a point to stay put at the wicket and score when the bad ball came along was remarkable. He batted in the manner born.

After the Cardiff debacle he realized the gravity of his team’s position after they allowed England to recover from 22 for 3 and make 486. His first priority was to avoid the ignominy of a follow on and that he did with great poise and example ably assisted by Paranavitana as they set up a good launching pad.

Lovely strokes

Of the many lovely strokes he played, he was master of the square cut and the hook shot he played to hoist Tremlett over the square leg boundary and when he stepped out to loft Swann to the members pavilion over mid wicket were the shots of the day. He was hit a painful blow on the thumb by Tremlett, but xrays after the game, thankfully showed no damages.

Paranavitana was an ideal foil for his skipper and their 207-run opening stand is a record at Lords termed the home of cricket and will stand the test of time. Though it was not without blemish, it was admirable the ease and the determination in which it was made. They could have heaped more agony on England had not a sudden rush of blood forced Paranavitana to chase a wide ball and snick to Strauss in the slips for a patiently played 65. His driving between extra cover and mid off was excellently done with good timing and power.

England                          1st Innings 486 

(M Prior 126, A Cook 96, E Morgan 79, S Broad 54, I Bell 52; C Welegedara 4-122, S Lakmal 3-126).
SRI LANKA 
1st Innings 
(overnight: 231-1)
T. Paranavitana c Strauss binn......................	 		  65
T. Dilshan b Finn................................			 193
K. Sangakkara c Prior b Tremlett............... 			  26
M. Jayawardene not out................................	 		  40 
T. Samaraweera not out................................... 		   1

Extras (b19, lb20, w7, nb1)						  47
TOTAL (3 wkts, 101.3 overs, 451 mins)	............................	 372

To bat: P Jayawardene, F Maharoof, C Welegedara, R Herath, D Fernando, S Lakmal.
Fall of wickets: 1-207 (Paranavitana), 2-288 (Sangakkara), 3-370 (Dilshan).
Bowling: Broad 25.3-3-98-0; Tremlett 24-5-74-1 (1nb); Finn 24-6-84-2 (7w); Swann 24-4-65-0; Pietersen 4-0-12-0.
England: Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen,
 Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior (wkt), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett, Steven Finn.