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Sri Lanka v England, 1st Test, Kandy, 4th day
Drop-kicking Bell over the monastery
Andrew Miller in Kandy
December 4, 2007
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An unstoppable force
© AFP
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Batsman of the day
Before this match, Kumar Sangakkara was rated as the third-best
batsman in Test cricket, but if you took his efforts in this past year
in isolation, there'd be no contest. Since surrendering the gloves to
his team-mate Prasanna Jayawardene, he's been unstoppable, racking up
1529 runs in 14 innings, at the staggering average of 152.90. He's
made seven centuries in that time, including a career-best 287, and of
those times he's reached three figures, he hasn't been dismissed for
less than today's 152. The Asgiriya, incidentally, is where he played
all his cricket as a schoolboy at Trinity College. It's fair to say
he's familiar with the conditions.
Intruder of the day
As the afternoon wore on and England's ordeal became all the more
acute, any break from the grind - however fleeting - was gratefully
received by the fielders. Cue the arrival of the Asgiriya's favourite
mutt, who padded onto the pitch from the direction of the Barmy Army
enclosure (a coincidence?) and held up play for three precious minutes
while he ambled from long-on to fine leg. Steve Harmison met him at
the boundary's edge in front of the pavilion, but thought better of
doing a Merv Hughes and carrying him off the pitch. Every second
counts when your side is up against it.
Intruder of the day Mk 2
Another interruption, though perhaps less gratefully received by the
players on this occasion. Monty Panesar was just about to trot in for
his 41st over of the innings, when every single person on the field -
including the batsmen and both umpires - flung themselves to the deck,
as if the cry "doodlebug!" had gone up. The cause of the panic was a
swarm of bees, mostly milling around by the sightscreen at the
Hunnasgiriya End of the ground. Speculation mounted that it was a
plague on Murali, as dispatched by Shane Warne, but they buzzed off
soon enough.
Band of the day
There wasn't actually any competition for this one. Murali's personal
skiffle band had serenaded the crowd so joyfully throughout the first
three days, but today, with the record back where it belongs, they
decided their work was done. So it was left to the Barmy Army to
provide the atmospherics. They did their best in trying circumstances,
but you couldn't help but notice that both the trumpeter and the
chanting sounded a little flat by comparison.
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The drop-kicking Sidebottom
© Getty Images
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Drop(-kick) of the day
Ian Bell could be excused for his first miss of the match, a
fringe-singeing flyer at slip that came in the midst of Sanath
Jayasuriya's 24-run over on Monday. There were no such mitigating
circumstances this time around, however. For the first time in his
innings, Sangakkara was looking genuinely edgy, having fallen in the
nineties twice before against England. On 98, he fenced outside off
and steered a sitter to Bell's right at slip. But the chance was
muffed, and a furious Ryan Sidebottom booted an imaginary Bell clean
over the monastery.
Surprise of the day
Paul Collingwood's shock dismissal of Prasanna Jayawardene. England
hadn't looked like rattling the timbers for two days and 124 overs, so
it was quite rightly assumed to be some sort of mistake when
Collingwood swung one in from outside off stump, straight through the
gate and into the top of the off bail. The umpires conferred,
wondering perhaps whether the ball had ricocheted off Matt Prior's
pads. But no, it was all bona fide. Twelve deliveries later, and
perhaps still reeling from the shock, Sangakkara clipped tamely to
midwicket to give Colly his second of the innings.
Cheer of the day
It wasn't quite an ovation of Murali proportions, and there might even
have been a tinge of irony involved. But when Alastair Cook tucked the
first ball of England's innings off his hips for four, he escaped the
dreaded pair and gave the England supporters their most uplifting
moment of the day. It couldn't last, however. Three balls later, he
poked uncertainly outside off, and the Sri Lankan voices were once
again the loudest in the ground.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of Cricinfo
© Cricinfo
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