Home side's missed chances reveal a Collingwood-sized hole in strategy

Sri Lanka's batting display exposed the England shortcomings at slip and the lack of a fill-in bowler

When asked whether Ian Botham really ought to be dropped after a run of iffy form during the mid-1980s, England's captain at the time, Bob Willis, replied with a poser of his own: "Can you name the three men who are going to replace him in my team?"

Now, Paul Collingwood is far too modest a chap ever to put himself in the same bracket as one of England's very finest, but a not entirely mischievous question crossed the mind yesterday as Sri Lanka did unexpectedly well in Cardiff: how does Andrew Strauss find four blokes to cover the various gaps left by Colly's retirement from Test cricket?

Collingwood was right to call it a day just before the end of that wonderful Ashes series because every innings had become something close to a torment. In any event, he deserved to walk, rather than be pushed, after giving the team so much good service.

But while England will not miss Collingwood's runs this summer – at least, not on the strength of what he produced over the past year or so – they do have to find someone to fly though the air at third slip for the quicks, catch low and high chances alike off the spin bowling of Graeme Swann while standing alongside keeper Matt Prior, pull off direct-hit run-outs when asked to patrol the backward point area and, once most other ploys have failed, bowl some decent and – just occasionally – rewarding medium pace.

That is a lot of holes to plug – and, from what we have seen so far at Sophia Gardens, easier said than done.

England's fielding throughout the most recent Ashes series was stunning. It must have been because even Australians referred to it in glowing terms when they were not weeping into their amber nectar. But yesterday, while no howlers were committed, there was nothing to quicken the pulse of supporters or make opponents think: "Blimey, we dare not make a mistake here."

Collingwood probably dropped too many chances throughout the course of a long Test career to be mentioned in the same breath as South Africa's Jonty Rhodes when it comes to truly great fielders of the modern area. But he did hold any number of stupendous catches that left his team-mates open-mouthed in admiration.

Now, whether Collingwood would have held the two edges that flashed close to Alastair Cook – new filler of the third slip slot – is impossible to tell. Experience tells us, though, that he probably would have snaffled one of them, and quite possibly have reacted more quickly than Eoin Morgan did at point when a miscue landed fractionally short of him.

Two of those three fleeting opportunities came during the early stages of Thilan Samaraweera's innings and while Sri Lanka were in danger of falling well below the 400-run total they eventually reached.

If anything, however, it was as a solitary slip for Swann that Collingwood really took the breath away. Nothing has flown in that direction off the spinner's bowling so far in this match but edges will go there before the summer is much older and, be it Jimmy Anderson or Andrew Strauss who is positioned to take advantage, any drop will be swiftly followed by a few thousand voices insisting: "Colly would have caught that."

Yesterday was not that old when another thought came to mind. The sight of Jonathan Trott bowling four help-yourself overs either side of lunch underlined just how good – relatively speaking, of course – Collingwood was when asked to do a fill-in bowling role. And, doubtless, Trott's gentle offerings will have prompted at least some people to question the wisdom of England picking a pure batsman (Morgan) at No 6 when they could have plumped for Ravi Bopara, whose bowling can carry a threat.

But perhaps the real debate ought to be about England's now apparently set in stone policy of playing only four front-line bowlers. No-one can argue that it has not worked, especially in Australia last winter, but maybe England need to be bold and play the extra bowler if they want to not only make it to the summit of Test cricket but also stay there – especially on those slow and flat sub-continental pitches.

Two things happened yesterday to add weight to that argument. Firstly, Anderson – the leader of the attack – was sufficiently inconvenienced by a back problem to send down only three overs with the second new ball. Suddenly, Strauss looked short of firepower at a time when he needed to strike rather than contain.

But perhaps the sight of Sri Lanka's wicketkeeper, Prasanna Jayawardene, scoring a century at No 6 was even more persuasive. Going into this first Test of the series with only five front-line batsmen looked beyond brave and almost reckless. But Jayawardene revelled in the role and now Sri Lanka have five bowlers to try to take full advantage.