Vaughan shows England the escape route
Sri Lanka 555-8 dec England 275 and 321
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Your support makes all the difference.After spending three days in Sri Lanka's slipstream, England at last showed they do indeed have more forward gears than an Italian tank.
Down and almost out following an abject batting performance on Saturday, Nasser Hussain's side yesterday played with confidence and showed the sort of character for which they are becoming renowned.
In battling through the fourth day of this first Test at Lord's, for the loss of only two wickets, they have turned a deficit of 227 into a surplus of 41. Such riches should not get people rushing outside to put their bunting up just yet, but England have gone a long way in "living to fight another day" and avoiding the crushing defeat most were fearing and anticipating.
The man Hussain and Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, have most to thank for their rehabilitation is the Yorkshire batsman Michael Vaughan. For Hussain and Fletcher, a top priority this summer would have been attempting to fill the hole left by the retirement of Michael Atherton.
Yesterday, Vaughan took on that responsibility and showed he is just the man for the job. The Sri Lankans attempted to put him off on 99 through making him wait, but his second hundred in Test cricket was almost Athertonesque in its compilation. Coming off 197 balls and containing 14 fours, it was his driving through the off-side that stood out. However there was a cussedness about it, a look of, it's how many, not how, that's important and because of this its completion was greeted warmly by a reasonable Sunday crowd.
Vaughan's innings was not quite a model of concentration. He could and should have been dismissed twice, but yesterday's display would have been the source of great encouragement to him and the England team. In the first innings, England's batsmen were guilty of throwing away starts (the top six all got into double figures); yesterday they seemed determined to learn from their mistakes.
Ruchira Perera, the centre of the current throwing controversy, started proceedings by completing his unfinished over – bad light curtailed play early on Saturday evening – but by the end of the first full over of the day, from the hustling Buddika Fernando, Vaughan must have felt yesterday would be his day.
The first ball of the over was a wide half-volley, driven by Vaughan through backward point for four, the third ball was put away with similar aplomb. Now on 23 and with the score 61-0 the fourth ball was a good one. It struck the edge of his bat and flew to first slip at knee height. Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka's captain and taker of a similar catch to dismiss Marcus Trescothick in the first innings, fluffed it, giving him the first of two lives. Then, to add insult to injured pride Vaughan smashed the next ball through extra cover for four more.
This wasn't the end of Vaughan's good fortune, as 11 balls later, and with a further five runs to his name, an almost identical chance – this time off the lanky left-arm bowling of Nuwan Zoysa – flew to the tourists' captain again at first slip. Seemingly still in shock from his earlier drop, he did no better second time around and Sri Lanka had missed their last chance of the morning.
Trescothick, however, will rue his luck after being given out by Daryl Harper lbw for 76. Television replays showed that the ball from Zoysa clearly came off the inside edge. His dismissal would have been followed by cries, stating that video technology should be used to eradicate such errors but if this were the case Trescothick would not still have been at the crease. Hawkeye showed that an earlier lbw shout off Chaminda Vaas' bowling should have been upheld.
Their opening stand of 168 was the highest since Michael Atherton and Mark Butcher put on 179 against South Africa at Edgbaston four years ago.
Butcher, and later Hussain, benefited from the time spent at the crease by these two and both completed half-centuries against a tiring attack. Hussain's was his second in the match and both he and Butcher – who unlike his captain has not yet scored a century at Lord's – will realise that they will never have a better chance of adding to this list of achievements.
For Sri Lanka it was a poor day. Their bowlers tried manfully to extract some life out of this excellent pitch but on this occasion they were let down by poor fielding. With the sun out and the pitch as docile as it has been at any stage of the game the Sri Lankans could not match the wonderful exhibition they had given on Saturday.
It would have been impossible to count the amount of times the Sri Lankan captain will have looked at Muttiah Muralitharan on the visitors' balcony and thought "if only", but he can take great credit for the way his side have played this week, and victory, even though now unlikely, is not yet out of the question. However, after two days in the field, the way his bowlers walked off the field told a story. Having given their all they almost looked relieved when the umpires offered the England batsmen the light with 8.4 overs still to be bowled. Needless to say England's batsmen accepted it.
For England, getting out of the hole they found themselves in yesterday morning would be a major achievement, but it should not overshadow the fact that this side has shortcomings that do need addressing.
LORD'S SCOREBOARD
Fourth day; Sri Lanka won toss
SRI LANKA – First Innings 555 for 8 dec (M S Atapattu 185, D P M Jayawardene 107, P A de Silva 88, R P Arnold 50).
ENGLAND – First Innings (Friday: 27 for 1)
M P Vaughan c Zoysa b Perera 64
M A Butcher c Jayawardene b Fernando 17
N Hussain c Sangakkara b Zoysa 57
G P Thorpe lbw b Perera 27
J P Crawley c Sangakkara b Vaas 31
A J Stewart run out 7
A Flintoff c Sangakkara b Fernando 12
D G Cork c Sangakkara b Fernando 0
A R Caddick c Sangakkara b Perera 13
M J Hoggard not out 0
Extras (b4, lb7, w9, nb14) 35
Total (352 min, 73.1 overs) 275
Fall (cont): 2-43 (Butcher), 3-149 (Hussain), 4-203 (Vaughan), 5-203 (Thorpe), 6-214 (Stewart), 7-237 (Flintoff), 8-237 (Cork), 9-267 (Caddick).
Bowling: Vaas 21.1-4-51-1 (nb2) (3-1-8-0, 8-1-16-0, 7-2-16-0, 3.1-0-11-1); Zoysa 19-3-82-2 (nb6, w7) (3-0-18-1, 11-2-50-1, 5-1-14-0); Fernando 22-5-83-3 (nb3, w1) (9-2-34-1, 6-3-19-0, 7-0-30-2); Perera 11-0-48-3 (nb3, w1) (3-0-23-0, 6-0-17-2, 2-0-8-1).
Progress: Third day: rain delayed start until 11.20am. 50: 77 min, 16.4 overs. 100: 128 min, 27.0 overs. Lunch: 120-2 (Vaughan 45, Hussain 38) 30 overs. 150: 182 min, 38.1 overs. 200: 239 min, 50.4 overs. Tea: 211-5 (Crawley 3, Stewart 4) 56 overs. 250: 322 min, 67.4 overs. Innings closed: 5.31pm.
Vaughan: 50: 183 min, 110 balls, 8 fours.
Hussain: 50: 90 min, 59 balls, 10 fours.
ENGLAND – Second Innings
M E Trescothick lbw b Zoysa 76
M P Vaughan c Sangakkara b Perera 115
M A Butcher not out 55
N Hussain not out 51
Extras (b1, lb6, w1, nb16) 24
Total (for 2, 450 min, 104.2 overs) 321
Fall: 1-168 ( Trescothick); 2-213 (Vaughan).
To bat: G P Thorpe, J P Crawley, A J Stewart, A Flintoff, D G Cork, A R Caddick, M J Hoggard.
Bowling: Vaas 26.2-5-71-0 (6-1-20-0, 8-2-16-0, 5-0-12-0, 6-2-18-0, 1.2-0-5-0); Zoysa 19-3-54-1 (nb6, w1) (3-1-12-0, 7-1-15-0, 5-1-14-1, 4-0-13-0); Perera 20-3-57-1 (nb6) (2-0-9-0, 3-0-6-0, 2-0-13-0, 10-3-15-1, 3-0-14-0); De Silva 12-1-34-0 (3-1-5-0, 9-0-29-0); Fernando 18-1-68-0 (nb3) (6-0-21-0, 1-0-10-0, 5-1-19-0, 3-0-10-0, 3-0-8-0); Jayasuriya 9-2-30-0 (3-0-18-0, 6-2-12-0).
Progress: Bad light stopped play: 6.49pm. Fourth day: 50: 65 min, 16.1 overs. 100: 144 min, 33 overs. Lunch: 147-0 (Trescothick 66, Vaughan 74) 44 overs. 150: 197 min, 45.1 overs. 200: 261 min, 59.2 overs. Tea: 230-2 (Butcher 13, Hussain 11) 73 overs. 250: 346 min, 80 overs. New ball: taken after 90 overs at 266-2. 300: 416 min, 97.2 overs. Bad light stopped play: 6.21pm.
Trescothick 50: 144 min, 91 balls, 7 fours. Vaughan 50: 151 min, 121 balls, 8 fours. 100: 253 min, 197 balls, 16 fours.
Butcher 50: 227 min, 162 balls, 4 fours.
Hussain 50: 167 min, 109 balls, 5 fours, 1 six.
Umpires: D J Harper (Aus) and S Venkataraghavan (Ind).
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