England battle back after mauling by Muralitharan

Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara have scored their runs and Chaminda Vaas will continue to claim valuable wickets but this Test has become the contest everyone predicted. In the race for the line, Muttiah Muralitharan has taken a significant, early lead over England with first-innings figures of 7 for 46 and it would be a brave or foolish man who bet against him repeating this feat here today.

With a lead of 195, Sri Lanka are favourites to take a 1-0 lead in this three-Test series but Michael Vaughan can be pleased with the way his side have competed in conditions cultivated for the home side's five spinners. England have looked beaten on several occasions in the last three days, but have found determination and inspiration when it was needed.

However, skill and luck are also needed if you are to score runs against one of the greatest of al bowlers. Mark Butcher and Graham Thorpe possessed both during the first session of another fascinating day's play, but it was still not enough to get England close to Sri Lanka's first-innings total of 331. The first goal for the Surrey pair, who resumed on 97 for 2, was to take England past the follow-on total of 132. This they did but not without a fair amount of fortune.

Showing that he had learnt from his mistake on Wednesday - when he delayed the introduction of his leading bowler - the Sri Lanka captain, Hashan Tillakaratne, opened up with Muralitharan and he immediately caused problems.

Murali should have had Butcher out twice in a nine-ball spell, but he could hardly blame Sangakkara for dropping a tough catch behind the stumps after he had just floored a simple caught-and-bowled. Thorpe, remarkably, survived an edge off Jayasuriya that flew straight to first slip. The umpire, Daryl Harper, said "not out" and in a state of disbelief the Sri Lankans, to their credit, carried on with the game. It was one of several mistakes Harper has made here.

In the end it took a change of bowling to break the 75-run partnership between the left-handers. Vaas replaced Murali at the City End and trapped a tired-looking Thorpe plumb in front for a dogged but skilful 43.

Murali was brought back on to greet the debutant Paul Collingwood, and the Durham batsman had no answer to the wizard's doosra - a ball from an off-spinner that moves away from a right-handed batsman; Jayasuriya took a brilliant, one-handed catch diving to his left.

The arrival of Andrew Flintoff was greeted with loud applause from the England supporters but the Lancashire all-rounder quickly fell to a quicker, flatter off-break. Chris Read did not stay long and England had lost four wickets for 13 runs in 11 overs.

Butcher passed 50 but his 207-ball vigil ended shortly after lunch. His departure was the signal for the tail to throw the bat and, but for it, Sri Lanka would have been in an impregnable position before they batted again.

"This was one of the toughest days of Test cricket I have played in," Butcher said. "The extra-long sessions [to make up for time lost on the first day], the heat out there and the ball spinning every which way made it very, very difficult. You really had to concentrate. Graham [Thorpe] and I knew that our best chance was for us to put runs on the board. Seventy-odd was decent but not quite enough.

"This was the best Murali has bowled against me and he was very hard to pick. Graham and I were confident we could pick his different deliveries but we got him right no more than 50 per cent of the time. I have never seen him spin his doosra as much as that or disguise it as well. Our total is competitive but we have not got a guy who is spinning it six or seven yards. The way our guys bowled this afternoon has given us an inch of a chance."

After being dismissed for 235 half-an-hour before tea England could easily have fallen away. But the team Vaughan is attempting to build are proving to be made of tough timber. For 44.3 overs they scrapped as though their lives depended on it and when bad light curtailed play for the third day in a row, Sri Lanka had been reduced to 99 for 5.

The state of spin bowling in England has become the brunt of many a joke but Ashley Giles and Gareth Batty performed admirably. Three of the four wickets they shared may have come with balls that failed to spin but without their nous and control England would already be planning for the second Test in Kandy.

GALLE SCOREBOARD

Sri Lanka won the toss

SRI LANKA - First innings 331 (K C Sangakkara 71; A F Giles 4-69)

ENGLAND - First innings

M E Trescothick c Sangakkara

b Muralitharan 23

67 min, 62 balls, 4 fours

*M P Vaughan b Muralitharan 24

91 min, 65 balls, 4 fours

M A Butcher c Sangakkara b Jayasuriya 51

235 min, 207 balls, 4 fours

G P Thorpe lbw b Vaas 43

124 min, 121 balls, 4 fours

P D Collingwood c Jayasuriya

b Muralitharan 1

9 min, 10 balls

A Flintoff lbw b Muralitharan 1

22 min, 14 balls

ÝC M W Read c Tillakaratne

b Muralitharan 0

12 min, 10 balls

G J Batty c Jayasuriya b Dharmasena 14

51 min, 43 balls, 1 six

A F Giles c Atapattu b Muralitharan 18

34 min, 32 balls, 2 sixes

R L Johnson c Atapattu b Muralitharan 26

46 min, 29 balls, 1 four, 2 sixes

M J Hoggard not out 6

22 min, 19 balls

Extras (b12, lb8, nb8) 28

Total (100.4 overs, 361 min) 235

Fall: 1-56 (Trescothick); 2-67 (Vaughan); 3-142 (Thorpe); 4-143 (Collingwood); 5-151 (Flintoff); 6-155 (Read); 7-177 (Butcher); 8-183 (Batty); 9-208 (Giles); 10-235 (Johnson).

Bowling: Vaas 12-2-25-1 (nb5) (6-1-14-0, 6-1-11-1); Fernando 3-1-21-0 (nb1)(one spell); Dharmasena 24-6-55-1 (nb1) (7-2-15-0, 4-1-5-0, 5-0-13-0, 1-0-1-0, 7-3-21-1); Muralitharan 31.4-15-46-7 (9-4-15-2, 9-6-9-0, 9-4-9-3, 1-0-1-0, 3.4-1-12-2); Chandana 13-2-24-0 (3-1-5-0, 4-0-13-0, 6-1-6-0); Jayasuriya 17-2-44-1 (nb1) (7-1-11-0, 6-1-11-1, 4-0-22-0).

Progress: Second day: 50: 52 min, 11.2 overs. Bad light stopped play 5.48pm - close 97-2 (Butcher 15, Thorpe 20) 37 overs. Third day: 100: 134 min, 37.2 overs. 150: 243 min, 67 overs. Lunch 164-6 (Butcher 48, Batty 0) 79 overs. 200: 332 min, 92.2 overs. Innings closed: 2.28pm.

Butcher 50: 228 min, 200 balls, 4 fours.

SRI LANKA - Second innings

M S Atapattu st Read b Batty 35

98 min, 71 balls, 5 fours

S T Jayasuriya c Trescothick b Giles 17

24 min, 16 balls, 3 fours

ÝK C Sangakkara run out

(Collingwood-Read) 19

69 min, 54 balls, 1 four

D P M D Jayawardene not out 14

80 min, 67 balls, 1 four

*H P Tillakaratne lbw b Batty 1

12 min, 9 balls

T T Samaraweera c Trescothick b Giles 1

25 min, 23 balls

W P U J C Vaas not out 6

37 min, 27 balls, 1 four

Extras (lb6) 6

Total (for 5, 44.3 overs, 175 min) 99

Fall: 1-26 (Jayasuriya); 2-72 (Sangakkara); 3-72 (Atapattu); 4-78 (Tillakaratne); 5-85 (Samaraweera).

Bowling: Hoggard 6-1-24-0 (2-1-13-0, 4-0-11-0); Johnson 2-1-6-0 (one spell); Flintoff 3-1-9-0 (1-0-4-0, 2-1-5-0); Giles 19-8-24-2 (7-0-15-1, 12-8-9-1); Batty 13.3-4-28-2 (1-0-5-0, 12-4-23-2, 0.3-0-0-0); Vaughan 1-0-2-0.

Progress: Third day: Tea 32-1 (Atapattu 12, Sangakkara 2) 7 overs. 50: 68 min, 16.4 overs. Bad light stopped play 5.55pm.

Umpires: D J Harper (Aus) and S Venkataraghavan (India).

TV Replay Umpire: M G Silva (S Lanka).

Match Referee: C H Lloyd (W Indies).