Trescothick and Butcher take charge for England

To say England have grabbed this second Test by the scruff of the neck, after two days of complete domination here at Edgbaston, would be something of an understatement. What they have is two hands round the neck of the Sri Lankan team with a knee strategically placed on the solar plexus. Through their efforts England have the tourists in a hold that Hulk Hogan would struggle to get out of.

Nasser Hussain, the England captain, had the all-round effort of his bowlers to thank on Thursday, but yesterday it was a chanceless, record-breaking partnership of 202 between Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher. Trescothick scored a wonderful century and Butcher fell six short of what would have been back-to-back hundreds against the Sri Lankans.

Between them they delighted the large, vocal Edgbaston crowd and even the loss of three late wickets will have done nothing to dampen the spirits of a team looking to win this match before Jubilee Day on Monday. By the close of play England had moved to an impressive lead of 239.

Trescothick was the star of the show and his hundred, scored off 167 balls was his third in Test cricket. It was a glorious innings full of sumptuous shots, predominantly through the off side, off both the front and back foot. It was a more controlled innings than some he has played and showed growing maturity whilst still being entertaining. Trescothick looked determined not to throw away the chance of putting a big score on the board, something he has done too often for a player of his class. His triumphal celebrations on reaching this landmark showed just how much scoring a century in front of his parents meant to him.

The Somerset left-hander did, however, open his shoulders on passing three figures. It was as if he was saying "enough is enough, now I am going to enjoy myself". His next 50 runs came at almost a run a ball and contained three huge sixes. The first of these went 20 rows back, the second took him past his previous highest Test score of 122, against the same opposition in Galle and the third took him past 150. The helpless Sri Lankan captain, Sanath Jayasuriya, was hit for the first two, the part-time spin of Aravinda de Silva the other.

Butcher was content to play second fiddle, but like Trescothick looked composed and in fine form. His driving down the ground, was also exquisite, finding the gaps in the field with surgical precision. And it was one of these flowing drives through extra cover which took England past Sri Lanka's now meagre-looking score of 162.

Butcher's innings was ended by a magnificent delivery from Muttiah Muralitharan, who struggled to make a major impact despite being the only bowler to afford Jayasuriya any sort of control. He fully deserved his wickets and the ball that got Butcher out was a gem. It pitched at least nine inches outside his leg stump and clipped the top of off. It brought back memories of Shane Warne's wonder ball to Mike Gatting in 1993.

Butcher and Trescothick comfortably broke the previous highest partnership for any wicket between these two countries – 167 – established between Hussain and Graham Thorpe in Kandy, Sri Lanka, last year.

At Lord's England would have felt the gods were against them, bowling with the sky blue and batting in cloud. What a difference a fortnight makes. So far at Edgbaston the elements have reversed as has the team in control.

On the most pleasant of mornings, Trescothick along with Michael Vaughan gave England the brightest of starts. Both looked to be positive from the moment they took guard and it was not just the effortless way they kept finding the boundary that impressed, their running between the wickets was excellent too. Having forced the fielders deep they then took quick singles through dropping the ball at their feet, Jayasuriya's men were like marionettes in their hands.

Even the early introduction Muralitharan failed to stem the flow of runs and it was a surprise to everyone when Vaughan on 46, having just hit the spinner for a boundary, perished top-edging a sweep shot looking for his fifty.

For Sri Lanka's seam bowlers not only the weather but the pitch seemed to have changed nature overnight. The steep bounce extracted on Thursday by England's bowlers had gone and batting against the seamers seemed a stroll. The height of a bowler is not something a coach can control but this Test match has already highlighted what a huge advantage it is to be tall, as England's are.

The only worrying statistic for England is that each time Trescothick has scored a century they have lost the game. That sequence should now end.

Edgbaston scoreboard

Second day; England won toss

SRI LANKA ­ First Innings 162.

ENGLAND ­ First Innings

(Overnight: 24 for 0)

M E Trescothick c Tillakaratne b Vaas 161

296 min, 232 balls, 23 fours, 3 sixes

M P Vaughan c Jayasuriya

b Muralitharan 46

82 min, 64 balls, 7 fours

M A Butcher b Muralitharan 94

261 min, 209 balls, 13 fours

*N Hussain b Muralitharan 22

56 min, 44 balls, 4 fours

G P Thorpe not out 30

104 min, 68 balls, 4 fours

ÝA J Stewart c Tillakaratne b Muralitharan 7

63 min, 40 balls

A Flintoff not out 14

32 min, 25 balls, 3 fours

Extras (lb9 w6 nb12) 27

Total (for 5, 449 min, 112 overs) 401

Fall: 1-92 (Vaughan), 2-294 (Trescothick), 3-338 (Butcher), 4-341(Hussain), 5-368 (Stewart).

To bat: A J Tudor, A F Giles, A R Caddick, M J Hoggard.

Bowling: Vaas 30-3-104-1 (w6) (7-0-27-0, 2-1-1-0, 3-0-20-0, 16-2-45-1, 2-0-11-0); Zoysa 11-1-61-0 (nb6) (1-0-7-0, 2-0-14-0, 4-1-20-0, 4-0-20-0); Muralitharan 44-8-105-4 (nb2) (2-1-1-0, 12-1-40-1, 12-2-21-0, 18-4-43-3); Fernando 16-2-69-0 (nb4) (6-1-28-0, 6-1-17-0, 1-0-10-0, 1-0-4-0, 2-0-10-0); Jayasuriya 6-2-27-0, De Silva 5-0-26-0 (one spell each).

Progress: Second day: (minimum of 105 overs): 50: 50 min, 12.5 overs. 100: 101 min, 25.5 overs. Lunch: 146-1 (Trescothick 68, Butcher 24) 37 overs. 150: 160 min, 41 overs. 200: 213 min, 55.4 overs. 250: 259 min, 67.4 overs. Tea: 294-2 (Butcher 72) 75.5 overs. 300: 304 min, 77.5 overs. 350: 391 min, 99.2 overs. 400: 447 min, 111.4 overs.

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

TV Umpire: P Willey (Eng).

Match Referee: G R Viswanath (Ind).