Vaughan sees the shortcomings exposed

Ashley Giles had every right to look tired and fed up as he made his way back to the dressing room after a second consecutive day of toil in the Sri Lankan sun. The spinner had been kept awake until 2.30am by a Christmas party in the grounds of the team hotel, and had just completed his 60th over against a Sri Lankan batting line-up deter-mined to grind England into the dirt.

Giles was not the only England player to be seen remon-strating with the duty manager at the Taj Sumudra in the early hours yesterday. Michael Vaughan, the England captain, was found complaining about the noise in the hotel lobby at around midnight, two hours before Giles decided he could take no more and moved to a quieter bedroom. The grievances of the pair, and many other guests, had little effect on the revellers, who continued partying until 3.45am.

Recuperation from sleep deprivation is a simple task, but it will take England's bowlers some time to recover from the lesson handed out to them on the third day of the Third Test. Giles, Gareth Batty, James Kirtley, James Anderson and Andrew Flintoff tried manfully to keep their team in this one-sided series, but once again had very little to show for their effort.

It would be easy to lambast England's limited bowling attack for allowing Sri Lanka to turn a one-run deficit into a lead of 298, for the loss of only three wickets. Easy, and wrong. On pitches as benign as this, endeavour gets you only so far. To trouble quality batsmen, either searing pace or mystery spin is required.

Sadly, this England side possess neither, and Vaughan was forced to spend large periods of the day setting defensive fields for Giles while he tossed the ball into the bowlers' footmarks. He also tried his pacemen bowling wide of off stump to 7-2 fields. Neither plan worked.

Vaughan's bowlers were let down by further appalling catching. Marcus Trescothick added a third clanger to the two he dropped on Friday.

Trescothick was not the only butterfingers in a bedraggled side. Giles dropped a difficult catch off his own bowling late on, and earlier shelled a straightforward chance at fine leg.

It would be harsh to say the one that flew past Mark Butcher at wide second slip was catchable, but it became clear the Surrey opener had touched it when he left the field clutching his left hand. England feared the worst, but the injury proved to be nothing more than bruising, and Butcher is expected to bat in his usual position of three.

Flintoff's Test career with the ball is such that it can be assumed rather than needing to be stated that the bulk of these chances came off his bowling - two on Friday and two more yesterday.

Mahele Jayawardene was the man to frustrate Flintoff on two occasions before he scored his 10th Test century, while Trescothick gave Thilan Samaraweera a life at slip on 98. Gareth Batty was the bowler, and it was the closest he came to a wicket on a day where further doubts were raised about his ability to win games for England. He is a competitive cricketer who contributes not only with the bat and ball but also in the field. He has, however, been selected to take wickets, and figures of 0 for 137 will not have boosted his chances of touring the West Indies.

The let-offs did not worry Jayawardene or Samaraweera, who continued to plod along as though this was a timeless Test. Thankfully they increased their strokeplay after lunch, when each reached three figures, but in the morning the pair added just 70 runs in 32 overs.

Jayawardene was the first to his century when he swept Batty for four, and in the off-spinner's next over he had the ignominy of allowing Samaraweera to score his third Test hundred when the Sri Lanka No 3 sliced a drive through the covers for four.

The Sinhalese Sports Club is proving to be a happy hunting ground for this pair. In five innings here Samaraweera has now scored three hundreds and two fifties, and Jayawardene's century was his fifth at the ground. During their time together they also set a new record thirdwicket partnership for Sri Lanka of 262.

"This is the first time I have been dropped three times in an innings," laughed Samaraweera after his career-best 142. "Trescothick had a very bad day and I was really lucky."

Jayawardene's classy display came to an end when he attempted to pull another short ball from Flintoff through square leg. On this occasion, however, the right-hander only managed to chip the ball to Paul Collingwood, who was fielding as a substitute for Butcher.

Flintoff had looked uncomfortable in the field for a little while and had been seen doing groin stretches on the boundary. And while Tillekeratne Dilshan made his way to the middle the England physiotherapist jogged out and immediately started doing further stretches with the wicket-taker. A laboured Flintoff finished the over, but this was the last we were to see of him.

Winning the toss was meant to be an advantage here, but after a miserable batting display on the first day England will now have to bat longer than they did in Galle and Kandy to save the match.

Through getting the hotel to turn the music off by 9pm, England have made a start. They may not need to ask again tonight.

Colombo Scoreboard

England won toss

England - First Innings 265 (A Flintoff 77, M E Trescothick 70; M Muralitharan 3-40, W P U J C Vaas 3-64)

Sri Lanka - First Innings (Overnight 264-2)
T T Samaraweera run out (Read-Batty) 142
D P M Jayawardene c sub (Collingwood) b Flintoff 134
T M Dilshan not out 72
H P Tillekeratne b Giles 12
U D U Chandana not out 54
Extras (b5, lb17, w5, nb6) 33
Total (for 5, 172 overs, 693 min) 563

Fall (contd): 3-400 (Jayawardene), 4-428 (Samaraweera), 5-456 (Tillekeratne).

To bat: M S Atapattu, W P U J C Vaas, C R D Fernando, M Muralitharan.

Bowling: Kirtley 26-4-98-1 (nb3) (3-0-14-0, 7-3-27-1, 2-0-5-0, 2-0-9-0, 4-1-13-0, 4-0-11-0, 1-0-4-0, 3-0-15-0), Anderson 24-5-85-0 (3-0-20-0, 4-2-5-0, 3-1-9-0, 5-2-8-0, 2-0-19-0, 7-0-24-0), Flintoff 18-0-47-2 (nb3) (5-0-13-0, 3-0-8-1, 4-0-12-0, 5-0-12-0, 1-0-2-1), Giles 60-16-159-1 (2-0-15-0, 1-0-4-0, 9-2-25-0, 5-2-5-0, 6-2-14-0, 14-6-34-0, 18-4-41-1, 5-0-21-0), Batty 41-4-137-0 (5-1-16-0, 10-1-29-0, 4-1-3-0, 10-0-38-0, 11-1-36-0, 1-0-15-0), Vaughan 1-0-5-0, Trescothick 2-0-10-0 (w5).

Samaraweera 50: 199 min, 172 balls, 4 fours. 100: 403 min, 345 balls, 7 fours.

Jayawardene 50: 139 min, 100 balls, 5 fours. 100: 286 min, 206 balls, 9 fours, 1 six.

Dilshan 50: 132 min, 90 balls, 2 fours.

Chandana 50: 92 min, 71 balls, 6 fours, 1 six.

Progress: Third day: 300: 404 min, 97.3 overs. Lunch: 334-2 (Samaraweera 98, Jayawardene 99) 114 overs. 350: 465 min, 116.5 overs. 400: 520 min, 128.1 overs. Tea: 445-4 (Dilshan 22, Tillekeratne 8) 143 overs. 450: 580 min, 145.1 overs. 500: 645 min, 160.1 overs. 550: 685 min, 169.5 overs.

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and S A Bucknor (West Indies).

TV Replay Umpire: T H Wijewardene (Sri Lanka). Match Referee: C H Lloyd (West Indies).

First Test (Galle): Match drawn. Second Test (Kandy): Match drawn.