TRESCOTHICK FIREWORKS LEAD ENGLAND TOWARDS VICTORY

Trescothick wasted little time before taking the attack to the wayward Sri Lankan bowlers. In Indika Gallage's second over of the day he marched down the wicket and hit the fast bowler for a one bounce four over mid-on. In the seventh over he repeated the shot this time hitting Eric Upashantha, who conceded 35 runs from his five over burst, to wide mid-on.

In the ninth over he cut loose, hitting the poor Upashantha for four successive boundaries: a top edged cut to third man, a clip to leg, a clump over mid-wicket and a resounding straight drive to finish off the over and the bowler. Upekha Fernando, who replaced Upashantha, fared little better, conceding 20 runs from his two over spell of flat off-cutters.

Even Nasser Hussain, who started slowly, has scored the majority of runs in boundaries. He has hit four in his 19 runs so far, including three lofted straight drives. Trescothick has hit thirteen fours.

The Sri Lanka board XI were not helped by Indika Gallage breaking down in his fourth over.

DISGRUNTLED GOUGH ASKED TO LEAVE THE FIELD BY HUSSAIN

Nasser Hussain then followed the disgruntled bowler down to third man, pointing to the dressing he appeared to advise Gough to go back into the dressing room to cool down. He marched off and appeared to have words with Samarasinghe on his way off the pitch. He did, however, return to complete his final two overs and take the wicket of de Saram.

This was not the first time that Gough has lost his temper in Sri Lanka. In England's first game in Colombo he waved a bat in the face of a schoolboy and verbally abused a Sri Lankan bowler after being caught at bat pad. He was reported to the Sri Lankan board, but no action was taken by the England management other than a gentle reminder as to his responsibilities as an English cricketer.

The incident was not the only bad news in the morning: Marcus Trescothick has sustained a worrying knee injury, five days before the Second Test Match in Kandy, and the Sri Lankan Colts XI have racked up a competitive 249 runs in their fifty overs. In truth, on a fine batting wicket, they will be happy that they didn't score more. The Colts XI lost four wickets in the last ten overs.

The Sri Lanka board team were guided to the total thanks to a composed 49 from former Test wicket keeper, Lanka de Silva, and an entertaining 62 from 64 balls by Indika de Saram, who is making a comeback after an elbow injury. De Saram was particularly fluent and hit six boundaries before he skied a catch to Alec Stewart at long on.

The English bowling was consistent. The top four bowlers - Gough, Hoggard, Croft and White - went for a satisfactory four runs per over and Craig White took four of the seven wickets to fall, including two in two balls in the 47th over. Jason Brown, however, will be disappointed having conceded 30 runs from his five overs, probably his last bowl in Sri Lanka.

TRESCOTHICK LIMPS OFF THE FIELD WITH KNEE INJURY

Win or lose this meaningless match, England will be more concerned by an injury to Marcus Trescothick, England's best batsman in the First Test Match. Trescothick pulled up in his follow through in his third over. Clutching his left knee he was forced to hobble of the pitch with a worried Dean Conway. Craig White completed the over.

Upekha Fernando joined Lanka de Silva when Romesh Kaluwitharana drilled a catch straight to Trescothick at short extra cover. He had made 37 from 53 balls and hit four boundaries. The new batsmen consolidated, preferring to work the ball for singles rather than play the big shots. Both Robert Croft (7-0-22-0) and Craig White (6-0-20-2) were able to complete economical spells as the second fifty came from 85 balls. The first fifty came from 59 balls.

Soon after the Trescothick limped off the field, the Colts XI lost another wicket to end a 56 run partnership. Hoggard was reintroduced into the bowling attack and had Upekha Fernando caught at mid-off off a leading edge. Fernando scored 27 runs from 51 balls and hit two boundaries.

Jason Brown has just come into the attack for his first bowl in full England colours. He has now bowled three overs for 20 runs. Lanka de Silva is 24 not out and has been joined by Indika de Saram, another player with international experience.

SRI LANKAN OPENERS MAKE SOLID START

The Sri Lankan openers, Avishka Gunawardene and Kaluwitharana, started confidently and although beaten outside the off stump on a couple of occasions, they looked relatively untroubled by the English opening bowlers.

Kaluwitharana clipped a wayward Mathew Hoggard through the leg side in the fast bowlers first over and went on to hit three boundaries off Darren Gough; an imperious square drive, a lofted straight drive and a pull in front of square.

Avishka Gunawardene drove Hoggard for two boundaries and edged twice over the slips for four. When Robert Croft was introduced into the attack in the 12th over of the morning, he thumped him through extra cover.

However, Craig White made the breakthrough in the 15th over of the morning with his eighth ball of his spell, having replaced Darren Gough (6-1-24-0). Gunawardene tried to flash square of the wicket and was caught behind by Paul Nixon, playing his second game of the tour.

ENGLAND WIN TOSS AND ELECT TO FIELD

The Welagedara Stadium may be picturesque but it also blindingly hot. The giant Elephant Rock that overlooks the ground soaks up the sun and blocks the breeze. The outfield is light brown in colour and promises great value for the batsmen's shots. The wicket, although it has a greenish tinge, is traditionally an excellent batting strip with more pace than the turgid wicket in Galle and the expected pitch in Kandy.

For England the match is of little significance, the fact that they are playing at all is to appease the local authorities, who had gone to such trouble to prepare the stadium for the original three-day game. Nevertheless, the game does provide an opportunity for Jason Brown to play his first game in England colours. Michael Vaughan gets another opportunity to impress the tour selectors before Wednesday's Test Match.

The BCCSL Colts XI includes seven players with One-Day International experience and is captained by discarded Test wicket-keeper, Romesh Kaluwitharana. He will open the batting with the swashbuckling Avishka Gunawardene, who scored a fine century on his last visit to the ground against Zimbabwe A.

England have won the toss and elected to field. The reasoning behind this is not quite clear; perhaps they have been fooled by the green tinge in the wicket. They have though committed themselves to fielding in the hottest part of the day.

© CricInfo

Date-stamped : 03 Mar2001 - 18:23