A three-hour coach journey through the busy Colombo streets and coastal villages of southern Sri Lanka took us to our destination of Galle, where we commence the second Test on Wednesday. Situated on the southern coast it is relaxing sitting and listening to the crashing waves from my hotel bedroom. Palm trees and tall, slender coconut trees dot the coast that is reminiscent of any tropical paradise around the world.

Training this afternoon was a light session dominated by a competitive game of touch rugby that saw the 'Nerds' win their fifth consecutive game of pre-match competition. The squad is split into two teams. The 'Nerds' are made up of Punter, Heals, Haydos, Katto, Pigeon McGrath, Flemo, Tugga, Swampy and yours truly (a recent addition to the team!). The second team is the 'Hulios', or pretty boys, and they consist of Blewy, Slats, Junior, MacGilla, Funky Miller, Misso, Scotty Muller and of course Warney. As part of most warm-up routines a game of touch rugby, touch frisbee or soccer is used to fire up the boys for the day. Although the 'Hulios' will never admit it, they are copping a hammering so far this tour by the hard working 'Nerds'. While there is always plenty of aggression and spirit shown during every game (almost like State of Origin rugby league) everyone is friends by the end of it all.

Our captain Steve Waugh spent a solid 20 minutes in the nets after our warm up and he looks likely to play the Test match tomorrow. Although he is keeping his cards pretty close to his chest I would be surprised if he doesn't resume at number five in the morning. He loves playing Test cricket and he is as tough as they come so I get the feeling it will take more than a broken nose 10 days ago to keep him out of a Test match. It has been an amazing recovery but not all that surprising if you know Steve Waugh.

The Galle pitch looks very bare of grass but it is flat and quite hard. It looks like it should be a good Test match pitch that is likely to produce a result.

From Galle, JL