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Honors shared

Jayawardene shines, England strikes back

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Marvan Atapattu, right, departs for 16 as Darren Gough, left, is congratulated by Marcus Trescothick. Tom Shaw/Allsport

KANDY, Sri Lanka (Reuters) -- Mahela Jayawardene struck a sparkling century for Sri Lanka on Wednesday before England hit back to share the honors after the first day of the second test.

Nasser Hussain's pace bowlers, having laboured on a pitch designed for spin, suddenly took the last five wickets for 20 runs with the second new ball to dismiss Sri Lanka for 297.

The touring team's opening batsmen, Michael Atherton and Marcus Trescothick, forced to face a nervy two overs, closed on one for no wicket after surviving a couple of lbw appeals.

Jayawardene's counter-attacking 101 was all the more impressive coming after England had reduced the home side to 80 for four in the morning after losing the toss.

His fifth test century, spanning 165 balls and three hours and including 12 fours and a six, dominated an enthralling day which saw the Sri Lankans approach the match as if it were a one-day international.

Sharp words inspired English revival Some sharp words from coach Duncan Fletcher inspired England's new-ball counter-attack, according to pace bowler Darren Gough. The Yorkshireman, who took four wickets and shared eight with fellow pace bowler Andrew Caddick on the opening day as the home side was dismissed for 297, said: "At tea time we were probably a bit low and we got a kick up the backside from the coach and the captain. "After tea the body language was back and we were terrific." Gough, who started a Sri Lankan collapse which saw it lose its last five wickets for 20, added: "I had a great rhythm today, pace-wise. I went for a few more fours than I would have liked but mainly down to third man, which was encouraging. "We did the trick and got the wickets with the new ball. "You get a bit of pace and bounce with the new ball, you've got to try and make it count." Caddick added: "It's not often you come across a wicket that's giving you a bit of bounce. After tea it was just a question of trying to reverse (swing) and do a bit in the air, so it gave me a bit more confidence to pitch it up. "When you've got... Darren blasting away my whole strategy is to make sure I don't go for runs at the other end and today, luckily, I took wickets in the process."

Their innings came alive after lunch, when 50 runs came off the first eight overs and 123 runs were scored in the 31 overs to tea as Jayawardene, who finally fell to Caddick off a tired top-edged pull, put on 141 with Russel Arnold.

Hussain's decision to take the second new ball near the close, however, sparked the late drama, Gough ending with four for 73 from 14 overs and Caddick four for 55 from 20.

All-rounder Craig White, who earlier took two wickets, helped start the collapse as he caught Arnold off a powerful square cut for 65 off Gough while Graham Thorpe capped that with a diving one-handed catch to remove Kumar Dharmasensa off the same bowler.

England's spinners, Ashley Giles and Robert Croft, failed to take a wicket in 35 overs.

Going for their shots

The tone of the day had been set by the Sri Lankan top order, all going for their shots and refusing to dig in as the wickets began to fall.

Marvan Atapattu, a double centurion in the first test, scored four boundaries, all edged through or over the slips, before playing back to Gough and deflecting the ball into his stumps.

Jayasuriya tried to wrest back the initiative, driving Caddick over cover for another boundary, but the left-hander's attempted repeat next ball was caught above his head by Giles at backward point to make it 29 for two.

Aravinda de Silva, however, forged on, intent on smashing left-arm spinner Giles out of the attack as he swept two mid-wicket boundaries, then drove him for a six over long off.

Kumar Sangakkara was unlucky to be given out, caught off a White lifter that appeared to come off his arm guard. The batsman stared pointedly at his forearm before departing.

De Silva's 32-ball, 29-run cameo ended soon after as he attempted a pull off the shaven-headed White and skied a return catch.

England's only regret came when Arnold was dropped without scoring with Sri Lanka 80 for four. Trescothick's error was to prove costly, the next wicket falling with the total on 221.

Sri Lanka won the first test of the three-match series by an innings and 28 runs.

 

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