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England batsmen lift test gloom Posted: Friday June 14, 2002 3:40 PMMANCHESTER, England (AP) -- Mark Butcher's fifth test century put England well on course to a big first innings total in the final test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford on Friday. After the second day's play finally started at 1300 GMT following a washout before lunch, England progressed to 377 for six before bad light and rain stopped proceedings after just 28 overs. Butcher's flawless 123 laid the foundation for England's hopes of securing its first series win in five attempts. Alec Stewart and Alex Tudor will resume Saturday unbeaten on 57 and six respectively. Butcher put behind the disappointment of being dismissed for 94 in the second test at Edgbaston and duly reached his ton with his 23rd ball of the day. Resuming on 85, Butcher glanced leftarm seamer Chaminda Vaas for his 14th boundary to bring up his 21st first-class hundred and first at Old Trafford. Having revived his career with one of the greatest Ashes innings against Australia at Headingley last year -- an unbeaten 173 in England's six-wicket win -- Butcher went into the test with scores of 105 and 94 in the last two tests. It took an appalling umpiring decision by South Africa's Dave Orchard to end his 226-ball knock when he was finally given out lbw to Vaas. He hit 18 boundaries in an innings that last a 12 minutes over five hours. "Confidence wise it was a massive thing to play a match-winning innings against the best side in the world," Butcher said of his memorable knock against Australia. "It makes you think, that you can cope with most things. That's part of the battle as a cricketer ... that you trust yourself to do well. It certainly gave me that." Since his Ashes recall, Butcher has scored 1,186 runs at an average of 49.12 with three centuries and five fifties. He has scored 339 runs at an average of 84.75 against Sri Lanka in four innings so far. "I expect myself to score runs now at test level every time I go out," Butcher added. "Thankfully I've found myself in a great run. Butcher said he would have batted anywhere in the side when he was trying to resurrect a sagging test career last year. But he thinks No.3 position once occupies by skipper Nasser Hussain now belongs to him. "I really enjoyed batting at no.3. Its the only place I want to bat now. Somehow I think it suits my game a little bit." Butcher and Stewart ensured England batted for as long as possible to keep its 1-0 series lead intact and shared 92 runs in 82 minutes for the fifth wicket after starting the day on 273 for four. Stewart, who equaled Graham Gooch's 118 test appearances for England, played a chancy innings after enjoying the good fortunes of being dropped before he had scored on Thursday. He reached his 39th half century off only 61 balls and included eight fours. Andrew Flintoff was repeatedly beaten by offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan and was run out when a Stewart-drive ricocheted off bowler Vaas' finger on to the stumps.
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