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BIRMINGHAM (England), June 1: Graham Thorpe conjured an outstanding 123 — his 11th Test century — for England against Sri Lanka in which he scored his final 61 runs with last man Matthew Hoggard as his partner in the second Test at Edgbaston Saturday.
England were 454 for nine and Thorpe was 61 when Hoggard strode to the crease, but the Yorkshire fast bowler proved a staunch ally in a last-wicket stand of 91 which lifted the total to 545 all out in the second session on the third day.
With England 383 ahead after their first innings, Hoggard swiftly pressed home their advantage by firing out captain Sanath Jayasuriya (12) and Kumar Sangakkara (1) to reduce Sri Lanka to 33 for two at tea.
Thorpe and Hoggard had been the central figures on a cloudless day as they turned their side’s faltering progress before lunch into a compelling finale to the innings.
Scoreboard
SRI LANKA (1st Innings) 162.
ENGLAND (1st Innings, overnight 401-5):
M.E. Trescothick c T’ratne b Vaas 161
M.P. Vaughan c J’suriya b M’tharan 46
M.A. Butcher b M’tharan 94
N. Hussain b M’tharan 22
G.P. Thorpe c Vaas b Fernando 123
A.J. Stewart c T’ratne b M’tharan 7
A. Flintoff c T’ratne b M’tharan 29
A.J. Tudor c T’ratne b Zoysa 3
A.F. Giles c Sangakkara b Zoysa 0
A.R. Caddick c Sangakkara b Zoysa 3
M.J. Hoggard not out 17
EXTRAS (LB-19, W-6, NB-15) 40
TOTAL (all out, 163.5 overs) 545
FALL OF WKTS: 1-92, 2-294, 3-338, 4-341, 5-368, 6-426, 7-436, 8-444, 9-454.
BOWLING: Vaas 41-3-141-1; Zoysa 24-3-93-3; Muralitharan 64-12-143-5; Fernando 21.5-2-92-1; Jayasuriya 6-2-27-0; de Silva 7-0-30-0.
SRI LANKA (2nd Innings):
M.S. Atapattu not out 16
S.T. Jayasuriya b Hoggard 12
K.C. Sangakkara lbw b Hoggard 1
D.P.M. Jayawardene not out 0
EXTRAS (NB-4) 4
TOTAL (for two wkts, 11 overs) 33
FALL OF WKTS: 1-28, 2-30.
BOWLING (to-date): Caddick 6-0-17-0; Hoggard 5-1-16-2.—Reuters
