November 25, 2007	Sunday	Ziqa’ad 14, 1428

COLOMBO, Nov 24: England start their lone first-class match on the Sri Lankan tour here on Sunday hoping to fill the blanks in the Test squad for the series starting in a week’s time.

The three-day match against the Sri Lanka Cricket XI at the Nondescripts Club is the tourists’ last opportunity to strike form ahead of the first of three back-to-back Tests starting in Kandy on Dec 1.

The tour opener earlier this week against the same opposition, where all 16 England players were allowed to take the field, saw the hosts pile up 500-5 and restrict the tourists to 315-6.

But on Sunday only 11 will play and England captain Michael Vaughan said performances in the match will help him finalise the team for the Kandy Test. The first five batting spots are settled with Vaughan opening with Alastair Cook, followed by Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood. Except for Pietersen, who was dismissed for four, the rest had a good outing in the opening match.—AFP