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LONDON, May 20: Mark Butcher scored a back-to-the-wall century and England’s top five all passed 50 Monday to salvage a first Test draw against Sri Lanka at Lord’s after a marathon fightback.
The home side, forced to follow on 280 runs behind, declared just before the close of the fifth day on 529 for five, 249 ahead, after batting for two days.
The touring side, who made 555 for eight in their first innings, closed on 42 for one as the game petered out into a draw.
The Sri Lankans’ hopes of a 10th Test win in a row had slipped away after lunch as the left-handed Butcher, who had looked in wretched form after coming to the crease, produced an innings memorable for determination rather than strokeplay.
He reached his fourth Test 100 after six-and-a-half hours before running himself out moments later for 105, needlessly risking a third run.
Every England batsman, however, contributed.
Captain Nasser Hussain made 68 in a 159-run stand for the third wicket after England had resumed just 41 runs ahead with eight wickets standing.
Graham Thorpe then made 65 and John Crawley 41 not out. The fightback had been launched by openers Michael Vaughan (115) and Marcus Trescothick (78).
For England, it was the first time since 1996-97 that they had scored more than 500 in an innings.
Sri Lanka, meanwhile, were left to rue the absence of injured off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. Since his debut 10 years ago, the team have failed to win any of the 12 games he has missed.
Scoreboard
SRI LANKA (1st Innings) 555-8 decl (M.S. Atapattu 185, D.P.M. Jayawardene 107, P.A. de Silva 88, R.P. Arnold 50).
ENGLAND (1st innings) 275 (M.P. Vaughan 64, N. Hussain 57).
ENGLAND (2nd Innings, overnight 321-2):
M.E. Trescothick lbw b Zoysa 76
M.P. Vaughan c S’kkara b Perera 115
M.A. Butcher run out 105
N. Hussain lbw b Perera 68
G.P. Thorpe c Fernando b de Silva 65
J.P. Crawley not out 41
A.J. Stewart not out 26
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-9, W-1, NB-22) 33
TOTAL (for five decl, 191 overs) 529
FALL OF WKTS: 1-168, 2-213, 3-372, 4-432, 5-483.
BOWLING: Vaas 44-8-113-0 (1nb); Zoysa 34-6-84-1 (8nb, 1w); Perera 30-4-90-2 (8nb); de Silva 27-7-63-1; Fernando 26-1-96-0 (4nb); Jayasuriya 25-6-66-0; Arnold 4-1-7-0; Tillekeratne 1-1-0-0.
SRI LANKA (2nd Innings):
M.S. Atapattu c Butcher b Caddick 7
K. Sangakkara not out 6
D.P.M. Jayawardene not out 14
EXTRAS (B-5, LB-2, NB-8) 15
TOTAL (for one wkt, 13 overs) 42
FALL OF WKT: 1-16.
BOWLING: Caddick 7-2-10-1 (1nb); Flintoff 5-0-18-0 (7nb); Hoggard 1-0-7-0.
RESULT: Match drawn.
SECOND TEST: Endgbaston, May 30-June 3.
THIRD TEST: Old Trafford, June 13-17.—Reuters
