LONDON, May 19: England, inspired by a Michael Vaughan century, fought a marathon rearguard action against all-conquering Sri Lanka Sunday as they closed the fourth day of the first Test on 321 for two in their second innings.
That left them 41 runs ahead after wiping out the chance of a humiliating innings defeat.
Nasser Hussain’s side found some spirit at last as they cancelled out a 280-run first-innings deficit.
Vaughan led the way with 115 and a 168-run partnership with Marcus Trescothick, England best first-wicket stand for four years.
Skipper Nasser Hussain (51 not out) and Mark Butcher (55 not out) then cobbled together a backs-to-the-wall 108-run stand for the third wicket to steer the home side towards safety before bad light stopped play eight overs early
The Sri Lankans were left rueing Sanath Jayasuriya’s butter-fingers.
The captain missed two simple chances off Vaughan when on 28 and 33 right at the start of the day.
Vaughan, who also top-scored with 64 in England’s highly disappointing first innings of 275, unleashed three off-side drives for four in seamer Buddika Fernando’s first over of the day but also edged straight to Jayasuriya’s hands at first slip, only for the ball to bounce out.
The second chance, almost identical, came off strike bowler Nuwan Zoysa. Jayasuriya stared at the ground in disbelief. England, equally disbelieving, did not offer another clear chance all day.
The touring side’s only good fortune came when the left-handed Trescothick, following an innings full of typical punched drives and powerful cuts, was given out lbw to Zoysa for 76 off a big inside-edge into his pads.
Injured Muttiah Muralitharan, their match-winning off-spinner hoping to recover from a shoulder injury in time for the final Test, was forced to watch glumly from the stands.
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):
M.E. Trescothick c J’suriya b Zoysa 13
M.P. Vaughan c Zoysa b Perera 64
M.A. Butcher c J’wardene b Fernando 17
N. Hussain c S’kkara b Zoysa 57
G.P. Thorpe lbw b Perera 27
J.P. Crawley c S’kkara b Vaas 31
A.J. Stewart run out 7
A. Flintoff c S’kkara b Fernando 12
D.G. Cork c S’kkara b Fernando 0
A.R. Caddick c S’kkara b Perera 13
M.J. Hoggard not out 0
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-7, W-9, NB-14) 34
TOTAL (all out, 73.1 overs) 275
FALL OF WKTS: 1-17, 2-43, 3-149, 4-203, 5-203, 6-214, 7-237, 8-237, 9-267.
BOWLING: Vaas 21.1-4-51-1 (2nb); Zoysa 19-3-82-2 (6nb, 3w); Fernando 22-5-83-3 (3nb, 1w); Perera 11-0-48-3 (3nb, 1w).
ENGLAND (2nd Innings, overnight 53-0):
M.E. Trescothick lbw b Zoysa 76
M.P. Vaughan c S’kkara b Perera 115
M.A. Butcher not out 55
N. Hussain not out 51
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-6, W-1, NB-16) 24
TOTAL (for two wkts, 104.2 overs) 321
FALL OF WKTS: 1-168, 2-213.
BOWLING (to-date): Vaas 26.2-5-71-0; Zoysa 19-3-54-1 (6nb, 1w); Perera 20-3-57-1 (6nb); de Silva 12-1-34-0; Fernando 18-1-68-0 (3nb); Jayasuriya 9-2-30-0.—Reuters