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England on top after bundling out Sri Lanka
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May 25, 2006 (Scorecard)
England took good control of the 2nd Test Match
played at Edgbaston after bundling out Sri Lanka
for just 141 on the first day. England in reply
lost three wickets with Muralitharan doing the
damage taking two of them. The homeside at
stumps on Day 1 were just three runs behind Sri
Lanka’s paltry total with Kevin Pietersen and
nightwatchman Matthew Hoggard being the two not
out batsmen.
Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and chose to bat
first and it proved to be a big mistake as Sri
Lanka’s innings lasted just over 51 overs.
Matthew Hoggard started things off by bowling
Tharanga with a beautiful late inswinger that
drove past the bat pad gap of the left hander.
It was just the fifth delivery of the match and
that delivery put plenty of doubts in the other
batsmen waiting for their turn to face the
English attack. Andrew Flintoff made a quick
change taking himself out of the attack to bring
Plunkett and the latter dismissed Vandort and
then last match hero Jayawardene. Vandort had
played a loose shot and Jayawardene got a
terrific delivery that held its line and bounced
that extra bit after hitting the surface.
Samaraweera and Sangakkara were taken behind the
wicket as they fell to the swing and the angle
of Hoggard and Plunkett respectively. The Sri
Lankan innings was in tatters and wickets fell
at regular intervals and with 8 down in the 32nd
over, England looked set to bowl the Lankans
under 100. But Vaas and Malinga pulled a
stubborn partnership of 51 runs and they helped
Sri Lanka reach 141 in the end. Vaas was not out
on 30 and he had done well surviving 78 balls.
Malinga who gave him the support scored 26 and
the other batsmen who got decent scores were
Sangakkara and Dilshan who made twenties.
Plunkett was the most successful bowler taking
three wickets and the other three pacers Hoggard,
Flintoff and Mahmood chipped in with a couple
each. Monty Panesar also got a wicket for his
efforts and this meant that all the English
bowlers used today had something in their wicket
column to show.
England in reply started off through a solid
opening stand between Trescothick and Strauss
and it was Murali who struck in the 17th over by
forcing Trescothick to edge a sharp off break to
the wicket keeper. Strauss was the next man out
as he was stranded in his crease watching the
ball go behind the crease and not responding to
his partner Cook who gave the call for a single
and took off. Strauss who was totally confused
at that monet reacted very late and gave away
his wicket in the end. Murali gave Sri Lanka one
more wicket before close that of Alastair Cook
who was wrapped up in front of the stumps
failing to read the top spinner. For Sri Lanka
they will have to remove the inform Pietersen as
soon as possible tomorrow as he has already
started to take the game away from them with his
blistering 30 which already has a slog sweep for
a six. Muralitharan is the only man who looks to
be good to do the damage control for Sri Lanka
and he has already taken two wickets after
bowling just 9 overs. England would be looking
to take a big lead and ensure that Lord’s
doesn’t repeat at Edgbaston.
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