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| |  Saturday, 15 June, 2002, 18:08 GMT 19:08 UK Sri Lanka battle for pride Another Test century for the evergreen Stewart Third Test, Old Trafford, day three (stumps): Sri Lanka 130-1 v England 512 The true quality of the Old Trafford pitch came to light on a day in which 265 runs were scored for the loss of just five wickets in a game seemingly headed for a draw. Alec Stewart's supreme 123 - many of the runs coming in an important 102-run partnership with Ashley Giles (45) - essentially put England in a situation where they could not be beaten. With the home side holding a precious 1-0 series lead, England seem set to claim their first Test series since March last year - when Sri Lanka were also the opposition.
Two injuries arrived in quick succession late in the day. Andy Caddick pulled a muscle in his side, while Marvan Atapattu went for an X-ray after being hit a painful blow on the thumb by Andrew Flintoff. At lunch, England were past the 400-mark, with Sri Lanka claiming just one wicket in the 60 minutes of play available. A damp outfield meant the day's action had to wait until 1200 BST. Chaminda Vaas removed Alex Tudor for 19, smartly caught by Russel Arnold at second slip, but apart from that the tourists looked short of ideas. Vaas continued to try to tempt both Stewart and Giles with balls seaming well wide of the off stump, but the batsmen were rarely tempted. Giles got lucky with two or three unconvincing drives to third man for four, but Muttiah Muralitharan did not look as penetrating to the right-handers as one would expect.
Most of Stewart's runs came with drives off front and back foot through the off-side. Giles was finally snared by Muralitharan when Kumar Sangakkara took a juggling catch off a thin outside edge. And soon after Stewart followed when getting an inside edge onto his pad to be caught at silly point. Dilhara Fernando finally trapped Matthew Hoggard lbw to end England's marathon innings straddling three weather-interrupted days. Fernando and Muralitharan each finished with three wickets. Sri Lanka reached stumps in pretty decent shape as far as saving the follow-on is concerned. Arnold hit an excellent 62 before Tudor had him caught on the square leg fence. And Sangakkara conquered some of his demons by reaching 33 not out at the close. | |
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