CONTENTS:   l           PLAYED XIs. l           LOOKING BACK AT GALLE. l           MATCH SCORE CARD. l           REPORT ON EACH DAY'S PLAY.

	SRI LANKAN TEAM:   Hashan Tillekaratne (Captain),  Sanath Jayasuriya,  Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara (W.K.),  Mahela Jayawardena,  Thilan Samaraweera, Upul Chandana,  Kumara Dharmasena,  Chaminda Vaas, Dinusha Fernando, and Muttiah Muralitharan.   ENGLAND TEAM:   Michael Vaughan (Captain),  Marcus Trescothick,  Andrew Flintoff,  Ashley Giles,  Mark Butcher,  Paul Collingwood, Graham Thorpe,  Chris Read (w.k.),  Gareth Batty,  Richard Johnson  and  Matthew Hoggard.

	LOOKING BACK AT GALLE   "So.. very close, but yet so far"!  That was how the first Test Match against England ended for Sri Lanka. This phrase also reminds me how my own career both on and off the field tragically ended for me almost on the eve of umpiring my first Test Match in Colombo. Cricket after all, like life, in every aspect and at every moment of time, is so full of the inextricable unexpected, just like the behaviour of the known Galle pitch on that day-five, contradictory to all believes. England hung on bravely on a dramatic final evening in Galle to draw the first Test against Sri Lanka. Set an improbable 323 to win, they had just one wicket in hand on 210 / 9 when bad light came to their rescue four overs early. Yes, one take pride in a winning performance, but you can also take pride in showing battling qualities and scrapping your way out of a losing position, as England did through magnificent team effort on the final day at Galle, occupying the crease for 376 minutes and defying Sri Lankan bowlers for 108 overs. Few things here Sri Lanka could learn on how to save a test match especially when things are not going your way. Ashley Giles defended like a lion for 101 minutes to be 17 not out off 111 balls, keeping Sri Lankan bowlers at bay. Before that, Mark Butcher (54, 166 minutes, 132 balls), Paul Collingwood (36, 174 minutes, 153 balls) and Gareth Batty (26, 81 minutes, 70 balls) were the key figures in a memorable display of determined and disciplined batting with a will to save the side. Even Muttiah Muralitharan who bagged his twelfth 10 or more wicket haul in a Test Match (with match figures of 11 for 93), could not find a way past either of No.(11) Matthew Hoggard or Ashley Giles.   Mark Butcher the rugged left-hand batsman who made the first hundred for England on this tour here, played two charmed though resolute knocks, making twin half centuries for England, (51 in 207 balls at first and then 54 in 132 balls) to become their highest run scorer in both innings. Sri Lanka at first frittered away their chances of building a big total after winning an important toss and having put on a good 76 run opening stand, as their reputed batsmen failed to build a match winning total. With a team packed with five spinners, they then failed to restrict England to a total below 200 on a pitch conducive to spin.  The hosts blew their final chance of capitalizing on a sound second innings start of 72 / 1 backed by a 96 run healthy lead when a disastrous run-out triggered off a mini-collapse as Sri Lanka lost 4 wickets for 13 runs in 12 overs.  At the end Sri Lanka were certainly the only team that could have won, but curiously, they never showed any urgency to accelerate the scoring at any time to make this happen until they were bowled out.  Mahela Jayawardena for his unbeaten 86, although a fabulous innings, took over five hours as Sri Lanka managed to inch their way to only 226 all out at tea after 408 minutes of batting. I personally feel, this considerably reduced the amount of time Sri Lanka should have exposed England batsmen to Willy Murali on day-four evening itself and in the end with weather always threatening, it became a crucial error Sri Lanka have made. A successful 10th-wicket partnership is always entertainment for spectators and also for the batting side. For the fielding side, however, it is always a period of total agony and torture. England twice suffered this fate again at Galle at the hands of Sri Lanka's final pair. The heroic number 11 on both occasions has been the man who had already tormented England quite enough with the ball, Muttiah Muralitharan. In both innings, Murali had to come to the teams rescue not only with the ball but with the bat as well, contributing 38 runs out of 40 in the first innings and then with a personal score of 13 helping Jayawardena to add 46 runs in the second innings, in two last wicket partnerships.  If England had managed to dismiss him for less than 5 runs each time, they would only have been chasing less than 250 to win ! Going on past facts, assumptions were made for us to think of a disintegrating and dusty Galle track on which England will have to bat on fourth innings of this Test Match and as such it would be a daunting task for them to defend for so long.  However, this expectation remained this time only a dream, to see a different happening there on day-five. The absence of bright and hot sunshine for longer durations along with huge amount of water around from rain especially on day-four night, although the ground staff had done a fantastic thankless job of work to make the ground playable with just a 30 minute delay, perhaps made the pitch to behave differently. Although as reported it was slower, stroke making and batting on it, as expected, was not a nightmare. In fact the bowlers were made to work hard to achieve what they got at the end.   Having made use of home advantage and preparing a pitch much favouring the spinners, looking at overall figures below I now wonder if Sri Lanka has been a victim of its own seeking?  A case of biter bit.  Tillakaratne must have been thinking if he only could bring Muralitharan to bowl at both ends!  England were confronted at one end with Muralis magic spin, but apart from Vaas at times, had a comfortable breather from the other end. This has again (and again) been the crucial difference between Sri Lanka and the other side(s). On this spinners track, England had the provisions to apply pressure from both ends with Giles and Batty while Sri Lanka, and for so... long, has been dependant on one spinner to deliver from one end. The story below in figures, is self-explanatory.                                        MURALI    Other Spinners   GILES+BATTY OVERS            68.4            107.0              127.1 R U N S             93              223                  286 WICKETS         11                04                   13 Runs / W         8.45            55.75               22.00 Runs / Ov.       1.36             2.08                 2.25 Strike Rate     37.45          160.50              58.69   HOW THEY PLAYED MURALITHARAN Batsmen             1st  Innings           2nd Innings                                             Runs Balls            Runs  Balls Trescothick            00     12                 05      05 Vaughan                 02     06                 --       -- Butcher                   19     78                10      39 Thorpe                   12     42                  02      08 Collingwood           00     06                  10      50 Flintoff                   00      05                  --       -- Read                      00      09                11      29 Batty                       00      04                09      36 Giles                      00      04                00      17 Johnson                 11      12                00      21 Hoggard                 02      12                00      07 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Total                     46     190                 47     222 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

	2nd INNINGS  OF ENGLAND: 210 / 9 / 376 min. / 108 Ov.   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------   FALL  OF  WICKETS  /  SCORE CARD:   NO:  T O TA L  BATSMAN OUT    Rns / bls / min /4s/6    1.      16          Vaughn        08 /  10b   / 15 min / 2    2.      62          Trescothic    24 /  47b  /  68 min / 5    3.      73          Thorpe          10 /  34b  /  24 min / 1    4.    125          Butcher         54 / 132b / 166 min / 6 / 1    5.    125          Flintoff          00 /   06b /  05 min / 0    6.    148          Read             14 /   49b  / 44 min / 0 / 1     7.   170          Collingwood  36 / 153b / 174 min / 5     8.   204          Batty             26 /   70b  /  81 min / 2 /1     9.   208          Johnson        03 /   35b  /  41 min / 0     Not Out         Giles            17 /  111b / 101 min / 2     Not Out          Hoggard        00 /   07b /   12 min / 0   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------   B O W L I N G:        [ OVERS  - RUNS  - WICKETS ]   a.  Vaas                   14 -   23 -   2  (2 nb)   b.  Fernando            04 -   29 -   1  (4nb)   c.  Samaraweera      03 -   09 -   0   d.  Jayasuriya           21 -   31 - 1 (1nb)   e.  Muralitharan     37 -   47 - 4    f.   Chandana           11 -  24 -  0   g.  Dharmasena        18 -   36 -  1   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------   2nd INNINGS  OF SRI LANKA: 226 / 10 / 408 min. / 97.2 Ov.   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------   FALL  OF  WICKETS  /  SCORE CARD:   NO:  T O TA L  BATSMAN OUT    Rns / bls / min /4s/6     1.     26          Jayasuriya        17 /  16b /  24 min / 3     2.     72          Sangakkara      19 /  54b /  68 min / 1     3.     72          Atapattu            35 /  71b /  97 min / 5     4.     78          Tillakaratne        01 /  09b /  12 min / 0     5.      85         Samaraweera    01 /  23b /  23 min / 0      6.    123         Vaas                  19 /  72b / 104 min / 3     7.    163        Chandana          19 /  48b /   64 min / 3     8.    179        Dharmasena      02 /  21b /    40 min / 0     9.    180        Fernando           01 /  04b /    03 min / 0    10.   226        Muralitharan       13 /  24b /    50 min / 2      Not Out        Jayawardena      86 / 242b / 312 min / 7   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------   B O W L I N G:        [ OVERS  - RUNS  - WICKETS ]   a.  Hoggard              09 -   33 -  1   b.  Johnson              07 -   28 -  0    c.  Flintoff                 17 -   32 -  1   d.  Giles                    40 -   64 -  4   e.  Batty                   23.2 - 55 -  3   f.   Vaughn               01 -    02  - 0   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------   1st INNINGS  OF ENGLAND: 235 / 10 / 360 min. / 100.4 Ov.   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------   FALL  OF  WICKETS  /  SCORE CARD:   NO:  T O TA L  BATSMAN OUT    Rns / bls / min /4s/6    1.      56          Trescothic      23 /  62b /   67 min / 4    2.      67          Vaughn           24 /  65b /   91 min / 4    3.    142          Thorpe            43 / 121b / 125 min / 4    4.    143          Collingwood    01 /  10b /   07 min / 0    5.    151          Flintoff              01 /  14b  /  22 min / 0    6.    155           Reed               00 /  10b /  12 min / 0     7.   177          Butcher             51 / 207b / 233 min / 4     8.   183          Batty                 14 /  43b /  60 min / 0 / 1     9.   208          Giles                 18 /  32b /  33 min / 0 / 2    10.  235          Johnson           26 /  29b /  45 min / 1 / 2     Not Out          Hoggard           06 /  19b /  21 min / 0   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------   B O W L I N G:        [ OVERS  - RUNS  - WICKETS ]   a.  Vaas                   12 -   25 -  1 (5 nb)   b.  Fernando            03 -   21 -  0  (1nb)   c.  Dharmasena       24 -   55 -  1  (1 nb)   d.  Muralitharan     31.4 - 46 - 7    e.  Chandana            13 -  24 -  0   f.   Jayasuriya           17 -   44 -  1 (1 nb)   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------   1st INNINGS  OF SRI LANKA:  331 /10 / 525 min. / 127.5 Ov.   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------   FALL  OF  WICKETS  /  SCORE CARD:   NO:  T O TA L  BATSMAN OUT    Rns / bls / min /4s/6    1.      76          Jayasuriya        48 / 110b / 131 min / 7     2.      88          Atapattu           29 /   99b / 156 min / 4    3.    132          Jayawardena   17 /  42b /   63 min / 2    4.    132          Tillakaratne      00 /  14b /   16 min / 0    5.    202          Sangakkara      71 / 142b / 208 min / 9 / 1     6.    238          Samaraweera   45 / 113b / 147 min / 6    7.    239          Chandana         21 /   41b /   50 min / 4    8.    279          Dharmasena     27 /  69b /   74 min / 2    9.    291          Fernando          04 /  21b /   20 min / 1   10.   331          Muralitharan      38 /  37b /   41 min / 4 / 1     Not Out          Vaas                  22 /  80b / 132 min / 3   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------   B O W L I N G:        [ OVERS  - RUNS  - WICKETS ]   a.  Hoggard              20 -   49 -  0   b.  Johnson              17 -   54 -  1  (1wide)   c.  Flintoff                23 -   42 -  3   d.  Collingwood       04 -   12 -  0  (1nb)   e.  Batty                   31 -    98 -  2   f.   Giles                   32.5 - 69  - 4   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------