England feel the strain

Nine days was what England required to beat Bangladesh earlier this winter, and on the ninth day of this current series, England themselves took quite a beating.

After the hesistancy which has characterised Sri Lanka's batting in their previous three innings, Tillakaratne Dilshan broke the shackles and took full toll of England's under-manned attack. It was the sort of line break that England's rugby players would have been proud of, and it will take some brave tackling-back from their cricketing counterparts to save this match now.

Dilshan's last century - his last half-century, in fact, if you discount his 63 in the first innings here - came against Zimbabwe in Harare four years ago. That's a long time to wait by any standards, and after being included here as a seventh batsman, he produced the sort of innings that is the hallmark of a player with a point to prove. His relentless off-side onslaught transformed the tempo of the match, and Sri Lanka now have ample time to roll England over. Mind you, they thought that at Galle as well.

England's four-bowler gamble might have worked for the first two sessions of this match, but it has been an uncomfortable slog ever since, and this afternoon the blisters were all too apparent. Andrew Flintoff looked listless for the first time in the series, and Ashley Giles's three wickets were taken at a cost of five runs per over. Then again, even before they lost the toss, England had been steeling themselves for another fourth-innings rearguard - as soon as Dilshan had seized the morning initiative, the rest of the day was largely irrelevant.

England may have lost two more wickets than they had by the same stage at Galle, but this time they have three big factors in their favour. First, they have included an extra batsman in Paul Collingwood, who has already shown his fighting qualities in two of his three innings in this series. Secondly, they have Michael Vaughan at the crease, and batting with that same princely self-assurance that characterised his tour of Australia last winter. He was suckered by Murali in the first innings, but that is all the more reason for this one to count double.

And last, but by no means least, Nasser Hussain is back in the side and itching for a scrap. Hussain has had a torrid few days, and an editorial in one of the Sri Lankan daily papers was merciless in its appraisal of him. But like Steve Waugh, the man Nasser so resembles in character, he is never better than when he thinks the world is against him.

In all probability, England need two big innings to save this match. At least one of those will surely have to come from the overnight pair of Vaughan and Hussain.