Return to Saravanamuttu bears fruit for England

England's return to the historic P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, 19 years after Sri Lanka's inaugural Test Match, is proving to be a gainful one. Yesterday there was Nasser Hussain shaking off the shackles of poor form, the tempered class of Vaughan and further confirmation of Craig White's growing stature as a batsman. Then, today, we witnessed a disciplined bowling performance in sapping heat and an encouraging signs that Robert Croft can play an influential role in the Test series.

That is not say that England have had it all their own way in this four-day game against a Sri Lankan board President's XI. Indeed, the match is intriguingly poised after a gleaming century by Tillakaratne Dilshan. England eventually dismissed the Sri Lankans for 265 and will start their second innings tomorrow with a lead of 64

Robert Croft's bowling figures of three for 77 from 19 overs may not have been his most economical performance ever and he admits that he "still needs to elimate the one bad ball an over", but his action is looking more comfortable with each over he bowls. For a man who, in the words of Hussain, "has spent the last four months sitting on his backside back home", he is adapting well to Sri Lankan conditions.

Having been dropped from the Test side last summer and after a public show of petulance, in which he openly considered making himself unavailable for England, he buckled down to work on his action with Tom Cartwright in an attempt to rediscover the form that brought him success when he first played for England in 1996/7.

The hours spent in the Cardiff indoor nets appear to have paid off. He has shortened his delivery stride, slowed his pace and as a result the ball is once again dipping in the air and gripping the pitch.

"I have been spinning the ball hard and there is a fair amount of variable bounce in the pitches. It's a building process for me but I think I am going in the right direction," he said afterwards. He realises though that it's going to far from easy against Sri Lanka's fleet footed batsmen. "The batsmen in these parts of the world are very quick on their feet. You have to vary the pace of the delivery and put fielders in different positions because of some of the unconventional shots that are played."

He will never spin the ball like Muralitharan and Saqlain Mustaq, but on the biscuit-dry surfaces of Sri Lanka he has an important role to play with Ashley Giles. He took three crucial middle-order wickets today. First he had the gangly Michael Vandort snapped up at short leg with his very first delivery. Then, in his second spell, he trapped both Chamara Silva and Prassana Jayawardene lbw with successive deliveries.

Croft's double strike left the President's XI on 143 for six and England would have had high hopes of securing a sizeable first innings lead. Tillakaratne Dilshan came into this match, however, with a point to prove. He did little wrong in South Africa with the national side, but became the scapegoat for the top order's failures and was dropped for the one-day squad for New Zealand.

Nevertheless, he remains the most technically accomplished batsman of Sri Lanka's young crop of reserves and went a long way towards booking his berth for the First Test Match in Galle with his hundred today. He came to the crease at the fall of the second wicket, batted for 250 minutes in all for his 121 and rescued an innings that could have gone into freefall.

Dilshan's footwork against the spin of Giles and Croft was simply breathtaking. Dancers would have marvelled at the speed with which he moved into position and the balance that he then retained for the stroke. He hit sixteen crisp boundaries in all and, a missed run out apart, his innings was unblemished.

Take away the innings of Dilshan and the performance of the Sri Lankans was decidedly average. Three players - Jehan Mubarak, Michael Vandort and Chamara Silva - threatened to play major innings, but all failed to go on to make a half century. Fortunately for them, Thilan Samaraweera supported Dilshan stoically and the pair added 93 runs for the seventh wicket.

A largely satisfactory day, in which the bowlers had stuck manfully to their tasks throughout, was suddenly being threatened. Then, Craig White had Samaraweera caught by a sprawling Croft at square leg and Gough, bowling with impressive speed in such draining conditions, brushed the glove of Dilshan as the right hander tried to glance down the leg side. Michael Vaughan chipped in with the wickets of Ravindra Puspakumara and Sujeewa de Silva and the Sri Lankan's had slumped from 236 for six to 265 all out.