Panesar mops up after Tharanga 50

Sri Lanka Board President's XI 298 for 9 (Tharanga 86, de Silva 1*, Amerasinghe 0*, Hoggard 3-57) v England XI
Scorecard

Steve Harmison's new back injury cast a shadow over what was otherwise an encouraging day's labour for England's bowlers, as Matthew Hoggard and Monty Panesar warmed up for the first Test with three wickets apiece. By the close of the first day at the Nondescripts Cricket Club, the Sri Lanka Board President's XI had slipped to 298 for 9, having at one stage been well placed on 287 for 5.

The mainstay of the Sri Lankan performance was once again Upul Tharanga, who enhanced his own prospects of a Test recall with a fluent innings of 86 to add to his century in England's opening warm-up. Another member of Sri Lanka's Test squad, Jehan Mubarak, chipped in with 68 from 143 deliveries, while the young wicketkeeper, Kaushal Silva, made a dogged 53 despite being struck a painful blow on the wrist by a loose shy from Kevin Pietersen.

The talking point of the day, however, was Harmison's injury. It occurred after the third ball of his 11th over, just as he was returning for his fourth spell of the day. Up until that point he appeared to be gathering rhythm and confidence in equal measures, and was markedly improved on his lacklustre six-over performance earlier in the week. He bounded to the crease with menace and picked up his first wicket of the tour when the President's XI captain, Tillakaratne Dilshan, spooned an attempted pull to James Anderson at mid-on.

With competition for places high among England's fast bowlers, Hoggard and Anderson were handed the new ball, and Hoggard might have struck with the fourth ball of the morning when Mahela Udawatte survived a raucous appeal for caught-behind. Hoggard, who experimented with cutters and slower balls in a bid to overcome the conditions, did eventually get his man on 18, caught by a diving Michael Vaughan at mid-on to end an opening stand of 55.

Anderson, who had also been suffering from a back problem in the early stages of the tour, bowled a hostile but luckless first spell, and it was the unlikely character of Ravi Bopara who provided England's next breakthrough. Although his principal aim in this match is to outscore Owais Shah at No. 6, Bopara did his prospects no harm whatsoever in a waspish 11-over spell. Tharanga was badly dropped by Vaughan off a no-ball, before Malinda Warnapura tried to force one off the back foot through the covers, and edged a simple chance through to Matt Prior for 16.

Dilshan, who made a duck in the first of these two fixtures, signalled his intent by smashing an Anderson bouncer out of the ground and into a passing tuk-tuk, but he fell in Harmison's second over after lunch. Tharanga was the next to go, well caught by Ian Bell at second slip as Anderson cramped him for room outside off stump, and before Chamara Kapugedera could pick up where he had left off in the first match, he was expertly snaffled by Bopara at short midwicket, off the bowling of Hoggard.

Thereafter England found the going somewhat tougher, as Mubarak and Silva dug in for a 105-run stand, but with the light beginning to fade, Panesar got in on the act. With his rhythm improving throughout a 22-over spell, he grabbed two wickets in two balls, as Silva popped a simple chance to Alastair Cook at short leg, and Kaushal Lokuarachchi played back to be lbw for 0.

Hoggard then chipped in with one last wicket of a typically hard-grafting spell, as Mubarak nicked an offcutter to Prior, and three balls before the close Panesar had Chanaka Welegedara caught at short leg, again by Cook. It was an uplifting end to England's day, but Harmison's injury still casts a shadow.