Misery in the gloom

All smiles for Pakistan ... but for Sri Lanka it was a different story © Getty Images

The performance of the Sinhalese Sports Club groundstaff was nothing short of miraculous, as they mopped the thousands of gallons of standing water that had flooded the venue the previous evening, but Sri Lanka's woes against the moving ball were all too predictable. When Mahela Jayawardene lost his eighth consecutive toss since taking over from Marvan Atapattu, the alarm bells were ringing.

The skies were dark and the atmosphere moist. The pitch had been covered for over 36 hours and when the umpires walked out at 10am, 30 minutes early to catch up on lost time, it was a fast bowler's paradise. Pakistan, although handicapped by the sudden departure of Rana Naved-ul-Hasan back home for personal reasons, capitalised wonderfully.

Mohammad Asif was the star of the show, a major handful for all the batsmen as he swung and seamed the ball around dangerously. Umar Gul had more nip but Asif was always probing in the right areas. All four of his dismissals came from top class deliveries, not just in their own right but in the context of the entire spell.

Against Kumar Sangakkara, Asif had been pushing the ball towards the slips, drawing him into furtive dabs outside his off-stump. He knew he should not be following the ball. But just when he thought he discovered one to leave alone, it moved in wickedly and brushed over his off bail.

Thilan Samaraweera was dispensed with in similar fashion as he wrongly anticipated an outswinger. Samaraweera's was a greater misjudgement than Sangakkara's because the ball pitched too close to the line of his off stump, but he was still the victim of fine bowling. The others in Sri Lanka's ranks were more culpable.

Upul Tharanga's footwork was in Bangladesh mode in the first over as a delivery nipped back and Sanath Jayasuriya chopped on after some extra bounce. But the worst dismissal was that of the skipper, Mahela Jayawardene, who dug in for 30 minutes and then reached out lamely when finally offered some width, playing the ball well away from his body.

With an early season tour to England fast approaching, Sri Lanka's capitulation to 32 for 5 highlighted just how tough the next few weeks can be unless the top order finally gels. As Tom Moody fairly assessed afterwards, the conditions this morning were more seam bowler friendly than can be expected in England, but one senses that the team desperately needs a good performance in tricky batting conditions soon if they are to have the self-belief necessary to take on England in their long jumpers.

Fortunately, two of Sri Lanka's brightest lights in the past couple of months, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Farveez Maharoof, were able to salvage some respectability. Indeed, although Pakistan closed with the initiative, their precious 111-run partnership has keep the Sri Lankans in the match if they can bowl well early on day three.