Sehwag redux?

This will be a quick one as I’m pretty tired after a tough day on the park.

We arrived at the ground with rain in the air and the covers still on. And I mean covers still on; the whole outfield was covered. They were battening down the hatches yesterday afternoon while our training session was wrapping up and there must have been almost a hundred ground helpers out there putting the sheeting down on the wicket, the block, the surrounds and the whole outfield.

Start was delayed till 11.30 and we got first opportunity to bowl first on it after Dan won another toss. It had been mentioned that he wanted to lose the toss as we really weren’t sure what to do first. The pitch felt a little tacky after being under the covers, but how long would that last; we weren’t sure but Dan decided to have first use of it. And it paid off straight away. Tommy (Martin) with his third ball picked up Tharanga Paranavitana and then in his second Kumar Sangakkara flicked one to Flynn at square leg for two wickets inside three overs. That, alas, was where the wickets ended for that session. Tillakaratne Dilshan was outstanding. I felt like I was bowling very close to our plan for him although, unfortunately for us, it was to be his session. I bowled four overs in my first spell and it really was like a highlights package. I went for 40 in those four overs; not good enough but also there was some very good batting.

The next session I was a bit better, my five-over spell, in comparison, only going for 25; hardly economical, but it was better than my first spell. I picked up Dilshan in my third over of this spell; he cut a rather short, and shall we say, rank ball onto his stumps on 92 from 72 balls. A collective sigh of relief from us! It was like seeing the back of Sehwag!

This spell I found really tough. I was okay in my third over but the 4th and 5th I really started to overheat and was finding it really tough out there. I got through that spell and normally I’d cool down after a couple of overs in the field. I wasn’t. In fact I was starting to feel really average. I don’t like leaving the field but I had to today. My radiator wasn’t quite working right. I was off for around 20 minutes and in that time I had an ice jacket on, an ice pack on my head, neck, shoulders and feet. I was drinking everything in sight and sucking on ice cubes, doing all I could to cool down. After about 10 minutes I started feeling normal(ish) again and headed over to my seat to change my clothes. Fresh socks, trousers and a shirt, this time without the under layer vest top I had been wearing. I got back out there as soon as I could and felt a lot better by the time I got on the field.

At tea, Dan asked me how I was, and if I wanted to go again soon after the break. Of course I wanted another crack, “I got some figures to fix!” My third spell was probably my best one of the day although it was still more expensive than I’d want. The ball now was reversing a little and I was looking forward to see what I could get out of it. It went for me a bit and I was feeling pretty good; this was going to be my spell. I bowled as hard as I could and got some good bounce from good lengths, beat the edge a few times, got the edge a couple too; but not to hand. I went as hard as I could to change my day.

A great partnership between Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera got Sri Lanka through to early stumps as bad light set in. We are going to have to work harder and smarter again tomorrow to pull this innings back in our favour.

It was an ice bath at the ground straight after we finished and then back to the hotel for a massage; eat, type this and now bed time.