Double blow hits England attack

13 April 2012

Marcus Trescothick spearheaded England's battle to save the follow on in the opening Test against Sri Lanka after the tourists had lost two wickets in quick succession.  

The Somerset left-hander progressed to his fourth Test half-century off 166 balls and helped the tourists to 104 for two by mid-afternoon, still needing a further 167 runs to reach the follow on target of 271.

Trescothick had helped England form a sound platform for their target with an 83-run opening partnership with Michael Atherton, including surviving a tricky half hour last night to guide their side to 27 without loss.

But their determined efforts, which included both batsman enjoying their share of luck, were undermined by two wickets in five overs.

Atherton was the first to fall, trapped leg before to left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas just three balls after lunch having already survived a dropped catch and four appeals for leg before and caught close to the wicket.

As if that setback was not bad enough, prolific off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan dismissed captain Nasser Hussain five overs later.

Trescothick was the first to be given a reprieve when he edged Vaas just short of Aravinda de Silva at first slip in the second over of the morning.

He was also fortunate after he had moved on to 27 in Muralitharan's fourth over, pushing forward to a full-length delivery which looped towards mid-off and although the bowler dived and got a hand to it, the chance was spilled as he landed.

Muralitharan was unlucky again two overs later when Atherton pushed forward too forcefully and was dropped by Mahela Jayawardene at silly mid-off diving to his right.

Atherton had earlier survived a confident appeal by Vaas for leg before, which was rejected by umpire Peter Manuel and shortly before lunch, could have fallen twice in successive overs from Muralitharan.

Once again pushing forward, the Sri Lankan close fielders all appealed loudly after the ball appeared to deflect off his pad and on to his bat before nestling in Jayawardene's hands.

That was also rejected while in the next Muralitharan over, Atherton's attempted sweep bounced off Tillekeratne Dilshan's helmet at short leg before looping back to the bowler, but umpire Jayaprakash correctly called a dead ball.

Sri Lanka's bad luck changed after the break, however, and although Vaas had another leg before appeal rejected by Manuel from the first delivery after lunch, he struck two balls later when Atherton pushed only half forward and was rapped low on his front pad for 33.

That brought captain Hussain to the crease, but he lasted just 24 minutes before falling to the 13th delivery he had faced to Muralitharan, who got the ball to pitch back in sharply and hit him on the pads deep inside his crease.

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