Impressive Sri Lanka thwart England

England were denied the victory that looked to be their's at stumps on the second day of the first Test against Sri Lanka.

A defiant 61 and an emotional 119 from captain Mahela Jayawardene showed his team just what was possible with a bit of steel and application. Following their captain's lead, six other batsmen - Kumar Sangakkara, Upul Tharanga, Farveez Maharoof, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Nuwan Kulasekera and Chaminda Vaas - all produced innings of great character, in batting out time and gradually grinding away at their deficit.

The end result was a very unlikely draw, and Sri Lanka 178 runs in front with just one wicket in hand. Perhaps, with a bit more time, Sri Lanka might have won the match, as magical off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan would have been a handful on a worn pitch.

England did not help themselves by dropping 9 of the 22 chances they created. Even the normally reliable Flintoff dropped a sitter at slip in just the third over of the last day. Ironically, the normally sloppy Geraint Jones took 6 catches, including several sharp ones off the spinner.

For a cricketer who is so proactive, Andrew Flintoff's captaincy was strangely reactive on the last two and a half days of the match. Formulaic and defensive fields were set against the Sri Lankan tailenders as Matthew Hoggard and Liam Plunkett were gaining significant movement. The absence of a short leg to complement his own bowling was confusing. Monty Panesar, the impressive left arm spinner, was also criminally underbowled and he bowled only 27 of the 199 second innings overs. Flintoff himself bowled 51.

Regardless of the result, I have no doubt that Andrew Flintoff will lift his team through performance and I expect a much better performance in the remaining Tests.