 |
Sri Lanka v England, 2nd Test, Colombo, 5th day
Bell's bravado and Malinga the klutz
Andrew Miller in Colombo
December 13, 2007
|
Alastair Cook is deftly caught by Mahela Jayawardene off the part-time (and rather effective) spin of Chamara Silva
© Getty Images
|
|
Dismissal of the day
Mahela Jayawardene has heeded the plea from his main man,
Muttiah Muralitharan, and spent much of this second innings scouting around
for a potential spin partner. First he tried Jehan Mubarak, to no
great success; then he dusted off his own offbreaks, after
two-and-a-half years in mothballs. Then, finally, he lobbed the ball
to Chamara Silva, whose only international overs had come - bizarrely
- in Twenty20 cricket. He sent down three half-decent overs of legspin
before lunch, and then struck with the very first ball of the
resumption, as Alastair Cook prodded lamely to slip.
Bravado of the day
Ian Bell is nothing if not positive at the crease these days. No shot
better exemplified his new-found derring-do than the lofted drive for
four which took England to the lunch break. There was no timidity in
that choice of blow, as he strode down the pitch, plonked
Muralitharan over mid-on, then turned on his heel and went to put his
feet up. Admittedly, he later gave his wicket away with an identical
choice of stroke, but as Steve Harmison said on the fourth evening:
"If you die in a hole, you're going to get battered."
Shot of the day
.
There wasn't a whole lot to choose from on a day that never really
ignited. But Kevin Pietersen can always be relied upon to enliven the
proceedings. He made light of the problems that Silva had been causing
his peers, and pummelled him ruthlessly over midwicket for six. It was
England's only maximum of the match.
Klutz of the day
Lasith Malinga bowled with customary pace and hostility, but in the
field he had a shocker. There's not much that can go wrong when you're
being hidden at third man and deep midwicket, but Malinga somehow
managed to make a meal of two of the simpler shots that came his way.
On 9, Pietersen whipped Muralitharan through the leg-side, where Malinga stuck out a boot, missed, stumbled, and tumbled into the rope as he tried to make amends. Then, seven overs later, he was at it again, as a delicate nudge rolled straight through his legs
at third man. The Barmy Army bugler gave him a quick burst of Benny
Hill for that effort.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of Cricinfo
© Cricinfo
|
