by John Wisden
Now, finally, the series was to see a demonstration of proper Test batting, a display of how to nullify spin – and with it the DRS – by using bat rather than pad, both in defence and attack. Suddenly the pace and nature of the game changed perceptibly as Younis, the old master, joined Azhar, who had made only 94 skittish runs in his previous four innings. As if in defiance of this, he now demonstrated infinite patience and application, compiling a monumental 157 off 442 balls in seven minutes short of nine hours.
Younis complemented Azhar’s substance with his own elegant style, putting together his 20th Test hundred, after a quiet series. When they were finally parted, Pakistan had gone a considerable way towards completing the whitewash. Their total of 365 left England a target of 324, a damning 132 more than they had managed in four of their five innings thus far.
What followed at least regained a modicum of respectability, as Strauss and Cook began with 48 before Strauss played back to Abdur Rehman. Then Saeed Ajmal struck three times either side of lunch on the fourth day, his victims including Cook, who had been becalmed during a four-hour 49, but became the second-youngest batsman, at 27 years 43 days, to reach 6,000 Test runs; only Sachin Tendulkar (26 years 313 days) had got there earlier.
Then Umar Gul took over, claiming four in 30 deliveries – including the hapless Bell, who slapped a long-hop straight to cover – before Ajmal and Rehman finished things off to end the series with 43 wickets between them. Throw in five for Mohammad Hafeez, and Pakistan’s spinners had claimed 48, a national record in any Test series, and only two short of the three-Test record of 50 shared by India and Sri Lanka, both against New Zealand, in 1976-77 and 1997-98 respectively.
While Strauss had arrived talking of Asia as England’s final frontier, and left with it resolutely unconquered, Misbah-ul-Haq spoke of a “dream come true”. After all that Pakistan cricket had gone through, only the most cold-hearted Englishman could begrudge them their triumph.
Man of the Match: Azhar Ali. Man of the Series: Saeed Ajmal.
Anderson 14.1–3–35–3; Broad 16–5–36–4; Panesar 13–4–25–2; Swann 1–1–0–1. Second innings—Anderson 28–7–51–1; Broad 24–7–55–1; Panesar 56.4–13–124–5; Swann 39–6–101–3; Trott 2–0–14–0; Pietersen 3–0–9–0.
Umar Gul 7–1–28–2; Aizaz Cheema 4–0–9–0; Saeed Ajmal 23–6–59–3; Abdur Rehman 21–4–40–5. Second innings—Umar Gul 20–5–61–4; Aizaz Cheema 4–0–9–0; Mohammad Hafeez 5–2–6–0; Abdur Rehman 41.3–10–97–2; Saeed Ajmal 27–9–67–4.
Umpires: S. J. Davis and S. J. A. Taufel. Third umpire: S. K. Tarapore. Referee: J. J. Crowe.
SRI LANKA v ENGLAND, 2011-12
REVIEW BY DEAN WILSON
Test matches (2): Sri Lanka 1, England 1
Noel Coward may have had a point when he wrote about mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun – even if he wasn’t necessarily thinking of Sri Lanka in April. But in scorching temperatures, England were as heroic in squaring the series in Colombo as they had been flaky while losing at Galle. If the mercury told a relentless tale, England’s own gauge fluctuated wildly: few sides could have made Asian conditions look both baffling and straightforward within the space of a week as expertly as they did.
They began this brief tour – just two Tests and no limited-overs matches – still smarting from a 3–0 defeat by Pakistan in the UAE, where their travails against spin had been exposed alarmingly. Despite that trauma, they were still favourites to secure a first series triumph in Sri Lanka for 11 years. On paper, a contest between a Sri Lankan team yet to win a home Test since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan, and an England side still ranked No. 1, with a bowling attack in rude health and batsmen who surely couldn’t keep failing, would provide only one winner. And yet cricket, as the old pros have it, is played not on paper but on grass – and sometimes on slow turners, where England discovered that Sri Lanka did not need Murali to tie them in knots.
As it was, a 1–1 draw felt about right once the efforts of Mahela Jayawardene, Rangana Herath, Kevin Pietersen and Graeme Swann were stacked up. But, for the third time in the 2011-12 season alone, a high-profile two-Test series was left crying out for a decider. The ECB had wanted a third match, but the hard-up Sri Lankan board had other concerns, so the series was squeezed into a narrow window between the lucrative Asia Cup, whose TV money pleased the administrators, and the IPL, whose contracts placated the players. Test cricket, the sport’s so-called jewel in the crown, was once again being treated like a mere bauble.
With equal predictability, it was the arrival of several thousand British tourists that provided Sri Lanka Cricket with their best gate receipts in years. Australian fans the previous September had paid 500 rupees (about £2.50) for their daily tickets. Now, SLC charged travelling supporters ten times as much in the knowledge that – though many had budgeted for far less – enough of them would be prepared, however grudgingly, to fork out. And so it proved: both the Galle International Stadium and the P. Sara Oval in Colombo were packed to the rafters, even if locals – who had access to poorly advertised tickets at 50 rupees each – were disconcertingly hard to spot.
Many England fans, though, voted with their feet, and instead formed a makeshift terrace on the ramparts of the Galle Fort, from where they could watch the First Test at a distance. Access was free – or at least it was until the final day, when a local politician attempted to charge a 1,000-rupee entry fee on the pretext of holding a party which was not due to start until the evening. The opportunism left a sour taste – as did the litter left behind by spectators on the ramparts – and not everyone made the trip north to Colombo; those who did had no choice but to pay over the odds once more.
The consolation – or possibly the saving grace – came in the form of two absorbing Tests. Central to the plot was Jayawardene, who registered his fifth and sixth hundreds at home against England, a figure bettered only by Don Bradman, with eight. Such was his brilliance in both games that his performance might have been considered career-defining had he not already defined it many times over. Never before, though, had he walked out in successive first innings on a hat-trick. Twice he calmly dealt with an on-song James Anderson – and twice he went on to score centuries. His 180 at Galle may have been an even finer innings than his unbeaten 213 there against England in December 2007, and only when Swann winkled him out on the final morning in Colombo could the tourists feel confident of squaring the series.
Sri Lanka’s victory in the First Test owed just as much to the left-arm spin of Herath. With England apparently opting for a policy of sweep or bust – and often both – he needed to do little more than bowl straight: tentative batting and the presence of the Decision Review System did the rest. Herath’s 12 wickets surpassed anything Muralitharan had managed in ten home Tests against England, who were spared a greater thrashing only by Jonathan Trott’s sensible and unhurried 112.
At Galle, Swann had been accompanied by Monty Panesar and the debutant Samit Patel – the nearest England had come to selecting a trio of front-line spinners since 1987-88, when Nick Cook, John Emburey and Eddie Hemmings all played at Faisalabad. Yet it was Anderson who shone brightest, even though Sri Lanka were allowed to wriggle free from 15 for three in the first innings and 14 for three in the second. For once, England’s fielding was ragged.
Four Test defeats in a row left Andrew Strauss under pressure before the final match of the winter. Not only were his team losing, but his own form had been patchy; another defeat would cost them their No. 1 status. At the Sara, where England had contested Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test 30 years earlier, Strauss’s bowlers were thwarted for a while by Jayawardene. But the England captain and his opening partner Alastair Cook left the sweep back in the dressing-room, and proceeded to play as smartly as Trott had done at Galle. Strauss’s steady 61 removed some of the heat – metaphorically, at least – and allowed him to sit back and enjoy the batting of Pietersen.
An innings of 151 from 165 balls would have been bey
ond most of his contemporaries. Throw in a smattering of controversial switch hits, and Pietersen’s batting entered the realms of the unique. Swann’s second-innings haul of six for 106, to give him ten wickets in the match, ensured he ended the winter as he began it – ahead of Panesar, who had threatened his status as England’s go-to spinner with 14 wickets in two Tests in the UAE. Tim Bresnan, meanwhile, the man who replaced Panesar in Colombo, could now celebrate 11 Test wins out of 11.
Above all, the win – only England’s second in Asia against a team other than Bangladesh since the 2–1 victory in Sri Lanka in 2000-01 – ensured they would finish a disappointing Test winter still the world’s top-ranked team. It had not been easy. But then, for England on the subcontinent, it rarely is.
SRI LANKA v ENGLAND
First Test Match
LAWRENCE BOOTH
At Galle, March 26–29, 2012. Sri Lanka won by 75 runs. Toss: Sri Lanka. Test debut: S. R. Patel.
The Union Flag that fluttered on top of Galle’s Dutch fort ought to have raised the alarm. It was the wrong way up. Done deliberately, this is supposed to mean SOS; by accident, and it’s anyone’s guess. For much of a game in which England plunged to their fourth straight Test defeat – their worst sequence since the 2006-07 Ashes whitewash – the batsmen seemed determined to provide their own grim twist: Save Our Sweep.
Five men fell playing a stroke that, as England pointed out with some justification, has its place on Asian pitches. But they played it too often, most perilously to full-length deliveries on the stumps: four of the five departed leg-before, with Prior the exception, creaming one into Thirimanne’s midriff at short leg to signal the beginning of the end of England’s fourth-innings hopes.
The chief beneficiary was Herath, whose career-best 12 for 171 made him the first slow left-armer to take ten wickets in a Test against England for 50 years. By doing little more than plugging away on a pitch that demanded caution but should not have provoked panic, Herath spun Sri Lanka to their first home win since Muttiah Muralitharan’s final Test, also at Galle, in July 2010, and to their second-best match figures against England, behind Murali’s 16 for 220 at The Oval in 1998. And if Murali was the more artful, Herath harnessed the zeitgeist: aim for the pads, and leave the rest to scrambled minds and the DRS. Not since Karachi in 1977-78 – when Shakoor Rana was one of the umpires – had England lost six batsmen lbw in a Test innings.
Yet Sri Lanka might have lost had it not been for Mahela Jayawardene, in his first Test as captain for three years and without so much as a fifty in 12 innings. Not long after his arrival, Sri Lanka were 15 for three. But he calmly saw off England’s new-ball salvo, then found a succession of partners happy to play third fiddle (daylight was second).
Even so, England were generous. With Sri Lanka 138 for five – a recovery of sorts, but still below par after winning a crucial toss – Anderson dropped a half-chance as he back-pedalled from slip after Jayawardene, on 64, had failed to cope with Swann’s extra bounce. Then, on 90, he was missed by Anderson again, this time a return catch around his left ear. The next ball was deposited over long-on for six, the shot of a man keen to salt the wound.
For England, it would get worse. Desperate to take the last two wickets, they instead endured a pair of Panesar mishaps. On 147, Jayawardene pulled Anderson’s third delivery with the second new ball to long leg, where Panesar, possibly dazzled by the sun, could only parry it over the rope. In the next over, fate inevitably decreed that it was Panesar who should be standing at mid-on under a steepler as Jayawardene – now 152 – miscued a heave off Broad. Down went the chance, and with it English heads, lifting only when the excellent Anderson finally did get Jayawardene to complete his 12th five-wicket haul in Tests and go past his fellow Lancastrian Brian Statham’s tally of 252 into fifth place on England’s all-time list.
Sri Lanka’s last three wickets had added 127, while Jayawardene’s 180 was streets ahead of Chandimal, who came next with 27. Not only was it his 30th Test century, but his seventh both at Galle and against England. Just as impressive as his occasionally dashing strokeplay was his mastery of the strike: while he faced 315 balls, his ten team-mates faced 268 between them; and he ticked off 51 singles, 23 more than England would manage in total first time round. It was, quite simply, an innings for the ages.
This became even clearer as England subsided to 193, itself a fightback – led by Bell – from 92 for six. Without a carefree last-wicket stand of 36 between Anderson and Panesar, the deficit would have been even greater than 125. Then, when England bowled again, they kept on fighting. Broad knocked over Dilshan in the second over and, when Swann appeared as early as the seventh, he produced a beauty to bowl the left-handed Thirimanne with his second ball. It was 14 for three when Swann had Jayawardene caught at slip, and Sangakkara quickly followed. In all, 17 wickets fell on the second day, equalling the venue record. By the close, Sri Lanka – five down – led by 209.
Cheered on by a crowd of predominantly white faces on the third day – though some were by now rather red, a combination of the sun and anger at Sri Lanka Cricket’s on-the-hoof ticketing policy – England began to believe. And when Swann bowled Herath to pick up his sixth wicket, Sri Lanka were in effect 252 for eight. But Welagedara kept Prasanna Jayawardene company for over an hour before he was caught in the gully off Panesar, and England were further frustrated when – five deliveries later – Broad bounced out Jayawardene, caught at short leg, only for replays to reveal a no-ball. It was one of eight bowled in the match by the usually disciplined Broad; no one else overstepped all game. The 46 runs added thereafter by Jayawardene and Lakmal set England 340, eight more than they had ever made in the fourth innings to win a Test, and 87 more than any side had then managed batting fourth at Galle.
England lost Cook, given out caught behind by third umpire Bruce Oxenford after Rod Tucker had turned down Herath’s appeal, and Strauss on the third evening, then Pietersen, chipping carelessly to short midwicket early on the fourth day. When Bell fell on the sweep to Herath, despite claiming a bottom edge, England were 152 for four – and tottering.
But Trott was playing his own game, mixing stoical defence with an unexpected reverse sweep or two, and Prior – batting at No. 6 ahead of the debutant Samit Patel – knuckled down. Sri Lanka went on the defensive; anything seemed possible. But four balls after Trott had reached his seventh Test hundred (it would become his first in defeat), and with England now only 107 short of their target, Prior’s slog-sweep somehow lodged in Thirimanne’s grasp at short leg. The innings unravelled with indecent haste: the last five tumbled for 12, and England were suddenly one result away from losing their No. 1 ranking. The upside-down flag felt about right.
Man of the Match: H. M. R. K. B. Herath.
Anderson 20.3–5–72–5; Broad 21–3–71–1; Panesar 23–11–42–0; Swann 23–3–92–0; Patel 9–1–27–2. Second innings—Anderson 10.3–2–26–0; Broad 11–2–33–1; Swann 30–5–82–6; Panesar 24–6–59–2; Patel 9–4–9–0.
Welagedara 11–2–46–1; Lakmal 9–2–45–1; Herath 19–5–74–6; Randiv 7.4–0–26–2. Second innings—Welagedara 13–2–40–0; Lakmal 10–5–22–0; Herath 38–9–97–6; Dilshan 12–1–25–0; Randiv 26–2–74–4.
Umpires: Asad Rauf and R. J. Tucker. Third umpire: B. N. J. Oxenford.
SRI LANKA v ENGLAND
Second Test Match
VIC MARKS
At Colombo (PSS), April 3–7, 2012. England won by eight wickets. Toss: Sri Lanka.
In the last game of a chastening winter, England finally demonstrated they were capable of winning a Test in Asia. Not before time, their batsmen gave proper support to the valiant band of bowlers who had sweated buckets from Dubai to Galle via Abu Dhabi without reward. England romped to victory by eight wickets, having won by seven on their previous visit to the cosy Saravanamuttu stadium for Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test 30 years earlier. And they clung to their No. 1 ranking, just ahead of South Africa.
It all seemed
so simple again. Anderson was incisive with the new ball, Swann gradually asserted himself on a slow, turning pitch and, in unrelenting heat, the commitment in the field never wavered. That had been the pattern of the winter. But now the batsmen also functioned according to the textbook. Cook and Strauss blunted a modest Sri Lankan attack with the help of Trott. Then Pietersen, suddenly free as a bird, shredded the bowlers in an audacious innings of 151 from 165 balls – England’s highest Test score in Sri Lanka. This was the Pietersen of old, before the burden of captaincy and the disappointment of losing it. He trusted his instincts, and the ball kept disappearing over the short boundaries. He also unfurled his switch hit, causing delight and controversy in equal measure.
Despite yet more Herculean efforts from Mahela Jayawardene – though there is not a rippling muscle to be seen upon him – England ended up as comfortable victors. If there had been a Third and decisive Test, there was a good chance they would have prevailed, but the impending IPL denied them that luxury. Within three days, Jayawardene and Pietersen were Delhi Daredevils team-mates.
Before the match, Strauss in particular was unusually edgy. He gave what, by his standards, was a brusque press conference, in which – despite many invitations – he declined to speculate on his future. For the first time since he took over from Pietersen in January 2009, there had been rumblings about his hold on the England captaincy, not merely because of the sequence of four defeats, but also because of his own lack of runs.