da fazobetai： Those present in the tension-racked Asgiriya Stadium will never forget thisTest Match
da luck： Charlie Austin11-Mar-2001Those present in the tension-racked Asgiriya Stadium will never forget thisTest Match. Although it was marred by umpiring controversy, the spectators witnessed five days of compelling cricket, culminating in a nerve-racking finale.
Whiteand Giles celebrate victory
Photo CricInfo
England emerged victorious at 1.31pm as Craig White forced a short ball fromthe Sri Lankan captain, Sanath Jaysuriya, through the off side and liftedhis arms in triumph. Required to score 70 runs today, England lost threewickets in the morning session before Ashley Giles joined White and the pair added 19 runs to seal the match.”It was a very good Test Match for nerves and excitement and all the thingsthat Test match cricket is supposed to produce and therefore when you win one ofthese games it gives you great enjoyment and relief,” enthused England skipper Nasser Hussain.”We’ve had a taste of success and done it before at Karachi and Lord’s and wehad good men batting down the order – in past days if we’d have gone six orseven down we’d have been blown away but we have a good coach who makes sure wepractise all forms of the game.”The game had tossed and turned throughout the five days. Just when one sidelooked to have grabbed the initiative, the other lifted themselves from theground for a valiant fightback. England thrust first with four Sri Lankanwickets on the first morning, then Jayawardene and Arnold rescued theinnings with a 141 partnership.Looking down the barrel of an imposing Sri Lanka total, Darren Gough andAndrew Caddick grabbed the new ball and tore through the Sri Lankan batting, taking five wickets for 20 runs.Sri Lanka re-imposed themselves, dismissing both English openers early on,to leave the stage set for Hussain’s first century in any form of cricketfor 15 months. Another late-evening collapse looked certain to provide ameagre first innings lead at best, but an 87-run partnership between Stewartand White and a crucial 40-run stand for the last wicket gave England a 90-run lead.
Gough- Man of the Match
Photo CricInfo
Gough, who deservedly won the man of the match for his eight wickets,then ripped into the top order and Sri Lanka looked dead and buried on 88for six. But, on the fourth day they fought themselves back into the game, eventually posting a tricky 161 target for England.When Sri Lanka grabbed four wickets last night, both sides knew they couldwin. It turned out to be a short day, but boy, was it a tense one? Englandbegan with their noses ahead and kept the initiative throughout, althoughSri Lanka kept clawing their way back into the game whenever they looked likesinking.Alec Stewart and Robert Croft survived six overs this morning, adding justsix runs, before Stewart became the latest victim of umpiring controversy,as he was adjudged leg before wicket by B.C. Cooray. It was the third time in four innings that he had been triggered.Graeme Hick strode to the crease and survived a catch behind to Sangakkara when he had made just three. His escape allowed him to stroke two precious boundaries and add 25 runs with Croft, but he was bowled while pushingthrough the offside.The fall of Hick brought Craig White to the wicket. The Sri Lankans felt before he was the danger man and he proved to be so, scoring a cool-headed 21. He blunted Muralitharan with the sweep and frustrated the Sri Lankans by scampering regular singles and adding 25 runs with Croft, before the nightwatchman, who had batted nearly two hours for his crucial 17 runs, missed a straight ball from Dharmasena and was lbw.Ashley Giles could have been dismissed three times in his first over againstthe beguiling Muralitharan. White too survived numerous appeals from thedesperate close fielders. Somehow the pair survived and when the target wasreduced to single figures, the burden seemed to lift visibly from theirshoulders. An edge past the gloves of Sangakkara for four finally broke theSri Lankans and paved the way for White’s match winning square cut twoovers later.White was delighted with his contribution. “My ambition has always been to hit the winning runs to help England win a Test Match,” he said.”I’ve often had a dream that I’d be 60 not out and score the winning runs andI know I didn’t get that many, but this is right up there with the best momentsof my career.”England now travel to Colombo, the series all square, with the tantalisingprospect of winning their fourth series on the trot at the Sinhalese SportsClub in four days’ time.
