da bet nacional： Andrew Miller provides the plays of the fourth day between Sri Lanka and England at Kandy
da esport bet： Andrew Miller in Kandy04-Dec-2007
An unstoppable force © AFP
Batsman of the day
Before this match, Kumar Sangakkara was rated as the third-bestbatsman in Test cricket, but if you took his efforts in this past yearin isolation, there’d be no contest. Since surrendering the gloves tohis team-mate Prasanna Jayawardene, he’s been unstoppable, racking up1529 runs in 14 innings, at the staggering average of 152.90. He’smade seven centuries in that time, including a career-best 287, and ofthose times he’s reached three figures, he hasn’t been dismissed forless than today’s 152. The Asgiriya, incidentally, is where he playedall his cricket as a schoolboy at Trinity College. It’s fair to sayhe’s familiar with the conditions.Intruder of the day
As the afternoon wore on and England’s ordeal became all the moreacute, any break from the grind – however fleeting – was gratefullyreceived by the fielders. Cue the arrival of the Asgiriya’s favouritemutt, who padded onto the pitch from the direction of the Barmy Armyenclosure (a coincidence?) and held up play for three precious minuteswhile he ambled from long-on to fine leg. Steve Harmison met him atthe boundary’s edge in front of the pavilion, but thought better ofdoing a Merv Hughes and carrying him off the pitch. Every secondcounts when your side is up against it.Intruder of the day Mk 2
Another interruption, though perhaps less gratefully received by theplayers on this occasion. Monty Panesar was just about to trot in forhis 41st over of the innings, when every single person on the field -including the batsmen and both umpires – flung themselves to the deck,as if the cry “doodlebug!” had gone up. The cause of the panic was aswarm of bees, mostly milling around by the sightscreen at theHunnasgiriya End of the ground. Speculation mounted that it was aplague on Murali, as dispatched by Shane Warne, but they buzzed offsoon enough.Band of the day
There wasn’t actually any competition for this one. Murali’s personalskiffle band had serenaded the crowd so joyfully throughout the firstthree days, but today, with the record back where it belongs, theydecided their work was done. So it was left to the Barmy Army toprovide the atmospherics. They did their best in trying circumstances,but you couldn’t help but notice that both the trumpeter and thechanting sounded a little flat by comparison.
The drop-kicking Sidebottom © Getty Images
Drop(-kick) of the day
Ian Bell could be excused for his first miss of the match, afringe-singeing flyer at slip that came in the midst of SanathJayasuriya’s 24-run over on Monday. There were no such mitigatingcircumstances this time around, however. For the first time in hisinnings, Sangakkara was looking genuinely edgy, having fallen in thenineties twice before against England. On 98, he fenced outside offand steered a sitter to Bell’s right at slip. But the chance wasmuffed, and a furious Ryan Sidebottom booted an imaginary Bell cleanover the monastery.Surprise of the day
Paul Collingwood’s shock dismissal of Prasanna Jayawardene. Englandhadn’t looked like rattling the timbers for two days and 124 overs, soit was quite rightly assumed to be some sort of mistake whenCollingwood swung one in from outside off stump, straight through thegate and into the top of the off bail. The umpires conferred,wondering perhaps whether the ball had ricocheted off Matt Prior’spads. But no, it was all bona fide. Twelve deliveries later, andperhaps still reeling from the shock, Sangakkara clipped tamely tomidwicket to give Colly his second of the innings.Cheer of the day
It wasn’t quite an ovation of Murali proportions, and there might evenhave been a tinge of irony involved. But when Alastair Cook tucked thefirst ball of England’s innings off his hips for four, he escaped thedreaded pair and gave the England supporters their most upliftingmoment of the day. It couldn’t last, however. Three balls later, hepoked uncertainly outside off, and the Sri Lankan voices were onceagain the loudest in the ground.
