Sri Lanka bat with confidence earning them a draw

England team
By Caroline
May 15 2006

Who would have thought it? Sri Lanka managed to salvage whatever they could out of the final day at Lords against England and got a draw. Ten drops cost England although Sri Lanka did well to get this far...

An incredible 29 overs were lost today due to bad light, typical English weather!

The day started with Sri Lanka on 383 – 6 and ended on 537 – 9. A poor day for England yet a brilliant day for Sri Lanka, England looked strong favourites to win and really should have wrapped it up yesterday but a dominant Sri Lanka kept fighting and it just goes to show what a little determination can do.

Vass batted for over four hours making an unbeaten 50 runs. England’s captain then dropped the 8th ball in the third over however Chamara Kapugedera who just had a lucky escape, gloved a short ball from Flintoff to Geraint Jones to send him back to the pavilion.

Tillakaratne Dilshan was now on a comfortable 69 when Marcus Trescothick took an easy catch to declare the 8th wicket, only the second of the day. Just before lunch Sri Lanka were 70 runs ahead and with the tailenders coming in England had to get 2 quick wickets.

Umpire Rudi Koertzen then turned down an lbw appeal by Mahmood that could have seen off Kapugedera, which then lead to him hitting to big sixes and reaching his half-century from 92 balls. The final wicket of the day came when Pieterson caught the ball cleanly from Kapugedera who got an incredible 64.

The day came to an end but not before Collingwood dropped Vass at gully.

England tried everything they could and an amazing Freddie Flintoff inspired us all as he did everything in his power to take something from the day, yet Sri Lanka dominated so credit where it’s due. A draw was the unenviable decision.