1st Test Match against England
Team: Jayasuriya, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Samaweera, Arnold, Dilshan, Tillakaratne, Vaas, Malinga, Weerakoon, Muralitharan
I won the toss and elected to bowl.
An opening Stand of 66 between Andrew Strauss and Marcus Trescothick ended when Strauss was caught off Murali for 40. Then the big wicket of Kevin Pietersen as he went for 7 before England found themselves 116-3 at Lunch, Marcus also going late on in the session. Some strange reason, Cook was batting at 5 but Bell was next to go for 28 to the slinger, we call Malinga. Flintoff fell for 41 and was the only wicket after Bell as England fot 220-5 at tea. The something quite astonishing happened. England lost their last 5 wickets for 17 runs as Murali got 6-83 and Weerakoon got 3-80. England all out for 237.
Sangakkara came and went for 2, but soon after Sanath Jayasuriya went aswell and I found ourselves at the end of the day on 169-2 before a great 121 3rd Wicket Partnership left Jayawardene gone for 41. But before England were done Samaraweera went in the last over of the session for 78. At lunch Day 2 we were struggling on 157-4, shortly after Arnold and Dilshan fell as we found ourselves 174-6. Then a quick collapse to 181-8 before great tailend work to get 227 all out, only 10 runs behind, But still every little counts.
England started Strongly again with and 72 opening stand. Then 2 quick wickets gave us some hope on 89-3. At the end of Day 2, England were 117-3, 127 runs ahead, so they were in the controlling seat. Nothing much happened in session one apart from loads of runs until England were steaming. Finally, a 147 run 4th wicket Partnership ends with bell going for 72. Unfortunatley, Tea Day 3 and England are 298 runs ahead with 5 wickets remainging. Not looking good. Early on Day 4 and we bowl them out for 389 leaving us with exactly 400 to get thanks to the spinners getting plenty more of wickets but mainly to Muralitharan once again who got 6 wickets, once again.
At Lunch on Day 4 we ended up on 63-0 needing 337 to win. Kumar unfortunatly enough went straight after on 25, then two quick wickets in England's favour leave us with a very tall mountain to climb. Somehow we needed to get 263 runs from somewhere. Samaraweera then goes after making a very good contribution again in the 70's. 200-5 halfway to the total we so desperatly needed. Not looking good. 192 off the last day with 5 wickets in hand. After a decent 69 run Partnership, Arnold goes for 63, which was well deserved. 131 to win with 4 wickets remaining. 2 sessions left needing 108 to win, all up to Tillakaratne who could become a hero here. Vaas soon goes after making a very valuable score of 31. 75 now to win with 3 wickets left in hand. 59 runs left with 2 wickets in hand as Malinga goes. 39 runs to win with one wicket left, sajeewa Weerakoon goes, leaving Tillakaratne and Muralitharan to try and save us. Tea on Day 5, nice time to have a Roast dinner and to tell them what to do. I have given them a tactic, for Muralitharan to defend and for Tillakaratne to keep strike. We need 14 runs to win with one wicket left form tea. Need 4 to win with plenty of time...
... And a Boundray! Tillakarante brings up his century by winning the match. Muralitharan gets the Man Of The Match award which he thourouly deserved for his 12 wickets and pretty decent batting when needed.