The jitters in the England camp since the massive bomb explosion in Kandy on Sunday have been significantly reduced by their move to their a hotel three miles down a dirt-track in the middle of jungle and a 90-minute coach drive from the ground.

However, the news that a first-class match between the second and third Tests has been cancelled, along with a warm-up one-day game, was still well received.

Tour manager Graham Gooch read of the rescheduling in yesterday's Daily News, the local paper here.

No one from the Sri Lankan Board had informed him, probably because of the hotel's almost non-existent phone links. With no television either, some players resorted to elephant or even bullock-cart rides for amusement.

England, who can look forward to 6.30 am alarm calls for the next four days, have one final choice to make this morning between left-arm swing bowler Paul Hutchison and Dougie Brown. Hutchison will play if his aching back shows no overnight reaction to a 40-minute bowl yesterday.

Brown, then, despite his 80-plus first-class wickets last year, could miss his chance, and as coach Mike Gatting acknowledged: ``We know what he can do.'' The two players not to make the final 12 were wicketkeeper David Nash and David Sales.

The pitch, unsurprisingly, looks as if it will turn. Sri Lanka A field three spinners to England's two, and only two seamers compared to the visitors' four.

All three unofficial Tests will be played over four, not five, days, despite repeated pleas from the England and Wales Cricket Board to the Sri Lankan Board. On the previous England A tour here in 1991 the three Tests, all drawn, were five-day affairs.