By Geoffrey Dean in Colombo
ENGLAND A turned up at the picturesque Nondescripts Cricket Club yesterday for their opening first-class game of the tour expecting to play a Sri Lankan Board President's XI. Instead, they discovered the opposition to be a colts XI - whose bowling was better than that of their last first-class opponents, Kenya.
That was Darren Maddy's view and he was best placed to judge, following up his 202 in Nairobi with an impressive 101, in 3.5 hours, out of 373 for nine from 90 overs.
Yesterday's wicket had some bounce and started damp, which is presumably why England A were put in. Soon it was turning, but well before then Nick Knight had fallen to a short ball from seamer Suresh Perera, who induced a top-edge to the wicketkeeper.
Maddy then joined Steve James, who hit only three fours in his 66, made at around a run a ball.
James looked capable of scoring a hundred until he was given out stumped - a decision that appeared incorrect. The lucky bowler, leg-spinner Nalliah Rajan, soon deceived Mark Ealham for length, having him caught off a top-edged sweep, but thereafter received a mauling.
Ben Hollioake, like Maddy, used his feet well to the three spinners before leg-glancing to the wicketkeeper. David Sales also struck the ball cleanly in a rapid 42, while Jimmy Ormond clobbered three huge sixes at the end of a satisfying day.
Day 2: Umpires make England toil
By Geoffrey Dean in Colombo
THE Sri Lankan army bands, practising all day just a six-hit away from the ground for the 50th anniversary celebrations of Independence Day next month, did their best to make England A feel at home with repeated renditions of Colonel Bogey and the Monty Python theme tune.
But after six hours of fielding in unforgiving heat and intolerable humidity, the like of which none of the side had previously experienced, most of the England players announced that they were going straight to bed upon their return to the hotel.
Their time in the middle was extended by some extraordinary umpiring decisions, but for which the young President's XI would have been dismissed well before the close. With two wickets in hand, they need 33 more to save the follow-on with one day remaining.
Zimbabwe's coach, Dave Houghton, said after the Test series on Sunday that to win a first-class match here a visiting side needed to take 30 to 35 wickets.
England A would have known exactly what he meant after the opposition's two best players, Sajith Fernando and Manoj Mendis, benefited from some at times farcical umpiring to survive together for 44 overs while adding 120.
``The guys did exceptionally well to keep their cool, but we'll just have to hit the stumps,'' said Nick Knight, with obvious reference to a series of plumb-looking lbws that were not given.
Jimmy Ormond and Ashley Giles were the main sufferers, each restricted to two wickets when five would not have been unmerited.
Ormond bowled a superb opening spell, beating the bat on at least six occasions after castling the inappropriately named Bradman Ediweera with an inswinger in his first over.
Later, he came back to make the all-important breakthrough when he beat Fernando for pace on a pitch noticeably slower than on the first day. Fernando top-edged a bouncer to long leg.
The new ball was well used, with Ben Hollioake removing the other opener courtesy of a smart catch at second slip by Knight.
Dougie Brown, who bowled better than his figures suggest, then found the edge of Sampath Perera's bat with a beauty that left him late.
Both spinners performed well, Giles obtaining a little more turn than Dean Cosker, who ended Mendis's three-hour vigil when he had him caught behind, cutting too close to off-stump. Later, Suresh Perera drilled him straight to mid-on. By then Batheesha de Silva had been taken at silly point.
Day 3: Brown's effective bowling gives cause for optimism
By Geoffrey Dean in Colombo
THE Sri Lankan Colts' last-wicket pair held out for 15 overs to deny England A a deserved victory in Colombo yesterday.
Nick Knight missed a sharp chance at silly-point that would have clinched the win but, pleasingly for him, all his bowlers at some stage in the game performed well against what was a Sri Lanka under-25 side.
Dougie Brown was the pick of the seamers yesterday, taking four wickets and being denied further success by umpires who again regularly gave batsmen the benefit of the doubt when, all too often, none seemed to exist.
But unhappiness with decisions is sure to be a feature of this tour, and these players at least now know how difficult it will be to beat Sri Lanka A.
For the three unofficial Tests the Pakistani umpire Saleem Bada, who drew criticism after his performance against Zimbabwe last week, will stand as a neutral.
England A enforced the follow-on after taking the last two Colts wickets in 11 balls. Ormond, however, was clearly suffering from the after-effects of the previous day in the field and was not half the bowler, losing pace and direction.
Brown, with fresh legs after being under-bowled in the first innings, settled into a good rhythm. Soon he speared through Kalavitigoda's defences with an off-cutter, and in his next over he had Perera held in the gully.
On a stupefyingly hot afternoon session Brown found some effective reverse swing, and the two spinners, Ashley Giles and Dean Cosker, raised England's hopes, though they were hamstrung by this slow pitch.