Nasser Hussain had always maintained that it would be tough, but few could have anticipated such a gruelling day's cricket. When the sun burnt off the morning cloud cover in Galle, England were forced to endure a day of withering heat as Sri Lanka's batsmen carefully constructed the foundations of a large first innings score.

Sri Lanka were grateful for winning a crucial toss and begun tentatively under cloud cover this morning. Until tea they tempered their natural flamboyance and patiently grafted for their runs. Then, as the rays of the sun took their toll, they started to turn the screw in the final session to finish the day on 221 for two.

Stewart - taking the heat Photo CricInfo

They did so thanks to the return to form of Marvan Atapattu, whose top score in Sri Lanka's wretched tour of South Africa was just 20, and Aravinda de Silva, who scored his first half-century in 12 months and 12 Test innings.

The 30-year-old Atapattu, who has scored three Test Match double centuries in his career, displayed unflappable concentration in his undefeated six-hour innings and finished the day on 85 from 286 balls. He started doggedly, scoring just three runs from his first 40 balls and taking 160 balls to reach his half-century, but as the day progressed his fluency returned.

Sri Lanka were forced to work hard because of Hussain's frugality and some tight bowling in trying conditions. Hussain had warned before the Test Match, "we have to have control," and true to his word he refused to give Sri Lanka easy runs. The fast bowlers plodded away for much of the day with only one slip and the spinners were well protected too. Andrew Caddick, nearly jettisoned in favour of seven batsmen, proved the thriftiest of the bowlers, conceding a mere 13 runs from his 16 overs.

But Sri Lanka were wise to England's plans. They knew that Hussain views defence as a form of attack and spoke before the game about the need for patience. Should they bat for two days England will be drained, Muttiah Muralitharan could be fully fit, and the pitch would be like a dustbowl. So far, it is all going to plan.

Speaking after the game Dav Whatmore said: "That was a good opening day to the series for us. It was more like a traditional day of Test cricket with the batsmen having to work hard for their runs. Having lost just two wickets we end up on top, but we are keen to go on. We don't want to have bat again on this pitch, which will be very hard to bat on in a couple of days.

"We spoke before the match a bit a out the need for patience, given the natural flair of our batsmen, and focused on the need for the batsmen, having made a start, to go on and get the maximum from it."

Heavy overnight rain left moisture in the air this morning. The steamy conditions appeared ideal for swing bowlers, but England's fast bowlers could not bend it off the straight and narrow.

Even so they accounted for Sanath Jayasuriya in just the fifth over of the innings. The dynamic left-hander laced three boundaries in his breezy 14, but then picked out Craig White in the gully with his favourite forcing stroke.

Kumar Sangakkara and Marvan Atapattu then added 92 runs for the second wicket. Sangakkara made 58 of them in a free-flowing innings to record his third Test half-century and his second in successive innings after scoring a valiant 98 in Centurion, South Africa.

Sangakkara had used his feet impressively to the spin of Ashley Giles and Robert Croft, but in the 44th over of the innings he came down the wicket, misjudged a delivery from Croft and drove straight to Craig White at extra cover.

The proved to be the last England success as Aravinda de Silva provided the perfect foil for the steadfast Atapattu. The pair had added 111 by the close, though they both enjoyed some good fortune.

When Atapattu had made 46 he gloved a ball from Ashley Giles that lifted tantalisingly close to the outstretched hand of Marcus Trescothick at silly point. Aravinda De Silva survived a chance when he was dropped on 20 by Thorpe in the gully and then was close to being run out when on 48.

De Silva was particularly bullish in the evening session. He pulled Craig White in characteristic style, lofted Croft for successive boundaries and cut Caddick imperiously as the day drew to a close.

The England coach, Duncan Fletcher, admitted afterwards that the toss was important: "I think it was a very good toss to win on a pitch that was very flat on the first day. I don't know how it will hold up on the fourth or fifth day."

Despite only taking two wickets in the day, Fletcher was impressed with the performance of the bowlers: "It would be nice if they were four down, but I think you have to compliment the bowlers for their discipline on a flat wicket. It is difficult to bowl here especially in that humidity and you have to appreciate that in England we do not play on wickets like that."

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