Old Trafford Test, Day 4
Sunday, June 16, 2002 Test cricket is all about sustained performances over five days. This match is not over yet – there'll be 100 overs or so tomorrow, and if we bowl like we did today, we might force a win: if we bowl like we did last night, we won't. I'm not fussed about whether we look as though we're in control or not – I mean, when have England ever been in control?

Today, though, our bowlers were exceptional. Sure, we had a few words last night, but to make Sri Lanka follow on, without Andrew Caddick in the line-up, was a great effort and I'm very pleased. Our catching and fielding was top-drawer as well, but now we've got to go out and do it all over again.

Alex Tudor was our main man today, because his extra height and steeper trajectory made him the best bet on a pretty flat wicket. The key to our performance today, though, was discipline, and Alex has to bear that in mind. In the past he's put in an excellent effort in one innings, then struggled a bit in the next. But he's come back to the side with that little bit of extra discipline, and he's now capable of bowling reasonably long spells. Mind you, I didn't bowl him much this evening, because he was a bit stiff already. There's no doubt about it: tomorrow's an important day for him.

The discipline we showed today made it a lot easier to captain the side, and it was a good moment when Freddie and I got rid of de Silva. We bowled to a plan, and this time it came off, but there's no point in getting too excited about such things. Half the time when you try something like that it backfires and you look pretty silly.

We were deliberately bowling short on this wicket though. In places like Auckland it's all pretty easy – you just line up three slips, two gullies and let the ball do the rest. Here we aimed to play on the batsmen's minds a bit. There's not a lot in the wicket – hardly any turn for Ashley [Giles] and not a lot of sideways movement either. And with the exception of Hoggard, who'll pick up lbws and drag-ons with his swing bowling, our attack is very hit-the-deck. The boys tired a bit towards the end, but they'll come back refreshed in the morning.

As for tomorrow, who knows? I'm not in the business of predictions, and with this young bowling side, it's all about peaks and troughs – we have to hope for another peak. Sri Lanka are missing Marvan Atapattu, so we only need another eight wickets, and Muralitharan's got shoulder problems, so that might help us.

Murali knew what to expect when he came out to bat today – this is Test cricket, and any side in the world would do the same. If he wants to back away and have a swipe, that's fine by us. There are no easy balls on offer in this game.

Nasser Hussain was talking to Andrew Miller. His thoughts appear on Wisden.com, other duties permitting, at the end of each day of international cricket that England play.

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