Lord's Test, Day 3
Saturday, May 18, 2002 We have had a very poor day. This is still a good wicket, and to be bowled out in less than a day is inexcusable, to be honest. Sri Lanka did have the more typical Lord's conditions; it was pretty overcast this morning and the ball swung a lot more, but Michael Vaughan and myself were hitting the ball well early on, and frankly what followed was a typical England collapse. It is up to us to put it right second time around.

I was feeling pretty good out there, until I misjudged what I thought was an inswinger and snicked one that went straight, but that's been a problem of ours in recent Tests. When faced with a score of that size, one of your in-batsmen has got to go on to a century – preferably both. Vaughnie got one that maybe bounced on him a bit but, after I'd got out, he needed to be that man.

Facing three left-arm seamers was something of a challenge –each of them did different things with the ball, and because the angle takes the ball across you, you have to play more for your off stump. But we've all faced enough left-armers in our time to know the fundamentals of it – this is Test cricket and we should have been better prepared.

I'm aware that there have been a few mutterings in the press about Ruchira Perera's action, but that's really not for me to say – I'll wait to see what the match referee makes of it all. He and Andrew Caddick had a few words towards the end of the innings but that's always to be expected – they are both fiery characters and their personalities were bound to clash. Besides, Caddy was disappointed at getting out – I thought he was batting well, showing a lot of spirit.

I'd like to think we can save it from here. It's probably a bit far-fetched to hope for a victory, but the follow-on has given us a chance, as we won't have to bat last when the uneven bounce is at its most erratic. The wicket is still good, but we've blown it once and will need to bat for at least four or five sessions to get ourselves back in the game.

One thing I am adamant about is that we have got the balance of our side spot-on. Everyone has banged on about us loading the side with batsmen, but clearly that wasn't the case today. We have got six batsman, a wicketkeeper and an allrounder at No.8 – Freddie still only averages 20 in Test cricket. The only issue would have been the inclusion of a spinner, but Sri Lanka didn't bowl a single over of spin in the first innings, and I didn't see any turn for either of the part-timers they used this evening. It would have been pointless to include an extra bowler – and frankly, at the moment I am very relieved we didn't.

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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