Close England 24 for 0 trail Sri Lanka 162 (Jayawardene 47, Caddick 3 for 47) by 138 runs
scorecard

Whatever it was that Nasser Hussain said to his bowlers after their flaccid display at Lord's, it certainly had the desired effect. On a rain-interrupted first day at Edgbaston, England produced the type of performance that everyone had been expecting last time around, dismissing Sri Lanka for 162. By the time Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan had added 24 in a tricky seven-over spell, England had taken charge for the first time in the series.

It proved to be a good time for Hussain to win only his third toss in sixteen attempts. England's bowlers were by no means perfect - Matthew Hoggard and Alex Tudor produced distinctly mixed bags, and Andrew Flintoff extracted little from the wicket - but only Mahela Jayawardene, with a shot-filled 47, provided any long-term resistance.

Sri Lanka's wickets fell in clusters. Marvan Atapattu (13) was the first to go, edging a well-directed inswinger from Hoggard to Alec Stewart behind the stumps (23 for 1), and four balls later Sanath Jayasuriya (8) was undone by a fine off-stump delivery from Caddick, Stewart again completing the dismissal with an acrobatic leap to his left.

But it seemed not to matter as Jayawardene got into his stride. Picking up where he had left off at Lord's, he dispatched Hoggard for two sweetly-timed fours in the ninth over, and with Kumar Sangakkara playing second fiddle, the pair added 53 for the third wicket to take Sri Lanka to a very respectable 76 for 2. But then the rot set in.

Sangakkara started the collapse, when, on 16, he aimed an extravagant one-kneed square-drive at a wide half-volley from Andrew Flintoff, but managed only a thin edge through to Stewart. Two flashing boundaries later and Aravinda de Silva (10) was gone as well, steering a backfoot force off Hoggard straight into the hands of Trescothick at gully (96 for 4).

Caddick, spurred on by the success of his team-mates, then produced the perfect outswinger that Jayawardene could only edge to Flintoff at second slip (100 for 5), and on the stroke of tea the same pair repeated the dose to remove the left-handed Russel Arnold for 1 (108 for 6). Sri Lanka had lost four wickets for 32 runs, and England were in total command.

But after tea the rain returned, and for a while England lost their momentum. Hoggard bowled Hashan Tillekeratne with a no-ball, and Chaminda Vaas took advantage of some attacking field placings to move onto 23, including four fours. The pair had added 33 for the seventh wicket, but Tudor returned to the attack to good effect. His first ball trapped Tillekeratne lbw high on the front pad, with a suspicion of an inside edge to boot, and Nuwan Zoysa rifled his fifth ball straight down the throat of Hoggard at fine leg (141 for 8).

Vaas then inside-edged Flintoff onto his stumps (159 for 9), and Charitha Buddika was run out at the non-striker's end, attempting to protect a one-shouldered Murali from too much of the bowling.

But any doubts about Muralitharan's fitness were soon dispelled when Sri Lanka took the field. He was into the action as early as the fourth over, and, with the score on 14, he might even have claimed the wicket of Vaughan. Jayawardene at slip, however, could not get a hand to a low chance. It was the only delivery that Murali did not turn - might it have been his mysterious offspinning flipper?

England 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Michael Vaughan, 3 Mark Butcher, 4 Nasser Hussain (capt), 5 Graham Thorpe, 6 Alec Stewart (wk), 7 Andy Flintoff, 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Alex Tudor, 10 Andy Caddick, 11 Matthew Hoggard.

Sri Lanka 1 Marvan Atapattu, 2 Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Aravinda de Silva, 6 Russel Arnold, 7 Hashan Tillakaratne, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Charitha Buddika, 10 Numan Zoysa, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

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