England batsmen deny Lanka win in second Test

Eng batsmen Vaughan, Cook and Bell each scored half-centuries and held Sri Lanka to a draw in the second cricket Test.

England captain Michael Vaughan, Alastair Cook and Ian Bell each scored half-centuries Thursday and held Sri Lanka to a draw in the second cricket Test.

The visitors were 250-3 at tea on the final day, with Kevin Pietersen (45) and Paul Collingwood (23) at the crease and no further play was possible because of rain.

England had a 53-run second innings lead with seven wickets in hand at the stoppage.

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Winning the toss and batting first, England made 351 and Sri Lanka declared its innings on 548-9 in reply.

The captains of both teams said the pitch at Sinhalese Sports Club was too slow to force a win.

“We just could not get anything,” Sri Lanka’s skipper Mahela Jayawardene told reporters after the match. “We were definitely pushing for a win here so that we could seal the series.”

He also criticized England’s batting approach. “We were disappointed with the way England batted in the first innings, scoring only 350 runs batting for first five sessions. It’s difficult to win a Test match if you bat like that,” he said. “I felt on the best part of the wicket they did not push for runs.”

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Vaughan said it’s “very, very difficult to force a result playing on these kind of surfaces so its a very, very comfortable draw.”

Sri Lanka now leads the three-match Test series 1-0 with the last match to be played at Galle International Stadium. When the second session resumed Thursday on 152-1, England lost its second wicket on the first ball when Cook edged part-time legspinner Chamara Silva to Mahela Jayawardene at slip for 62 runs. Cook faced 124 balls and hit five boundaries. Bell made 54 before he was caught at long on by Michael Vandort off Muttiah Muralitharan to leave the visitors 204-3.

England resumed the final day on 48-0 and scored briskly against pace bowlers in the first hour.

Vaughan followed up his first innings score of 87 with a superb 61 from 109 balls, hitting eight boundaries.

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He efficiently timed and placed the balls into gaps before being caught and bowled by Dilhara Fernando with the total on 107 after a second successive century opening partnership with Cook.

The pair combined for 133 in the first innings.

Sri Lanka rode on centuries from Mahela Jayawardene (195) and Michael Vandort’s 138 and a defiant 79 from Prasanna Jayawardene to lead England by 197 after the first innings.

Muralitharan recorded his 62nd five-wicket haul during England’s first innings.

Mahela Jayawardene became Sri Lanka’s highest scorer and its first batsman to pass 7,000 in Test runs but missed out on his fourth double hundred, after recording his 20th Test century.

Pace bowler Steve Harmison finished with 3-111 for England.