Sri Lanka trail by 176 runs...

Matthew
By Caroline
May 20 2006

Sri Lanka remained adamant that they weren't going to lose it. But a fantastic day for Hoggard had them biting their nails as they were forced to follow on...

Matthew Hoggard will remember today for a long time, as he became the 10th English bowler to get over 200 wickets in his test career so far. But it wasn’t just his day as Monty Panesar comes storming into the attack.

The day started on 91–6. A leading edge from Farveez Maharoof sent him back to the pavilion as Hoggard reached the 200th wicket mark for England.

Don’t write off England captain Andrew Flintoff as he quickly got the next wicket by getting Mahela Jayawardene out for 61. Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Kulasekara remained strong as they tried to get as many runs as they can for Sri Lanka. However they were more lucky than strong as Vaas was twice dropped in the slips. Vass then went onto get 31 in 36 balls until Hoggard came back! His wide ball fell to the hands of Marcus Trescothick who comfortably catched it at first slip and Vass was gone. Kulasekara quickly got out as Freddie threw a short ball, which Andrew Strauss caught at 2nd slip.

After lunch had resumed Sri Lanka were forced to follow on, they then put on a stronger fight this time, as their top batsman seemed like they were adamant not to lose. However Monty Panesar claimed the wicket of Upul Tharanga after the opener had made 52. Kumar Sangakkara was also out by Monty Panesar with a comfortable 65. It was Hoggard that claimed the first stumped wickets of the day by bowling Jehan Mubarak out, as it went onto hit his pads then the stumps.

The day ends with Sri Lanka on 183 –3 trailing by 176 runs.