da supremo： Andrew Miller provides the final plays of the day from the Colombo Test between England and Sri Lanka
da bwin： Andrew Miller in Colombo13-Dec-2007
Alastair Cook is deftly caught by Mahela Jayawardene off the part-time (and rather effective) spin of Chamara Silva © Getty Images
Dismissal of the day
Mahela Jayawardene has heeded the plea from his main man,Muttiah Muralitharan, and spent much of this second innings scouting aroundfor a potential spin partner. First he tried Jehan Mubarak, to nogreat success; then he dusted off his own offbreaks, aftertwo-and-a-half years in mothballs. Then, finally, he lobbed the ballto Chamara Silva, whose only international overs had come – bizarrely- in Twenty20 cricket. He sent down three half-decent overs of legspinbefore lunch, and then struck with the very first ball of theresumption, as Alastair Cook prodded lamely to slip.Bravado of the day
Ian Bell is nothing if not positive at the crease these days. No shotbetter exemplified his new-found derring-do than the lofted drive forfour which took England to the lunch break. There was no timidity inthat choice of blow, as he strode down the pitch, plonked Muralitharan over mid-on, then turned on his heel and went to put hisfeet up. Admittedly, he later gave his wicket away with an identicalchoice of stroke, but as Steve Harmison said on the fourth evening:”If you die in a hole, you’re going to get battered.”Shot of the day
.There wasn’t a whole lot to choose from on a day that never reallyignited. But Kevin Pietersen can always be relied upon to enliven theproceedings. He made light of the problems that Silva had been causinghis peers, and pummelled him ruthlessly over midwicket for six. It wasEngland’s only maximum of the match.Klutz of the day
Lasith Malinga bowled with customary pace and hostility, but in thefield he had a shocker. There’s not much that can go wrong when you’rebeing hidden at third man and deep midwicket, but Malinga somehowmanaged to make a meal of two of the simpler shots that came his way.On 9, Pietersen whipped Muralitharan through the leg-side, where Malinga stuck out a boot, missed, stumbled, and tumbled into the rope as he tried to make amends. Then, seven overs later, he was at it again, as a delicate nudge rolled straight through his legsat third man. The Barmy Army bugler gave him a quick burst of BennyHill for that effort.
