Day one of the second Test in Kandy fluctuated one way and then the next and, with Mahela Jayawardene setting the tone with his entertaining 101, Sri Lanka's batsmen appeared to hold a narrow edge over England on 277 for five as the close fast approached.

 

Marvan Atapattu departed for just 16

But, just when it seemed that the final session would go Sri Lanka's way, England came storming back.

Well-supported by some electric fielding, Darren Gough and Andy Caddick snapped up five quick wickets with the second new ball and the home side were all out for 297.

Gough finished with 4-73 and Caddick with 4-55 as Sri Lanka lost their last five wickets for just 20 runs.

"It makes a nice change to have a bit of pace and bounce in the wicket," Caddick said afterwards. "After tea, the ball just started to reverse and, once we got the new ball, we finished off the job quite well."

England then had to negotiate two tricky overs before stumps were drawn, reaching one without loss as Marcus Trescothick got off the mark.

England's dramatic fightback with the second new ball began when Gough removed the left-handed Russel Arnold for 65 in the 81st over of the day. The batsman went on the cut but was brilliantly caught by Craig White in the gully.

Arnold had hit 10 boundaries in all for his sixth Test fifty and had shared in a sixth-wicket stand of 56 with TM Dilshan.

Then number eight batsman Kumar Dharmasena, on two, was squared up by a short lifter and Graham Thorpe, diving to his right single-handedly at third slip, pulled off an absolute blinder to give Gough his third wicket of the day.

Chaminda Vaas, on two, edged Caddick low to Thorpe at third slip and then Dilshan, rapidly running out of partners, aimed a lavish drive at Gough and was caught low down by Michael Atherton at first slip for 36.

Muttiah Muralitharan clubbed a quickfire 10 not out in just six balls before Nuwan Zoysa was caught behind off Caddick for no score and Sri Lanka were all out in 86 overs.

 

Mahela Jayawardene top-scored with 101 before England hit back

Jayawardene, who came to the crease with Sri Lanka in some trouble at 69 for three, reached his fifth Test century shortly after tea but, four balls later, he was removed by Andy Caddick for 101.

However Jayawardene, who hit 12 fours and a six during his three hours at the crease before he top-edged a Caddick lifter to Thorpe at mid-wicket, ensured that Sri Lanka's batsmen prospered during the afternoon session, after earlier being reduced to 80 for four before lunch.

Gough made the initial breakthrough for England, inducing a thick inside edge to remove Marvan Atapattu for 16, and the Sri Lankans then lost captain Sanath Jayasuriya for nine, Kumar Sangakkara for 17 and the key wicket of veteran Aravinda de Silva for a brisk 29.

But, either side of lunch and tea, Jayawardene and Arnold combined in an attractive fifth-wicket partnership of 141, with both batsmen lightning quick to punish any loose ball bowled by the England attack.

The impressive Jayawardene, who reached his 10th Test fifty with a steered four to third man off the bowling of Gough, produced a fine array of strokes all round the wicket while Arnold was content to play the anchor role.

Sri Lanka, who won the first Test in Galle by an innings and 28 runs, made the England fielders suffer during that post-lunch session as they added 123 runs without further loss in the 31 overs bowled.

Yet, with the removal of Jayawardene in the fourth over after tea, the spring returned to the England step and a fired-up Caddick came desperately close to removing the new batsman Dilshan.

Just seven balls into his innings, the Sri Lankan right-hander edged Caddick low to Michael Atherton at first slip, but both Atherton and the television umpire Peter Manuel were unsure if the ball had been grounded and the batsman was given the benefit of the doubt.

Earlier, Gough struck in the seventh over of the morning, when Atapattu, the double centurion from the first Test in Galle, dragged a fullish length delivery back onto his stumps as he played back defensively to leave the home side at 21 for one.

Just eight runs later, captain Jayasuriya, who had remarkably won his ninth successive toss, drove loosely at Caddick and sliced the ball into the safe hands of Ashley Giles in the gully.

However the home side steadied the ship somewhat as Sangakkara and the experienced de Silva combined in a third-wicket stand of 40 in only six overs, with de Silva dishing out some severe treatment to the slow left-arm of Ashley Giles.

 

Craig White celebrates the fall of de Silva

But the rub of the green then went England's way when Sangakkara, attempting to evade a short lifter from the shaven-headed Craig White, was given out caught in the gully for 17, even though subsequent television replays indicated he had been struck on the forearm guard.

Yet the Sri Lankan wicket which England prize most of all is de Silva and, after he had hit a six and five fours, he was caught and bowled by White for 29 off a skied top-edge as he tried to pull a delivery that came onto him quicker than he expected.

The very next ball, White might have claimed his third scalp of the morning as the new batsman Russel Arnold drove expansively outside off-stump, only to be put down by Marcus Trescothick at around head height in the gully.

Sri Lanka, who have only won two of their last 10 Test matches in Kandy, made one change to their triumphant 11 from Galle, replacing Dilhara Fernando with fellow left-arm seamer Nuwan Zoysa.

Teams:

Sri Lanka: Sanath Jayasuriya (captain), Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Russel Arnold, Aravinda de Silva, Kumar Dharmasena, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Muttiah Muralitharan, Tillekeratne Dilshan.

England: Nasser Hussain (captain), Michael Atherton, Marcus Trescothick, Graham Thorpe, Alec Stewart, Graeme Hick, Craig White, Andy Caddick, Ashley Giles, Robert Croft, Darren Gough.

Umpires: Bulathsinghalage Cooray (Sri Lanka) and Rudi Koertzen (South Africa).

TV umpire: Peter Manuel (Sri Lanka).