Sri Lanka 177 for 9 (Fernando 33*, Welegedera 7*, Tremlett 6-42) v England
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Chris Tremlett continued an impressive performance at his former home ground to claim a career-best 6 for 42 on a rain-hit second day to leave Sri Lanka 177 for 9 when the weather closed in again. That the visitors didn't collapse completely was down to Prasanna Jayawardene's fighting 43 and an unbeaten 33 from Dilhara Fernando at No. 9.
As had been predicted from a few days out, heavy rain greeted players and fans on the second morning meaning no play until after lunch was possible. A brief window then allowed 23.2 overs before the rain returned to leave the ground resembling a lake by late afternoon. Tremlett made the most of the drier period to become the first player on the Rose Bowl honours board, but his success wasn't shared by James Anderson and Stuart Broad who both endured a frustrating afternoon. There was a feeling that, despite Sri Lanka's difficult position, England could have done better.
Tremlett's first wicket of the day was Thilan Samaraweera, who had already taken a blow on the thumb before edging a drive to gully where Kevin Pietersen, another former Hampshire player, took a regulation catch. That broke a determined 50-run stand for the fifth wicket and exposed Sri Lanka's long tail as Thisara Perera showed he was nowhere near a Test No. 7.
Tremlett gave him a real working over with the short ball and Perera could have gone from his third delivery when he top-edged towards fine leg where Jonathan Trott was slow to respond from the boundary. However, it only took Tremlett three more balls to strike when Perera edged a cross-batted swipe to Matt Prior who had to react quickly. Rangana Herath wasn't in the mood for blocking, either, and played his shots before he fell to another top edge and this time Anderson settled under the catch at fine leg to give Tremlett his fifth.
However, amid some poor application from the tourists, Prasanna fought hard for his team. He is as technically correct as any of Sri Lanka's top order, which enabled him to survive the moving and bouncing ball by playing straight. His driving was especially impressive and he was denied a greater tally than five boundaries by a slow outfield.
The game turned into one of those frustrating periods when the main batsman starts declining singles with tailenders for company and England resorted to trying to bounce out Prasanna. Broad couldn't open his wicket tally, remaining the least effective of the pacemen, and was looking increasingly frustrated although some of the short-ball tactics employed were odd with the ball still swinging around.
Given how hard he had worked against the quicks it was disappointing when Prasanna picked out deep midwicket in Graeme Swann's first over but at least he went down in positive fashion. Fernando had provided Prasanna with solid support in their 41-run stand and showed far more determination than the two batsmen above him in the order. He kept the slips interested but also showed a deft touch when he late cut Anderson to third man, while the sight of Swann's slower offerings brought a few more shots.
Tremlett returned and claimed his sixth wicket, when Suranga Lakmal gloved a pull first ball, but despite a couple of huge swipes from Chanaka Welegedara he couldn't quite finish off the innings before the looming rain started to fall. However, the forecast for the weekend is more promising and Sri Lanka's low-scoring first innings at least means the match has progressed.
