Sri Lanka enjoy impressive morning

LEEDS: Angelo Mathews and Shaminda Eranga exploited favourable Headingley bowling conditions in impressive fashion as England lost their last four wickets in an hour's play on the third morning of the second Test. A dry pitch had become frisky in the sunshine and Mathews and Eranga recognised their opportunity.

If that represented good progress for Sri Lanka, there was also enough life in the pitch to encourage England's pace attack to believe that a lead of 108 was a substantial one. But James Anderson and Stuart Broad, bowling a shorter, less threatening length, initially posed limited threat and when Anderson found Dimuth Karunaratne's edge, Chris Jordan fluffed the chance at slip.

England, whose later batsmen showed little inclination to hang in there, must have had strong hopes that the nature of the pitch would not be unduly affected by two applications of the heavy roller.

England were responsible for the first, before the start of play, presumably in an attempt to quieten the pitch to allow their lower order to advance their vulnerable lead of 63. It felt like a negative response given that Yorkshire's hierarchy have advised England that restricted use of the heavy roller has brought more pace and bounce into Headingley's pitches.

Whatever, it did not have any deadening effect. The pitch was dry and gripping and Sri Lanka's seamers were threatening from the outset. Nobody relished the conditions more than Mathews, Sri Lanka's captain, who found his medium pace clothed with venom. He opened the bowling from the Football Stand End and, with the evidence of the second evening to back up his decision, he was absolutely right to so.

Mathews took two of the wickets to fall, defeating Broad's adventurous drive and bowling Liam Plunkett, finishing with Test-best figures of 4 for 44. There were four wickets, too, for Eranga, who had Jordan held at second slip by Mahela Jayawardene, diving to his left, and rounded off the innings with a throat ball to Anderson and a return catch. Sri Lanka's seamers had the nous to pitch the ball up and let the pitch do the work and had rarely felt so potent.

Expectations of catching opportunities did not immediately spread to Sri Lanka's cordon judging by the way that the wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal and Kumar Sangakkara, at first slip, allowed one edge from Jordan to bisect them. But it all mattered little as the game rushed on at a headlong pace, leaving Matt Prior marooned as he tried single-handedly to carry the fight.

If it continues to do so, it will at least spare Yorkshire the embarrassment of explaining away what was expected to be a low fourth-day attendance.