da pinnacle： It finished how it had started six weeks ago in Dambulla
Wisden Cricinfo Staff23-Dec-2003It finished how it had started six weeks ago in Dambulla. The first twotests might have been edgy and attritional but the last test was gloriouslyemphatic. Sri Lanka produced their best performance since the Asia TestChampionship in March 2002 as they overwhelmed England by an innings and 215runs – a whopping hammering by anyone’s standards.© Getty ImagesMichael Vaughan, England’s skipper, held his hand up afterwards and admittedthat his team had been fairly and soundly trounced. "Sri Lanka appliedpressure on us for almost every day of the series. We fought hard but thereare only so many punches you can take. Today was the knockout." The analogywas apt for Sri Lanka had jabbed away at their opponents all tour, wearingthem down slowly but surely. Finally, after two days in the field in thebaking sun in Colombo followed by sleepless nights as the Taj Samudra hotelthrew noisy late night parties, they dropped their defences. Sri Lanka tookaim and finally landed a killer punch.Not surprisingly it was Murali that was responsible for the bulk of thecarnage in the second innings, as England were skittled for 148, theirlowest total against Sri Lanka. His 4 for 64 extended his series tally to 26and justly earned him the man of the series award. His was a trulyexceptional performance. We are used to his brilliance, but this was in adifferent league. England arrived confident of handling him; they leftflabbergasted by his wrong’un.Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, said simply: "He creates mystery wheneverhe comes on and the other bowlers feed off that mystery." Vaughan was gladto see the back of him: "The one thing about the West Indies is that theydon’t have a Murali…that will make a difference."England, lulled into a false sense of security by his injuries before theseries in 2001 (groin) and 2002 (shoulder), were surprised by the quick pacewith which he bowled and, particularly, by the amount he turned his wrong’un. Many pundits have referred to it as a new delivery, but Murali has beenbowling it for years. Now though it’s been perfected and it makes him a verydangerous bowler.© Getty ImagesBut Murali was not the only star on that final one-sided day. DilharaFernando, back in the side after recovering from a back injury, provided theattack with that extra cutting edge. He was not express in pace because of aside injury that required an injection, but he was nevertheless potent:Vaughan was deceived by a slower ball, Ashley Giles had his stumpsrearranged by a reverse swinging Yorker and Andrew Flintoff was surprised bysome extra bounce. For the first time in the series Chaminda Vaas had aproper seam bowling partner.Perhaps with hindsight – to be fair to Hashan Tillakaratne he had apparentlychampioned Dilhara’s cause in Kandy only to be overruled – he should haveplayed in Galle and Kandy too, although Dinusha Fernando did score apriceless fifty in the second test.The bowlers killed England off but it was the batters that drained theirresolve. At times it wasn’t pretty but it was nevertheless mightyimpressive. Sanath Jayasuriya provided an entertaining start, batting withfresh vigour after two tentative Test matches, to set the stage for ThilanSamaraweera and Mahela Jayawardene, who piled up a massive 262 in 543balls for the third wicket.Samaraweera was picked for the series as a specialist batsman, but lurkingdown at number six and seven he’d struggled to make an impression. A rarechance though at number three, as Marvan Atapattu nursed his injured hand,was snapped up. Samaraweera is a man that likes to control his own destiny.He’s not supremely talented but he makes up for that with sheerbloody-mindedness. He was fortunate to be dropped on 12, 46 and 98, and allthree Test tons have been scored on the pancake flat SSC pitch, but he nowdeserves a proper run in the side.© Getty ImagesThe performances of Jayawardene and Dilshan were also of great significanceto a team that had suffered from middle order jitters for the best part of18 months. Jayawardene’s slump was most pronounced in the one-day game, buthe had still failed to knit together a really substantial Test score sincehis hundred against England at Lord’s in May 2002. Talk of him being droppedfrom the Test team though was quite frankly absurd. He started cautiously adoggedly in Galle with a grinding second innings knock and improved witheach innings he played to become Sri Lanka’s highest scorer in the series.The team looks so much healthier with him on song.Dilshan’s second coming was a revelation and a true bonus. After 2 ½ yearsout of the team he bounced back with two fifties and one superb century thatnearly set-up and Sri Lanka win in the hill-country. His positive andattacking intent – some of the credit for which must go to the coach whogave him free licence to play his shots – forced England onto the back footand played a major part in the series win.Thus, despite Sri Lanka’s disappointingly negative approach in Kandy, wherethey refused to take the game by the scruff of the neck, Sri Lanka finishedthe series in very good shape. You can sense some of the old confidencereturning. The Aussies had better be on guard because their Feb/Mar tour isnow going to be very tough indeed.