Main spinners may miss first Test

By Ted Corbett

MATARA, (SRI LANKA), FEB. 17. It is already clear, five days ahead of the first Test between Sri Lanka and England at Galle, that the main spinners of both teams may miss the match through injury.

Muttiah Muralitharan, whose 75 wickets in 10 Tests in 2000 make him the most dangerous bowler of this era, is at home in Colombo nursing a groin injury. You can take you pick of the bulletins emerging from the Sri Lanka propaganda machine: from the coach Dav Whatmore's optimistic ``I'm sure he will be all right'' to skipper Sanath Jayasuriya's clear worries and the suggestion that he will bowl in the nets on Monday; but there is a widespread belief that we will not see those sparkling eyes and that cheeky grin until the end of the series.

Whatever turns out to be the truth it is obvious that his groin injury will need a lot of treatment before a decision can be made and there is a whisper that he will not play for two weeks so the second Test in Kandy is a more realistic target than Thursday's game on Galle's spinner-friendly pitch.

England would be overjoyed at the prospect of attempting to win a game against Sri Lanka minus its only match- winner - it has not won a game without him since his debut eight years ago - were it not for the Achilles tendon injury to its left-arm spinner Ashley Giles whose 17 wickets in Pakistan gave its third successive series victory.

England may see that as a way to get Giles on to the field but Conway conceded that there was ``an element of risk'' in playing him whatever the precautions. Giles batted brightly today as England built up a first innings lead against a Board side but his bowling has still to be tested.

Both sides have alternatives if their stars drop out. England's fast bowlers Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick have been sharp and there is an argument for bringing in Matthew Hoggard whose swing may not be the classic answer to Sri Lanka's hot and humid weather but who bowled impressively as he took three wickets and lost eight pounds in weight on day one of its current match. That success, added to two fine spells in Pakistan, could see England turn out with three seamers; a sight as rare as few gemstones in Sri Lanka.

Naturally, Sri Lanka the home of slow spin, will turn to another spinner in the absence of Murali. Muthumdalige Pushpakamara, with off breaks, and Malinga Bandara, with leg breaks, tied too many of the England batsmen in knots today for it to be a coincidence and gave the wicket-keeper batsman Alec Stewart a particularly difficult time. But then spinners expect to confuse Stewart's hard hands and he had to rely on concentration to score 40. Atherton ground out 85 before he was bowled for the third innings in ten days by the burly fast bowler Dinush Fernando. Graham Thorpe steered the ball into the gaps for 57 as if he were continuing one of his innings from Pakistan.

At one stage, as England struggled ahead of the Board's first innings 253, a large monitor lizard wandered towards the pitch, curious perhaps that White had been tied down after scoring 32 off 45 balls and that the Sri Lankan spinners had bowled an exaggerated leg theory to keep down the runs.

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