The Hindu : Arnold rustles up defiant century

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002

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Sport - Cricket

Arnold rustles up defiant century

By Ted Corbett

MANCHESTER June 17. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle might have called it The Mystery of the Vanished Third Man but Sherlock Holmes would have had to be at his perceptive best to provide the solution.

After many replays and several hours of description no answer came from several of the finest cricket brains in the world at Old Trafford on Monday. We may never know.

Nine minutes before lunch, as England pressed to take the vital wicket that might bring Sri Lanka to a quick defeat on the final day of the third Test, Mahele Jayawardene swept a ball from Andrew Flintoff bowling from the Stretford End high to deep square leg where Matthew Hoggard took a simple catch. Jayawardene made no attempt to leave; it was a no-ball.

The umpire who called it was the South Africa Dave Orchard at square leg who had spotted that there were three men behind square on the legside. But how could such an elementary mistake be made? The fielders were Michael Vaughan at backward square leg, Hoggard at deep backward

square and the 12th man Simon Jones at fine leg.

Nasser Hussain, the captain, stood at first slip, although he was thought to be the cause of all the trouble right through the lunch interval until the replays pinpointed Vaughan. Could it be that Vaughan had moved behind square when he took up his position for the first ball of the new over? I think he had been in the wrong place for several deliveries.

Had Jones, in his second Test on the fringe of the side, forgotten that a right hander was facing? Jayawardene seemed to notice the infringement in the previous over and deliberately played a shot that would be considered rash in most circumstances.

Whatever the final solution to this mystery, it cost England dear. It had set Sri Lanka to score 261 to avoid an innings defeat and Russel Arnold, promoted to open, had dug in after Sanath Jayasuriya was bowled at 44.

He and Kumar Sangakkara added 66 before Sangakkara was given lbw by Steve Bucknor although the ball clearly pitched outside the leg stump.

It was ten overs after lunch before Jayasuriya was wrinkled out by a ball from Ashley Giles which climbed off a length and went by way of the edge of his bat to Hussain at first slip.

Aravinda de Silva, playing what must be his last Test innings in this country in warm sunshine, brought back memories of his greatness around the time of Sri Lanka's World Cup triumph — neat footwork, compact shots, that wonderful ability to put the ball precisely where it would bring a single.

He made the best of a pitch still without viciousness against an attack that relied on strict discipline while yearning for Darren Gough's occasional thunderbolt. By the drinks interval Sri Lanka was just 60 runs short of its first target of 262; England appeared to be waiting for the new ball around tea time.

De Silva's first 36 runs came off 38 balls; no-one had ever looked more at ease at the height of his profession and he had treated us to the extra cover drive — remember it? — that turned the 1986 World Cup semifinal against India at Calcutta into victory.

With 29 needed, de Silva hooked at Alex Tudor and was caught tumbling forward by Vaughan at long leg. On his way off he received a warm farewell from the tiny crowd, grateful for a glimpse of the graceful batsmanship that produced 6,145 Test runs.

Tudor, bowling as quickly as you would wish, almost had Hashan Tillekaratne caught at short leg and his third Test century came off a half chance to cover point.

But both he and Arnold survived to tea when Sri Lanka was 253 for four and apparently safe — even though 42 overs remained — from a second successive defeat.

Concentration, patience and a stoical refusal to give in by Arnold were the main reasons for this successful rearguard action.

Elementary, my dear Watson.

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