da bet esporte： Michael Vaughan believes England are ready to face Sri Lanka in the first Test at Kandy on Saturday, after their five-wicket victory over the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI in Colombo
da bet7k： Andrew Miller in Colombo27-Nov-2007
Michael Vaughan spent more useful time in the middle making 32 and feels England are hitting their straps at the right time ahead of the first Test © Getty Images
Michael Vaughan believes England are ready to face Sri Lanka in thefirst Test at Kandy on Saturday, after watching his side dig deep fora five-wicket victory over the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI inColombo. At one stage in the game, England were facing embarrassmentafter being bowled out for a mere 134 in their first innings, but theyeventually won comfortably thanks to Matthew Hoggard’s five-wickethaul and a pair of fifties from Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen.Vaughan, who has toured Sri Lanka twice before – in 2000-01 and2003-04 – knows full well the value of a win on the subcontinent.”It’s always difficult in this part of the world, so this was a goodgame of cricket for us to win,” he said. “More importantly we feelwe’ve had a good amount of time out in the middle, whether it’sbowling or batting. We feel we’re in good spirits going into the firstTest.”How much of an impact this result has on the Tests remains to beseen,” he added. “But yesterday we were looking like losing, so tocome through and win shows a lot of character, which is a good signfor the team. We’d have liked a hundred in this game because therehasn’t been one on the trip so far, but everyone’s hitting the ballnicely and hopefully they are in good form.”England’s preparations have not been without their setbacks, andVaughan admitted that the back injury that ruled Steve Harmison out ofthe final two days was “disappointing”. He has managed just 16.3 oversin two matches since arriving in the country from South Africa, andremains a major doubt for the opening Test.Harmison was at least given the all-clear after undergoing a scan atthe local hospital, and had been scheduled to bat if needed. “We’regoing to monitor him over the next 48 hours,” said Vaughan. “Yesterdayhe was moving very gingerly, but today he was moving more freely andwas going to go in next, so that’s a good sign.”In the absence of both Harmison and James Anderson, it was left to theunlikely pairing of Hoggard and Ravi Bopara to rescue England’sfortunes. They did so quite dramatically, with Bopara’s performanceproving especially timely given England’s eagerness to find analternative allrounder to Andrew Flintoff.Vaughan, however, would not be drawn on the deliberations faced by theselectors in the coming days, especially as Bopara’s rival for the No.6 slot, Owais Shah, also had a good day with 33 not out. “Ravi’s had agood start to the trip, and he’s an exciting cricketer,” said Vaughan.”But Ace was out there at the end and that time in the middle will beinvaluable for him. The final eleven was always going to be a toughone, and that No. 6 position is going to be especially tough whicheverway we go.”Numbers 8 to 11 will also be a concern for England, as the tail didn’tmanage a run between them in the first innings. “It’s always somethingto worry about,” said Vaughan. “The guys are working hard in the nets,but facing Murali down the bottom end is always difficult. But we’vegot to try and get 20 wickets, and I think you have to go in with thefour bowlers who will get you those 20 wickets.”Run-scoring is sure to be hard for all batsmen in this series, notjust the tail, but Vaughan felt that the lessons learnt in the pastweek would help no end. “You need to be able to defend more out here,and you need your areas to score,” he said. “It’s a fine line forbatting in all conditions. Their attack is very experienced anddisciplined, so there will be times when it’s difficult to score, butI’m sure there’ll be times we can get on top of them.”
