Sri Lanka and the weather stall England
ENGLAND bowler James Anderson denied he and the rest of captain Andrews Strauss’ attack are undercooked after suffering a largely frustrating first day of the international summer.
Rain delayed the start of play in Cardiff until 3.30pm after which England were thwarted in their attempts to make an early breakthrough by Sri Lanka’s opening pair of Tillakaratne Dilshan and Tharanga Paranavitan.
Dilshan, the new Sri Lanka captain, made 50 in a first-wicket stand of 93 before playing on to Graeme Swann, while Anderson grabbed the prized scalp of Kumar Sangakkara in controversial circumstances shortly before the close as the tourists reached 133 for two, with Paranavitan unbeaten on 58. Afterwards, Anderson refuted any suggestion that the England’s bowlers were undercooked through a lack of cricket in the early part of the summer.
“I was pretty overcooked in the winter. We had a needed break,” he said. “All the guys feel strong and ready to go. I thought we bowled well today.
“Hopefully it’ll swing again tomorrow and we can get a few more nicks. They’ve got a strong top six and we’ve got to work hard to make inroads into that and hopefully if we can get a couple of wickets early tomorrow we can get them out cheaply.”
The day was touched by controversy when Sangakkara was given out caught behind when England used the decision review system, despite replays not seeming entirely conclusive.
Anderson said: “It was a bit of a strange one because the wind was going across the ground so I didn’t hear anything but the slips were convinced he’d nicked it.”