Trescothick leads England fightback
Marcus Trescothick hit his maiden Test century to lead England's battle to avoid the follow-on against Sri Lanka on the third day of the first Test on Saturday.
Opener Trescothick's unbeaten 119 guided the touring
team from their overnight 27 without loss to 202 for four
at the close in reply to Sri Lanka's first innings of 470 for
five declared.
Trescothick reached three figures from 265 deliveries, hit
12 fours, and beat his previous highest in Tests of 78
against West Indies in the fifth Test at The Oval last year.
The Somerset left-hander held firm while England slipped
from 83 without loss to 117 for three, left-arm paceman
Chaminda Vaas taking the key wicket of Michael
Athereton for 33 and off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan
snapping up captain Nasser Hussain (3) and Graham
Thorpe (7).
Trescothick then put on 80 for the fourth wicket with Alec
Stewart, who resisted for 140 minutes for 19 before he
was given out lbw to Sanath Jayasuriya's left-arm spin
shortly before the end of the day.
England will start the fourth day on Sunday needing 69
more to avoid the follow-on.
Scoreboard
Sri Lanka (1st innings): 470-5 decl (Marvan Atapattu 201
not out, Aravinda de Silva 106, Mahela Jayawardene 61,
Kumar Sangakkara 58).
England (1st innings): (overnight 27-0)
M.Atherton lbw b Vaas 33
M.Trescothick not out 119
N.Hussain lbw b Muralitharan 3
G.Thorpe c Dilshan b Muralitharan 7
A.Stewart lbw b Jayasuriya 19
R.Croft not out 0
Extras (B2, LB2, NB17) 21
Total (for four wickets, 106 overs) 202
Fall of wickets: 1-83, 2-93, 3-117, 4-197
To bat: G.Hick, C.White, A.Giles, A.Caddick, D.Gough.
Bowling : Vaas 18-5-34-1 (nb-1), Muralitharan
41-10-56-2 (nb-8), Dharmasena 22-6-51-0 (nb-6),
Fernando 2-0-10-0 (nb-2), Jayasuriya 20-5-42-1, de Silva
3-2-5-0
Mail Cricket Editor
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