Gaji
In England terms, this Test is about
one man: Andrew Strauss. England's captain has said that he has not considered
resigning in spite of England's losing run on the sub continent of four
successive Tests and his own middling form which, Tests against Australia
apart, has gone on for more than two years. An England victory or an innings to
restate his worth is sorely overdue.
It is no doubt the case that he has
not thought of acceptance and neither has England's selectors yet seriously
thought of forcing him to stand down. They are all observing a problem and
trusting that it will go away. One of Strauss' strengths as a captain is that
he is extremely confident about his rightful place at the centre of things. He
can be short of runs and chided for what are seen as overly suspicious tactics
but even without England's position at the top of the Test rankings, he would
understandably be perceived as crucial managerial material. If he threatened to
move to the Cayman Islands, it would probably persuade the government to drop
the top rate of tax by another 5p.
Strauss' urgent fate might rest on a
hard selection. England need to decide whether pace or spin is their best
chance of rescuing their Test credentials. Shane Warne took 11 in his one
appearance here while the wicket-taking list is headed by an unsurprising name:
Muttiah Muralitharan claimed 52 wickets in nine Tests. England has not played
here since Sri Lanka's inaugural Test in 1982 when Derek Underwood and John
Emburey combined to take 14 wickets.
Sri Lanka, by contrast, is
experiencing love, second time around, for Mahela Jaywardene. After the
retirement of Murali, decline seemed likely. England, comically vulnerable
against spin all winter, has fired Sri Lanka's conviction that taking 20
wickets in a Test remains achievable.
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