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| Friday, 28 November 2003 |
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Butcher warms up for Test with unbeaten century by Sa'adi Thawfeeq Surrey left-hander Mark Butcher made a timely return to form for England ahead of the first cricket Test against Sri Lanka at Galle on Tuesday with a chanceless unbeaten century against the Sri Lanka Cricket President's XI played at the CCC grounds yesterday. By the close of the second day once more curtailed by rain in the final session, England replying to the SLC President's XI first innings of 181 had made 225 for five wickets by the close. Butcher was on 105 not out having batted for 235 minutes and faced 158 balls. His innings included 12 fours and two sixes, one of which was a straight drive off acting captain Thilan Samaraweera to reach his century. Butcher apart, only Graham Thorpe with 35 off 71 balls (6 fours) and Andrew Flintoff with 47 off 53 balls (4 fours and 3 sixes) made any worthwhile use of a slow pitch to get some useful batting practice. Butcher who was England's leading run-getter in Tests last summer against Zimbabwe and South Africa with 590 runs, struggled for runs in the first leg of the sub-continent tour in Bangladesh. His four Test innings yielded just 56 runs. But yesterday he said that he was not under any pressure when he came out to bat. "It is good to come out of a lean run in Bangladesh and get some runs behind you before the Test matches," said Butcher. "I made a few errors in Bangladesh and wanted to put things right here. I was struggling for form there. There wasn't any pressure when I went out to bat. The pressure comes in a Test match," he said. "There was one or two things I needed to put into practice like starting to hit the ball where I want to, and to try and make sure that I got my hands and my body in the right position to make clean contact with the ball," Butcher said. After a cautious beginning when he took 85 balls (6 fours, 1 six) to reach his half-century, Butcher batted freely from there onwards to complete his second fifty off only 62 balls. He reached his century in style with a six. "The ball was in the right place so I hit it for six," said Butcher. "My innings was never a struggle as such but it takes sometime to get used to the pace of the pitch and to acclimatise yourself to the different conditions. My timing wasn't fluent as I would have liked to at the beginning. The fact is that you stay in there while that is going on and it came right in the end." Butcher played the anchor role and figured in two 93-run partnerships with Thorpe and Flintoff after losing former captain Nasser Hussain for nought to the fourth ball of the innings. Hussain was unfortunate to find the ball he played rather late against Dilhara Fernando roll onto the wicket and knock his leg bail off. Thorpe looked to be in good touch but threw his wicket away when he went for an extravagant pull shot and only succeeded in edging the ball behind the wicket. Flintoff made his intentions quite clear no sooner he arrived at the crease by pulling the first ball he faced for six over mid wicket off Fernando. Flintoff who is leading England in this match, played some powerful drives in his cameo innings which was ended by part-time leg-spinner Bathiya Perera who had him caught on the deep mid wicket boundary off his first ball. Chris Read and Gareth Batty were both run out victims. Read failed to beat Ranjith's throw from point to wicket-keeper Rashan Peiris when Butcher hit the ball to the fielder's left and called for a single, momentarily forgetting that it was his strong arm. Batty was unfortunate to be out of his crease when a powerful Butcher drive ricocheted off bowler Samaraweera's hand onto the stumps at the non-striker's end. SLC President's XI added 39 runs to their overnight total of 142-8 before being dismissed after 45 minutes batting on the second morning. The innings was prolonged by Bathiya Perera who benefited by some poor England catching to notch up an undefeated half-century. Perera who started the day on 29, was dropped five runs later by wicket-keeper Geraint Jones off Kirtley in the fifth over of the day. It turned out to be the only blot on an otherwise unblemished record sheet for Jones who kept wickets splendidly. Two overs later England also gave a 'life' to Ranjith at four when Thorpe failed to hold onto an edge at second slip off Flintoff. Perera went onto complete his fifty off 118 balls in 152 minutes with six fours before the innings was finally terminated by off-spinner Batty who beat Ranjith in the air for Jones to complete the glovework. Arnold injured SLC President's XI captain Russel Arnold will not take any further part in the match after he injured his right hand while fielding yesterday. Arnold tried to stop a powerful drive from Mark Butcher while fielding close to the bat and suffered a cut between his ring and small fingers. The injury required two stitches. SLC President's XI coach/manager Champaka Ramanyake said that Arnold will not be able to hold a bat for at least four to five days and that he will not bat in the second innings. Thilan Samaraweera led the President's team in Arnold's absence. SRI LANKA CRICKET PRESIDENT'S XI
1ST INNINGS (overnight 142-8)
M.G. Vandort lbw b Kirtley 1
T.K.D. Sudarshana c Jones b Kirtley 5
L.P.C. Silva c Jones b Kirtley 0
R.P. Arnold c Batty b Kirtley 27
T.T. Samaraweera c Hussain b Batty 32
W.M.B. Perera not out 55
T.R. Peiris lbw b Giles 27
G.D.R. Dhammika st Jones b Giles 0
C.R.D. Fernando lbw b Giles 5
M.K.P.L.C. Gamage c Batty b Flintoff 5
P.R. Ranjith st Jones b Batty 8
EXTRAS (lb-7, nb-9) 16
TOTAL (all out, 67.5 overs, 285 mins) 181
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-6, 3-19, 4-69, 5-86,
6-128, 7-128, 8-142, 9-152, 10-181.
Bowling: Hoggard 11-3-22-0 (3nb),Kirtley 14-3-41-4(5nb),
Giles 15-8-25-3, Flintoff 9-1-32-1 (1nb),
Batty 11.5-2-31-2, Croft 7-1-23-0.
ENGLAND XI 1ST INNINGS
M.F Butcher not out 105
N. Hussain b Fernando 0
G.R. Thorpe c Peiris b Fernando 35
A. Flintoff c Gamage b Perera 47
C.M.W. Read run out 3
G.J. Batty run out 8
G.O. Jones not out 4
EXTRAS (lb-10, nb-13) 23
TOTAL (5 wkts at close, 51.2 overs) 225
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-96, 3-189, 4-200, 5-211.
To bat: A.F. Giles, R.D.B. Croft, M.J. Hoggard,
R.J. Kirtley.
Bowling: Fernando 16-4-65-2 (5nb), Ranjith 7-0-57-0(7nb),
Gamage 8-3-31-0, Samaraweera 10.2-3-29-0,
Dhammika 8-1-26-0, Perera 2-1-7-1 (1nb).
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