England Tour Starts Off Okay Shocker

Whisper it quietly, but what is going on in Sri Lanka right now? An England tour has started without the usual criticisms of the schedule, spate of career limiting injuries and heavy defeats to provincial sides. Although, it must be remembered, oppo openers (it was Phil Jacques last Winter) have done a certain amount of feasting on our new ball bowlers.

But after the mauling handed out in the 500+ run glut last week, something bizarre happened here. England ressurrected a tour match which looked at best precarious. Like Jesus bringing Lazarus back from the dead, Hoggy, whom it is not permitted to write about without using the words "trencherman", "stooped" and "trudge", reached down, touched the corpse of this game and brought it back to life with five for twenty five.

Cook - who was made for sub continent batting on the basis that you have to simply grind your way to a decent score - then scored more runs, Pietersen decided to ruin the Cook theory with a nice quick thrash including customary reverse sweep and Shah and Prior smeared the rest of the runs in an indecent haste to give us a five wicket win. Well blow Wickman down.

Of course this doesn't mean that Murali isn't going to destroy us at the weekend, but it's quite comforting. Sri Lanka will, as they have done for the last 10 years, try to bat first and make enough runs so that they can allow Murali to bowl 80+ overs in the game to bowl England out twice. The boys will spend hour after hour trying to get outside the line of off stump to him and score runs at the other end. Run rates will be at best "attritional". We'll try to take all the tests into a fifth day. Hoggy will bowl spells where every other ball is slower or an off cutter. Cook will get all the runs. The media will have a field day talking about Tsunami victims when the show moves to Galle.

And you know what? It will all be absolutely perfect because Test cricket is what its all about. Wickman cannot wait for 5am Saturday morning. Eyes propped open with matchsticks, Mrs W and the Wickettes tucked up in bed, coffee and the old bacon sandwich fella in hand. It's the proper thing.