mvaughan

It's a real shame that the weather has once again played such a big part in this match because this has been a super Test wicket. The ball has swung on occasions, there's been a bit of extra bounce and even something for the spinners on occasion.

At around 17:30 yesterday a draw looked pretty much nailed-on with Sri Lanka still having all ten wickets in the bag and an awful forecast awaiting us on day five. But there was a glimmer of hope when England took two late wickets last night and more good news followed when an updated forecast predicted we may still get some play on Monday after all. Kumar Sangakkara is still at the crease and he'll be the key wicket but he hasn't been in good form over the Series and if England can get him out early on the final day, they really do have every chance of forcing a win. Weather permitting of course. But I think 20 overs of play could well be enough. At 2.1 it's certainly worth a punt that England can still win.

I was very impressed with the way England went about their business on Sunday. I know some people aren't big fans of bringing in a night-watchman but very often the decision lies with the batsman who is due in next (in this case Eoin Morgan) to decide whether he wants to come in or let a lower-order batsman face the last few deliveries of the day. And that's what probably happened here. All credit to Jimmy though, who came in and played some shots this morning. There was more fantastic batting from that man Ian Bell and Eoin Morgan was aggressive too so no one can accuse this England side of not doing their absolute best to try and force a result.

And all credit to Andrew Strauss for making such a positive declaration. It would have been easy to just carry on batting without taking too many risks but the message he gave his batsmen was to go out and score quickly, with a declaration always on his mind. By making Sri Lanka bat again for nearly fifty overs last night he was rewarded with three wickets and if England do win this Test, Strauss' positive intent will have been a crucial part of that.

Had it not been for the weather England would have won this Series 3-0 and that's a big positive to take ahead of that massive Series against India later on in the summer. Before that there's the ODI Series against Sri Lanka of course and with the likes of Lasith Malinga and Angelo Matthews involved, you can expect that to be a lot closer.

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