mvaughan

First things first. I've got no problem with the way England went about picking their XI. They chose the side that they thought gave them the best chance of winning the match and Samit Patel bowled well, taking two wickets on Test debut, which is a decent return. He misjudged the flight of a good delivery when he was batting but didn't look out of his depth at any stage. He didn't fare any worse than most of the England's batting order.

England's problems lay elsewhere. Firstly they let Sri Lanka off the hook last night - Monty Panesar twice dropping Mahela Jayawardene, who cashed in after being given two lifelines. You wouldn't expect any less from a player of his calibre. We'll have to wait and see just how important those extra runs he scored will be but they could end up making all the difference.

Secondly, England made a right hash of batting on what looks a pretty decent wicket. The England of a year ago would have posted 350 and put pressure on Sri Lanka, who would then be playing catch-up. To not match Sri Lanka's total on a decent wicket against a bowling line-up that is conventional and solid but lacks any true world-class performers was nothing short of criminal. Rangana Herath is a good spinner who doesn't bowl too many bad deliveries but England have made him look like Muttiah Muralitharan if his figures of 6/74 are anything to go by.

Andrew Strauss' side looks mentally scarred from that series against Pakistan. And if they were guilty of being too defensive and focusing too much on just on not getting out in the UAE, this time they've gone the other way and batted too aggressively. Erratically at times. There's been something of a mental failure, no doubt about that.

The only positives to come out of today's proceedings as far as England are concerned were that Ian Bell looks in good touch and that Graeme Swann bowled beautifully. The only reason they're still in with a chance of winning this match at all is because the Notts spinner took the prize scalp of Mahela Jayawardene, as well as the wickets of Kumar Sangakarra, Lahiru Thrimanne and Thilan Samawareera. He'll need to take quite a few more and do so pretty early on in the proceedings if England are to limit the hosts to anything that they could realistically chase.

It may just be worth taking a chance on England at 3.7 with a view to laying off at 3.0. This isn't a pitch that's easy to get used to and the two men currently at the crease -Dinesh Chandimal and Suraj Randiv - will have to start all over again. So a couple of early wickets could well be on the cards.

I see that a finish on day three is currently trading at odds-on and that may be worth laying. Sri Lanka may yet bat for another session and if someone like Alastair Cook or Jonathan Trott gets in they could hang around and just bat time, knowing that the longer they stay at the crease the more of a chance they have of chasing a total. Nothing silly, the runs will come naturally. We've seen those two play like that before and if they build a couple of good partnerships that may well be enough to take the game into day four.

Given the way the England top order (Bell excluded) managed to find ways to get out, I'm not sure any of them deserve my money behind them for second innings top bat honours! But Jonathan Trott rarely fails twice in the same match and if it's patience that is required to play a big innings here, then he's the man to side with.

1pt Back England at 3.7, lay off if they trade below 3.0
1pt Lay Test Match end Days One, Two and Three @ 1.98
1pt Back Jonathan Trott to be England second innings top batsman @ 5.0

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