Wobbly England Need Stability

The last time England played here, they were bowled out for 88 and lost by 10 wickets. Paul Collingwood top scored with 31 but as he prepared for today's opening one-day international he was in no mood to remember it. "When I have memories like that, I tend to blank them out," he said. "I know that it turned a lot and they knocked them off pretty quickly."

It was a shameful occasion. Dambulla, a new stadium rushed to completion, should never have passed safety checks. One staircase came to an abrupt halt 20 feet above the ground. England's record against Sri Lanka has remained abysmal ever since, and they lost last summer's one-day series 5-0. "That was a while back, no point looking back, got to look forward," said Collingwood. You could see his point about the benefits of amnesia.

Only Collingwood and James Anderson survive from that Dambulla collapse nearly four years ago on a slow, low pitch almost as defective as the stadium. Not that it bothered Sri Lanka, who needed only an hour to get the runs. Only Ian Bell and Alastair Cook remain from the side that made 321 at Headingley in July last year and then lost in 37.3 overs to complete the 5-0 whitewash. Never mind the Dambulla Stadium, which is still standing, staircases all reaching ground level, it is England who have lacked stability.

England spent a lot of time banging the ball in short in their practice match in Colombo, perhaps anticipating uneven bounce in the three matches in Dambulla over the next week, but the square plays pretty flat these days. "We would love some short stuff on this sort of wicket," said Sri Lanka's captain, Mahela Jayawardene.

This five-match series, which sceptics believe will finish with two monsoon-hit day-nighters in Colombo, takes place under updated playing conditions, the most eye-catching of which is the adoption of the free hit for a no-ball, successfully trialled in World Twenty20.

So a front-foot no ball gets a free hit, but a beamer, increasingly prevalent, remains a no-ball, with no such penalty. Is that sensible? Collingwood thought so. "The free hit is meant to entertain the spectators, not to punish the bowler for an unsafe ball," he said. Regretfully, the first batsman not to make such a macho statement might be the one unable to talk because they have just been knocked unconscious.

England (from): Collingwood (capt), Cook, Mustard, Bell, Pietersen, Shah, Bopara, Broad, Sidebottom, Anderson, Panesar, Mascarenhas.

Sri Lanka (from): Jayawardene (capt), Sangakkara (wkt), Jayasuriya, Tharanga, Dilshan, Silva, Mubarak, Lokuarachchi, Fernando, Vaas, Malinga, Maharoof.