Cricket: Bell Swings England an Early Advantage
Ian Bell took four wickets with his improving outswing to reduce Sri Lanka to 145 all out on the first day of the second A Test.
As the heat fell out of the day at Nondescripts Cricket Club, Sri Lankan cricket seemed at infinite peace. Ceiling fans whirred softly in the old colonial pavilion and scores of crows idled around on an outfield relinquished by cricketers who had completed the opening day of the second A Test with honours even.
That sense of wellbeing was an illusion. For David Graveney, England's chairman of selectors, the parlous state of much of Sri Lankan cricket has just been revealed on a two-day visit to schools and colleges on a 200-mile stretch of coastline from Kalutara in the west to the south-coast club of Hambantota, which still mourns the loss of half its first XI.
Nothing that took place at Nondescripts yesterday - in essence, four wickets for Ian Bell's improving outswing and a fightback led by the Sri Lankan leg-spinner Malinga Bandara - remotely rivals the importance, in human terms, of Graveney's help with the Professional Cricketers Association's Kit For Kids Appeal.
"I realise that cricket equipment isn't the highest priority, but we can do enormous good here," Graveney said. "These children - and adults for that matter - are desperate for some kit, any kit."
Bell, meanwhile, has pronounced himself a class act worthy of serious consideration for a Test place and Matt Prior has shown he can be discussed in the same breath as Geraint Jones.
Bell had only 29 first-class wickets before yesterday, but his medium-paced outswingers - which brought him four for four against Middlesex last summer - are improving by the month. "My batting must have full priority, but I can do a job with the ball from time to time, especially if it is swinging," he said.
Prior, who kept neatly standing up, was a useful ally, as was Sajid Mahmood, who took a thrilling catch at deep square leg.
England served Bell ill in the South Africa one-day series not just with the bat, by putting him at No7, but also with the ball, by preferring the lesser talents of Marcus Trescothick as a fill-in bowler.
England were in command after routing Sri Lanka for 145, but the Sri Lankan spinners responded tigerishly. Bell's footwork was confident until he was outfoxed by Bandara and stumped. "A soft dismissal," he said. Owais Shah's serene resistance prevented total collapse.
Kit for Kids, c/o David Graveney, Professional Cricketers Association, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BT
That sense of wellbeing was an illusion. For David Graveney, England's chairman of selectors, the parlous state of much of Sri Lankan cricket has just been revealed on a two-day visit to schools and colleges on a 200-mile stretch of coastline from Kalutara in the west to the south-coast club of Hambantota, which still mourns the loss of half its first XI.
Nothing that took place at Nondescripts yesterday - in essence, four wickets for Ian Bell's improving outswing and a fightback led by the Sri Lankan leg-spinner Malinga Bandara - remotely rivals the importance, in human terms, of Graveney's help with the Professional Cricketers Association's Kit For Kids Appeal.
"I realise that cricket equipment isn't the highest priority, but we can do enormous good here," Graveney said. "These children - and adults for that matter - are desperate for some kit, any kit."
Bell, meanwhile, has pronounced himself a class act worthy of serious consideration for a Test place and Matt Prior has shown he can be discussed in the same breath as Geraint Jones.
Bell had only 29 first-class wickets before yesterday, but his medium-paced outswingers - which brought him four for four against Middlesex last summer - are improving by the month. "My batting must have full priority, but I can do a job with the ball from time to time, especially if it is swinging," he said.
Prior, who kept neatly standing up, was a useful ally, as was Sajid Mahmood, who took a thrilling catch at deep square leg.
England served Bell ill in the South Africa one-day series not just with the bat, by putting him at No7, but also with the ball, by preferring the lesser talents of Marcus Trescothick as a fill-in bowler.
England were in command after routing Sri Lanka for 145, but the Sri Lankan spinners responded tigerishly. Bell's footwork was confident until he was outfoxed by Bandara and stumped. "A soft dismissal," he said. Owais Shah's serene resistance prevented total collapse.
Kit for Kids, c/o David Graveney, Professional Cricketers Association, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BT
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