Yesterday I looked back at the previous England tour of Sri Lanka, which began with a Sri Lankan victory by 88 runs having set the visitors 350 to win. That is eerily similar to what happened this week in Galle, where the target was an almost-as-unlikely 340. In December 2007, it was Ian Bell and Matt Prior who had given Vaughan's side hope but there was no Jonathan Trott in those days.
Now he is becoming indispensible to England and while he was at the crease, the tide seemed to be turning slowly but surely their way. As I sneaked glimpses of the score at work, I witnessed the total edging towards then past 200, reducing the target to below 100, and still with six wickets remaining. However, Jayawardene is no fool, and he kept faith with the spinners Herath and Randiv, well aware of England's struggles against the turning ball not only against Pakistan but also in the first innings, where the former took 6-74, including four LBWs. That screams technical flaws, either missing the sweep or playing back to full length deliveries. I know it's easy to write and not so difficult when you're out in the middle. You have to focus like hell in the heat, batting to avoid defeat yet also to give your country a chance of a record-breaking fourth innings victory.
Strauss, Cook, Pietersen and Bell had each reached double figures before coming a cropper but Trott did what he does best: lay down the anchor, watch the ball and defend the good ones and punish the loose. While the other batsmen often fell to a mix of ugly shots and brilliant fielding, he progressed to his seventh century in 27 Tests. His 81-run partnership with Matt Prior must have jangled the nerves of the Sri Lankan side and fans, but when the 'keeper was caught at short leg on 41, there were still more than 100 runs required.
Debutant Samit Patel is no mug with the bat but he was caught at the second attempt by Dilshan after a bit of a one-day lofted cover drive, and the confidence seemed to drain from the England side. Dilshan took another excellent catch to dismiss Trott and then the tail not only failed to wag but drooped miserably in the Galle sunshine. The final three wickets tumbled in eight balls and that was that.
Four successive Test defeats for England and the first on home soil for Sri Lanka since Murali retired may signal a slight change in the world order, or it just reinforces the fact that England are useless against spin on Asian and Middle Eastern wickets and supreme everywhere else. South Africa will be a real Test later in the summer but first there is a second Test in Colombo to face. If it is exciting as this one, who can complain? OK, runs were hard to come by, unless your name is Jayawardene or Trott (!) but it wasn't a total spinfest, not in the first few days anyway. Rangana Herath achieved a double 'six-for', and Graeme Swann also rediscovered that flight and turn second time around. James Anderson was the pick of England's attack in the first innings.
In the end, I think the difference between the two sides was not Monty's dropped catches (although they didn't help!) but England batsmen's inability to read spin delivered with control and guile. This is a new golden era for slow bowling and batsmen simply have to learn how to play it in the five- (or four-) day format. We have excellent players who play with a degree of patience and concentration. Now they have to perform together next week to avoid the humiliation of a fifth straight defeat.
