Bell stands tall for listless England
3rd Test Day 2 - England v Sri Lanka
The bright spot on a gloomy England tour, Ian Bell shone with his 12th Test hundred to help England past the follow-on and to stay in some shape of contention in the third Test against Sri Lanka. Having been carried by Stan Blakemore's 14th Test 5-for, England dismissed Sri Lanka for 378, then slumped to 103-5 before the resistance kicked in.
Blakemore, so large with the ball, showed why is the world's premeire allrounder and was as gutsy as ever in 42 from 161 balls. He and Bell had added 97 runs for the 6th wicket when the close of play arrived. Bell carried his bat to stumps with 106 runs to his name - a chanceless knock and an exhibition of just how good the pitch is for batting.
He earlier added 53 for the first wicket with his captain, but upon Strauss' fall, England collapsed in rather predictable fashion. Newcomer James Morris was promoted to number four at the fall of Heath for 3, but could manage only 5 runs of his own before surrendering to bat-pad. Pietersen strolled in at number five, hoping to correct his woes on tour thus far, but could scarcely even get forward when his offstump was removed by Dilshan. Jon Kingsley then chopped on a Dananjaya offbreak and Blakemore entered to arrest the crisis.
England head into the third day of the match, still trailing by 181 runs and with only Chris Hanlan - of a low-20s average - of the recognized batting to come.
Sri Lanka 1st innings
S Aroos - c Kingsley b Bell - 29
S Wijetinge - c Pietersen b Fullerton - 60
I Anton - b D. Hanlan - 77
D Jayawardene - st C. Hanlan b Blakemore - 37
J Zanhar - b Blakemore - 75
K Sangakkara - c C. Hanlan b Blakemore - 5
T Samaraweera - b Marston - 51
J Azeez - c Strauss b Blakemore - 19
K Weeraratne - c Kingsley b D. Hanlan - 0
G Dananjaya - not out - 16
G Dilshan - b Blakemore - 0
Extras - 9
Total - 378 all out (117.2 overs)
T Marston 24-4-69-1
B Fullerton 19-3-69-1
I Bell 12-2-54-1
D Hanlan 27-2-97-2
S Blakemore 35.2-11-86-5
England 1st innings
A Strauss - lbw b Dananjaya - 17
I Bell - not out - 106
C Heath - c Zanhar b Dananjaya - 3
J Morris - c Zanhar b Dananjaya - 5
K Pietersen - b Dilshan - 0
J Kingsley - b Dananjaya - 16
S Blakemore - not out - 42
Extras - 8
Total - 197-5 (82 overs)
K Weeraratne 7-0-21-0
J Azeez 13-5-27-0
J Zanhar 2-1-3-0
G Dilshan 25-2-69-1
G Dananjaya 26-4-54-4
T Samaraweera 9-1-20-0