England can dominate Sri Lanka spinners

Who is to replace Eoin Morgan, rightfully and almost mercifully dropped? Has Andrew Strauss fallen too far down the mountain to reach the summit and make another Test century? What on earth has happened to Ian Bell, arguably the finestest batsman in the world in 2011? And Sri Lanka is not exactly the easiest place to sit such an examination. In terms of climatic conditions, it is the hardest in world cricket. Nowhere matches its debilitating combination of ferocious heat and sapping humidity. I came here in 1998 with England A, in my opinion fit and ready to make an impression as a compiler of big scores. I left shattered and bewildered, with only a few fifties to my name. For those who sweat profusely, as I do and, say, Matt Prior does, the rehydration battle can be ferociously difficult. But England have used pre-tour acclimatisation chambers and the most modern food and drink supplements.James Anderson insisted yesterday that they were ready – “We’re used to it now,” he argued – even if Alastair Cook, the man they say does not sweat, was sporting a soaking shirt. Members of the travelling Barmy Army supporters group were also hot. Under the collar that is, as well as under the morning sun. There is a suggestion that foreigners are being charged between 5,000 and 7,000 rupees [£86] for match-day tickets, while locals will pay a fraction of those prices. A protest – with fans watching from outside the ground on the nearby fort – is even being mooted. The Galle groundsman, Jayananda Warnaweera, the former Sri Lanka cricketer, was playing it cool, however. He was shrugging off concerns about his pitch a lot more easily than he once did about the legality of his off-spinners. Warnaweera played 10 Tests, but his career ended prematurely owing to those doubts about his action. And his career as a groundsman was in danger last August when the pitch produced for the match against Australia was deemed “poor” by the International Cricket Council, with Australia winning inside four days. Further complications have arisen because the Galle ground, with the impoverished Sri Lanka Cricket having not paid the bills, had neither water nor electricity for three months until the beginning of February. The pitch to be used tomorrow was re-laid only six weeks ago. It had been watered yesterday and has a decent covering of dead grass, presumably to bind it together, which it conspicuously did not do in the Australia Test. But Warnaweera is convinced the match will last five days. “It will be 60-40 in favour of the batsmen,” he said. But it will turn, of that there is no doubt. Indeed it will turn more than any of the pitches on which England floundered in the UAE. That could spell more trouble. But I do not think it will. Pitches that turn only occasionally and a little, as well as skidding on as they did in the UAE, are often more difficult to bat on than those that ‘rag’, as they say in the trade. Game plans are more easily defined when the ball is turning regularly and sharply. Galle will ‘rag’. And Pakistan’s mystery spinner Saeed Ajmal will not be present. There will only be the left-arm spin of Rangana Herath and the off-spinners of Suraj Randiv with which to contend, probably with some additional off-spin from Tillakaratne Dilshan. Bell, although he struggled in the warm-up matches, should recover his touch. He is a fine player of spin, until mystery emerges and he cannot read the writing, let alone understand the plot. Then he cannot dance down the pitch. Expect Bell to do that now, and prosper. So too Strauss, who has warm-up runs under his belt and runs in Asia before (including twin centuries in Chennai in 2008). Not in Sri Lanka, however, as he was dropped for the last tour here in 2007. His biggest concern might be the left-arm seamer Chanaka Welegedara, who dismissed him three times in four innings last summer in England, rather than the spinners. I expect Ravi Bopara to replace Morgan, even though Bopara cannot bowl because of a side strain. Morgan couldn’t bowl either, and Bopara is the next cab waiting, even if Samit Patel, with his left-arm spin an attractive addition, is tooting his horn impatiently. Bopara must take his chance. It will be his last. And he must field with attention and athleticism; something Morgan did so brilliantly in the UAE. Stuart Broad did not bowl at all at nets yesterday, but the word is that he is fully fit. With only two seamers likely to be selected, he simply has to be. England may not have won in three attempts at Galle, but more to the point, Sri Lanka have only won one of their 17 Tests since Muttiah Muralitharan’s retirement in 2010, with the sole success coming in last year’s Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Durban. Herath took nine in that match, but he is no Muralitharan. What’s more, Sri Lanka are unprepared. They have played 19 one-day internationals since their last Test, the last of them only last Wednesday when losing to Bangladesh in Dhaka. This series, so unsatisfactorily consisting of just two Tests, against the wishes of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has been squeezed between the Asia Cup and the forthcoming Indian Premier League like a penny into a slot. It will be tough, especially to bowl Sri Lanka out twice – “it always is, except at Trent Bridge in April,” quipped Anderson – but England’s bowlers were outstanding in the UAE. England should win this match, and the series. Then that crowned head can rest more easily again.