Test previews 
/ Michael Vaughan / 01 April 2012 / Leave a Comment 
Jonathan Trott hit a magnificent century in the First Test but he failed to finish the job
"Sri Lankan wickets have a reputation for being flat and lifeless but they do get worse as the match goes on and with quality spinners on show, in particular Rangana Herath and Graeme Swann, wickets can fall pretty quickly later on in the game, especially with DRS in use."
Sri Lanka are 1-0 up and have already shown what a tough a side they are in their own conditions. Winning the toss will be crucial and puts the team batting first in pole position but the bet is that we'll end up getting a result, says Michael Vaughan.
England will ring the changes ahead of the Second Test, a match they need to win to level the Series and stop the rot. The first is an enforced one with Steve Finn the natural replacement for the injured Stuart Broad. Finn did well in the ODI matches against Pakistan, which were played on a similar sort of wicket to the one he'll find at Galle so there's no reason why he can't be successful again here. I'm also expecting Monty Panesar to give way with Tim Bresnan coming in for him. With all due respect to Monty, Bresnan is the far better fielder and batsman and will take Broad's place at eight with Finn probably batting down at eleven. Unlike in Colombo, there won't be a breeze in Galle so bowling quickly will be even more hard work than it was last week - a three-man pace attack looks a good move to me.
Samit Patel will keep his place in the team and will probably have to get through more overs than he did last week as the second spinner but I'll be interested to see whether he carries on batting at seven, or is promoted to come in at six. For me the obvious thing to have done in the First Test would have been for him to bat above Matt Prior rather than change a settled batting line-up; the move may have somewhat dented Patel's confidence whereas I'm not sure Prior would have cared either way where he batted. Something for Andrew Strauss to think about.
Winning the toss will be crucial again because days one and two will be by far the best time to bat and the wicket will most likely deteriorate on days four and five, just as it did in Colombo. The price of whoever wins the toss and bats first will come in on the back of that, no doubt about that. But because we obviously don't know who that will be, the smart bet is to lay the draw. Sri Lankan wickets have a reputation for being flat and lifeless but they do get worse as the match goes on and with quality spinners on show, in particular Rangana Herath and Graeme Swann, wickets can fall pretty quickly later on in the game, especially with DRS in use .That price of [2.9] has to go out at some stage and we'll surely be able to re-back it at 5.0 at some point in the game.
If the England batsmen want to have an idea of how to compile a century in sub-continental conditions then they should look at how Jonathan Trott did it in the second innings. It came off 250-odd balls and he needed to be at the crease for six or seven hours to get it . That's the sort of hard work you need to put in to get a tonne over here. You can't expect to score 100 off 150 balls by playing aggressively all the time like you can on some harder, quicker wickets. The sort you get in Australia for example. Trott is one of those players who gets a feel for a certain type of pitch and proceeds to cash in, just like he did last week. He now knows what his scoring areas are and when to play on the front or back foot. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he gets another big score and is the obvious, but smart, choice to be England first innings top batsman at around [4.0].
Mahela Jayawardene is another guy who is in a rich vein of form, himself a centurion in the First Test. He made it all look pretty easy whilst others appeared to be playing on a minefield. The skipper is the man to side ([4.5]) with as far as Sri Lanka are concerned.
A final word on Andrew Strauss. I'm really not sure what this nonsense is about with suggestions he should walk away from his job as England captain. Yes, he hasn't made a big score in a while and England have lost four Tests on the trot but these things happen to everyone and he hasn't become a bad batsman or captain overnight. If he feels it's the right thing to do to give someone else a chance, he will. But it's up to him to decide when that may be, no-one else.
3 pts Lay the draw @ [2.9]
1 pt Back Jonathan Trott to be England first innings top batsman @ [4.0]
1 pt Back Mahela Jayawardene to be Sri Lanka first innings top batsman @ [4.5]
It's difficult to understand how the Ian Bell who played magnificently in the first innings of this match is the same one who failed so miserably against Pakistan. He will be crucial if England are to come out on top...
Michael Vaughan tells us just why England find themselves in such a precarious situation at the moment and how Graeme Swann needs to strike early when Sri Lanka resume their innings on the morning of day three....
Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene was, not for the first time, the thorn in England's side as the hosts moved on to 289/8. It will mostly be trial by spin when England bat tomorrow but how will they cope?...
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