, England managed to hobble home with just one Test defeat against Sri Lanka but, as anyone who saw the series would verify, that was not a fair reflection of the balance between the two teams.
Sri Lanka is not an easy place to tour. Hot and humid, the only real preparation for playing cricket here is by playing cricket here.
It seems no matter how much time you spend running and pumping iron in the air conditioned gym, nothing comes remotely close to matching the exertion of bowling or batting for long periods.
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Truth be told, England have been pretty much outplayed by a superb Sri Lanka side on their home soil, despite battling for a .
TMS analyst Simon Hughes has given his marks out of 10 for the England players. Do you agree with them?
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Instead of the Twelve Days of Christmas, I offer you my 12 top memories from producing Test Match Special over the past six weeks here in Sri Lanka.
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Well - where on earth do I start, having sat and watched that?
Clearly, the first thing to do is to between the two teams that England supporters must be absolutely horrified.
Compared to England, Sri Lanka have played tough, disciplined and mature cricket – and I have chosen that last adjective carefully - while some of England’s cricket strikes me as being worryingly immature, just as was during the summer.
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One of the more bizarre moments on Test Match Special this series occurred during the final session on Wednesday when “The Analyst" Simon Hughes suddenly burst into song.
It was all TMS listener David Cook's fault.
During a quiet passage of play he e-mailed the programme with his suggestion for a Christmas carol based on the .
It was inspired by some of the carol singing we heard from the Barmy Army, who decided to make their own entertainment as .
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I remember former England coach Duncan Fletcher telling me once that the first skill to suffer in a tired team is fielding.
Well England have crammed in three Tests in little over three weeks, which is entirely unreasonable in this part of the world, so it is little wonder that three chances went begging .
This is not to make an excuse for England; I am merely stating the obvious: they are tired, not least because they have now been bowling at Mahela Jayawardene for 21 hours.
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Since we have been here in Galle we have been hearing some amazing stories about what happened here when the .
But the magnitude of the events of that day were really brought home to me on Wednesday when Jonathan Agnew spoke to two young men whose lives were changed forever that day.
Charlie Pelham and Spencer Crawley were among the members of the Harrow School cricket team preparing to play a match at the ground when the wave hit.
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An excellent crowd gathered to enjoy the return of Test cricket to Galle, and they were rewarded not merely with good weather, but an intriguing tussle too.
It is impossible to assess this unknown pitch, and therefore to gauge which team have the upper hand at present, but I can't help but feel that England would have been hoping for more than just four wickets when they saw how much the ball moved about in the early overs.
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The and everyone will cross their fingers when the first ball – the significance of which stretches well beyond the boundary of this pretty seaside ground - is eventually bowled.
Slowly, some semblance of order is taking over from the complete confusion that we witnessed on the day we arrived here.
Some seats are now in place and a scoreboard was being hastily erected on Monday afternoon, hours before the Test is due to start.
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Those working in time for Tuesday's third Test match deserve as much luck as they can get. Sadly, looking at the weather forecast for the next few days here in the south of Sri Lanka, they may not get it.
We are expecting heavy showers over the next few days to cause more problems for the groundsmen who are desperately trying to make the ground playable for what should be an emotional game.
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Everyone knows what happened here when the tsunami struck on Boxing Day 2004.
remain along both sides of the bustling road that clings to the coast between Colombo and Galle – shells of houses with walls missing and their roofs ripped off.
The – but the focus for the cricketing world was Galle.
We have all played or watched cricket on this ground with, at the sea end, the apparently indestructible which saved many lives that day when boys from Harrow School were playing on the ground.
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After the thrilling it was a real shame at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo was a rather disappointing affair.
At least, from an England point of view, the hard-earned draw means the series is still alive when the third Test gets underway here in Galle on Tuesday.
The Colombo Test may not live too long in the memory - but it was not short of talking points in the Test Match Special commentary box.
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Welcome to Ask Bearders, where statistician Bill "" Frindall answers your questions on all things cricket.
Below are Bill's responses to some of your questions posed at the end of his last column and if you have a question for Bill, leave it at the end of this blog entry. Please do include your country of residence - Bill loves to hear where all his correspondents are posting from.
Bill isn't able to answer all of your questions, however. ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sport staff will choose a selection of them and send them to Bearders for him to answer.
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Although heavy rain at tea had the final say, England were good value for their .
They batted positively on the final day, losing only three wickets and although they can’t now win the series, they can still level it.
But Sri Lanka are the dominant team – no doubt about it – and England must learn some important lessons, particularly the need for their batsmen to convert their 60s, 70s and 80s into far bigger scores.
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As in the first Test, England - although failure to do so this time will also cost them the series.
There is, however, one significant difference to , which England narrowly failed to save, as they start the last day 149 runs behind, compared to 340 in the opening game.
This means that if they score at a reasonable rate, England will be able to make the game safe without having to survive for the entire day. They should be on level terms sometime in mid-afternoon, and it will be easier batting with a positive plan in mind, rather than just holding out grimly with runs being worthless.
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Ruthlessly and efficiently, at Colombo's Sinhalese Sports Club.
Michael Vaughan will not completely have given up hope of squaring the series, but for that to happen his exhausted bowlers will first need to dismiss Sri Lanka before lunch on the fourth day.
That seems most unlikely.
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The second day of the second Test, , was another very good one for Matt Prior.
After making such a promising start to Test cricket, the Sussex wicket-keeper's halo began to slip towards the end of last summer.
This was through more than merely dropping catches - most notably at the Oval in the final Test against India - but also for his apparently constant, aggravating chirping behind the stumps which all came to a head during the
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Another tough and left Sri Lanka in the stronger position, and England rueing their genuinely bad luck as they analyse how their promising innings subsided from 133-0 to 237-5.
Michael Vaughan clearly prefers opening the batting and, with Alastair Cook, posted England’s first century opening stand for 15 Tests.
The captain batted beautifully for 87 before falling in just about the most unlucky manner possible, clipping Muttiah Muralitharan hard into the leg side only for the ball to strike the short-leg fieldsman in the groin before becoming trapped between his legs!
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England are steadfastly refusing to give any hints about the final make-up of their team for this vital second Test in Colombo, other than to and the possibility of playing a second spinner.
The first option open to them is to drop James Anderson, who was expensive at Kandy, and bring in both Steve Harmison and Stuart Broad.
Many people feel that this is the time Harmison really has to stand up and deliver - he is, after all, supposedly the leading strike bowler, and England badly need his pace and bounce. But there is an element of risk in playing a man who is struggling for form and confidence and giving Broad his debut in a four-man attack.
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When you are walking in a tiny village an hour south of Colombo, you don't expect to find roads named after the likes of and .
But if you listen to our coverage of the second Test you'll be able to find out why these England stars and TMS summarisers find themselves on signposts in such an unusual location.
The village is called Magonna an area about a mile inland from the sea which until fairly recently was mainly bush land. But thanks to an amazing development funded by Surrey County Cricket Club and the Sri Lankan cricket board the village now has 45 new homes and a fantastic new cricket ground for the local community to use.
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This was a tremendous Test match, with both teams having their share of control and pressure, but it was won by the more consistent of the two over the five days.
England so nearly hung on thanks to Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara (who played really well in only his second test innings and was unfortunate to be given out lbw) and Matt Prior. The last five wickets using 68 overs compared to the 26 overs of the first five top order batsmen.
It was a great shame that umpire poor decision to see off Ryan Sidebottom with about half an hour of light left should add a touch of controversy to the climax...
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What is it about wildlife and this tour of Sri Lanka!
On the opening day of the first warm-up game the main talking point was the two snakes that made their way to the edge of the playing area. Matthew Hoggard was especially keen to identify the reptiles. Then on the way to Kandy the England team stopped off at the famous .
We've had several stray dogs on the field during both the warm-up matches and the Kandy Test and monkeys crawling all over the "Congratulations Murali" signs that surround the Asgiriya stadium.
But on Tuesday we had what I would imagine was a rare event - "Bees stop play".
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The last time England toured these parts, Michael Vaughan scored on the last day and England managed to cling on to a well-deserved, but challenging draw. If his team is to have any chance of repeating that narrow escape, Vaughan – and probably another front line batsman – will need to play long, disciplined innings.
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England made but nothing was going to stop him from becoming the highest Test wicket-taker of all time in his home town.
The delivery which cleaned up Paul Collingwood was a classic Murali ball, one that rushes on rather than spinning sharply into the right-hander, and led to joyous celebrations among the Sri Lanka players and crowd.
Most of the cricket world will be . He is a thoroughly genial man who is on excellent terms with all his opponents, and one who has always had to battle away for his success despite many people believing that his action is illegal.
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Cruelly, it . But it will take more than a heavy shower to dampen his enthusiasm, or to delay for too long in moving clear of Shane Warne as Test cricket's leading wicket-taker .
Indeed, watching Ryan Sidebottom groping around at the crease before the heavens opened on day two in Kandy, it will surely be only a matter if time before the off-spinner rewrites cricket history.
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There is no doubt that England won the early salvos in this three-match series against Sri Lanka on .
But with the pitch certain to take increasing amounts of spin, their batsmen need to post a substantial lead to counter the possibility of revitalising his dispirited-looking team.
Michael Vaughan desperately wanted to win the toss on this straw-coloured and paceless strip but, having failed to do so, he did make the point that the best time for visiting teams to bowl here is on the first day.
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