In the last two matches of this England A tour in Sri Lanka, however, Ben has played two innings of the highest quality. His maiden first-class hundred was masterly in that there was no element of chance in it, unlike his fifty for England's senior side against Australia in the third one-day international. ``I must have played and missed at half the balls I faced in that innings,'' he said with rare overstatement.

The advance in his batting on this tour has been enormous. Few English batsmen are happy to use their feet to spinners on subcontinent pitches - especially if the ball is turning away from the bat - but Hollioake has effectively made his runs in this series - 67, 103 and 45 - on the back of his continual sorties down the wicket to off-spinners and left-armers alike.

Ben, or 'Peli', as he is known to his team-mates here, after his and the pelican's long face, credits two of the best English modern-day players of spin, Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting, for their advice.

Like Gooch, Hollioake is a disciple of the lap shot, the deft paddle round the corner of balls pitching outside off stump. But until this tour, he said, he did not employ the sweep, a stroke that has been highly productive for him.

He attributed his improvement to Gooch and Gatting. ``Where they've helped a lot is when to go down the pitch and when not to,'' he mused.

His selectivity in doing so has been highly impressive, not only in bringing him runs but also in upsetting the length of spinners, none of whom has tied him down. Without doubt he is the best player of spin in the side. Against pace, he is still apt not to move his feet early in his innings, being sometimes slow to get forward. But his aim of 1,000 first-class runs next summer ought to be well within reach, particularly if Surrey bat him higher up.

One of the reasons that it took him 29 innings to score a maiden hundred was the strength of the county's batting, which pushed him down to No 7 or No 8 last year. A Test berth at No 6 could now be realistic sooner rather than later.

As for his bowling, he began the tour well with excellent rhythm, in his own words, before losing some of it in the first four-day Test. He started pushing the ball leg side as his hand was not fully behind it, but on Monday his best form was returning in England's win in the second Test at Matara.

His target of 50 wickets next summer is attainable, for at times he has been the quickest bowler on tour.

Jonathan Powell has been making a good recovery from his infected finger. The off-spinner has been on antibiotics.