A dramatic return to form by the English captain, Nasser Hussain, has led England to a strong position in the second Test in Kandy. In a record-breaking partnership with Graham Thorpe, Hussain added 167 runs for the third wicket and finished the day on 249-5.

Hussain - Captain's innings Photo CricInfo

Hussain's departure, bowled by Muralitharan coming down the pitch for 109, signalled another change of fortunes in the game, with Hick following shortly afterwards, lbw to Muralitharan for 0. At the close England faced a deficit of 48 with White on 6* and Stewart on 16*

The day belonged to Hussain, however. This was his ninth Test century, coming 14 months after the previous one, a superb 146 in Durban, and gave England hope of earning a first innings lead over Sri Lanka. He hit 12 fours and three sixes and showed his delight clearly upon reaching the milestone.

The ground-work was done for England by the record breaking, third-wicket stand between Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe, surpassing the 139 second-wicket partnership between Alec Stewart and Graham Gooch at Lords in 1991.

Joining each other after England had lost both openers early, with the score on just 37 the pair soon signalled their positive intent. An aggressive display of counter-attacking added 78 runs in just 18 overs, to take the lunch score to 115-2 at lunch. Hussain lofted Dharmasena over wide mid-on twice and hit the same bowler out of the ground with one perfect straight drive. Thorpe took on Muralitharan, twice lofting the magical off-spinner back over his head and cutting him once to the square boundary.

They then batted throughout the afternoon session, consolidating somewhat though Hussain brought up his 50 (in 133 balls and 152 minutes) with an authoritative pull-sweep off Muralitharan that sailed into the stands, in 133 balls and 152 minutes.

Murali - horrified Photo CricInfo

Hussain did enjoy some of the fortune that has deserted him in recent months: he survived two bat-pad catches of Muralitharan when he was on 50 and 62. Television replays confirmed that both came off bat and pad and Muralitharan, in particular, was horrified when he was not given out.

Sri Lanka may have prospered from some umpiring errors in the First Test Match in Galle, but they have had the rough end of the stick in Kandy. Yesterday Kumar Sangakkara was given out off his arm guard, and several decisions went against the hosts today.

Earlier, Atherton was wrapped right in front of the stumps by Vaas for seven, and Marcus Trescothick, having driven the off-spinner, Dharmasena, powerfully through extra cover first ball and then tried to pull-sweep the very next delivery. The ball took a top edge, however, and was easily caught by Kumar Sangakkara for 23 runs.

Hussain's departure, bowled by Muralitharan coming down the pitch for 109, signalled another change of fortunes in the game, with Hick following shortly afterwards, lbw to Muralitharan for 0. At the close England were 250-5, a defecit of

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