Close England 273 for 4 (Butcher 85*, Stewart 7*)
scorecard

A dank, overcast Old Trafford versus a selection of balmy evenings in the Far East. Though there was little on offer for the casual sports fan at Manchester, England's cricketers remained dutifully oblivious to that fact, even if the banks of empty seats indicated that the public's attention was elsewhere.

Those that did turn up witnessed England on top from the moment that Nasser Hussain won the toss and opted to bat. The low, dense cloud-cover may have hinted that the seamers would be in command, but the pitch was placid and the Sri Lankan quick bowlers as toothless as they had been at Edgbaston.

Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher feasted on their erratic line and length. Sri Lanka had made two changes to their attack, with Dilhara Fernando and Eric Upashantha replacing Nuwan Zoysa and Charitha Buddika, but there was little sign of improvement. Alternating between too short and too full, they were milked for regular boundaries, and even Muttiah Muralitharan was dispatched for 20 runs in his first two overs.

When they came, all of the wickets were something of a surprise given that the Sri Lankan bowlers rarely looked in the least bit threatening. Two of the dismissals - Vaughan and Hussain - came about from Fernando's superbly-disguised slower ball but there was little else to give any indication that Sri Lanka's bowlers had recovered from the mauling they suffered at Edgbaston.

Vaughan had looked confident and prepared to attack before he was outwitted by Fernando, tamely prodding a defensive push to Chaminda Vaas at mid-off for 36 (66 for 1). That just brought together Butcher and Trescothick, and the pair set about the bowling with untroubled ease.

As Sri Lanka's seam attack wilted so their fielding followed suit with Trescothick being reprieved twice in as many balls off Fernando. The first offender was Hashan Tillekeratne at gully, the second a rigid-fingered Eric Upashantha who spilt a routine top-edged chance at square-leg.

Eventually, inevitably, it was Muralitharan who broke through - it was increasingly hard to see where else a wicket was going to come from. Trescothick edged Murali to first slip where Mahela Jayawardene took an excellent low catch. There was a moment's hesitation before Steve Bucknor languidly nodded to the batsman that he had to go. Trescothick had made 81 and fallen to Murali for the first time (192 for 2).

Nasser Hussain started confidently, crashing Fernando for three boundaries in the over before tea, but the fireworks were brief and he was back in the pavilion before the sandwiches had been cleared from the table, and again it was Dilhara Fernando's slower ball which struck. Hussain picked up the change of pace too late; unlike Vaughan, he opted to try and hit through the delivery but only succeeded in smashing the ball high in the air to Muttiah Muralitharan at mid-off (219 for 3).

With Butcher dug in and resolutely progressing towards his hundred, Graham Thorpe set out his stall to gorge on the easy pickings, even benefiting from a fortuitous reprieve when he appeared to have edged to Kumar Sangakkara. A brief rain delay upset his concentration. When they resumed in light drizzle justice was done when he edged the otherwise dismal Eric Upashantha to Sangakkara for 32 (262 for 4).

Butcher remained, joined by the solid Alec Stewart, and the pair will resume tomorrow morning. The forecast is for Old Trafford to be fairly wet in the coming days and judging by the performance of the Sri Lankan bowlers so far in this match, they appear unlikely to give their batsmen a fighting chance to level the series .

England 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Michael Vaughan, 3 Mark Butcher, 4 Nasser Hussain (capt), 5 Graham Thorpe, 6 Alec Stewart (wk), 7 Andrew Flintoff, 8 Alex Tudor, 9 Ashley Giles, 10 Andy Caddick, 11 Matthew Hoggard.

Sri Lanka 1 Marvan Atapattu, 2 Russel Arnold, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Aravinda de Silva, 6 Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), 7 Hashan Tillekeratne, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Eric Upashantha, 10 Dilhara Fernando, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

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