adminHEADINGLEY. — Stuart Broad became the first England bowler to take two hat-tricks in Test cricket, and only the fourth bowler of all time, as England tore through Sri Lanka’s lower order on the opening day of the Headingley Test yesterday. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 257 while England were 36-0 in reply.
It was a day of thrust and counter thrust, a far cry from the footslogging atmosphere of the opening Test at Lord’s and left England with a definite advantage in a Test that will decide the outcome of the series.
Broad had to share the acclaim with the local favourite, Yorkshire’s Liam Plunkett, who took the final wicket of Nuwan Pradeep, one of life’s No. 11s, to finish with 5 for 64, his first five-wicket haul in Tests, and fully justify his recall with a chest-thrusting and, at times, hostile display.
From the moment that Broad removed Kumar Sangakkara, the mainstay of Sri Lanka’s innings, for 79, well caught by Ian Bell at gully, Sri Lanka’s innings immediately crumbled: four wickets lost in nine balls.
Plunkett’s bouncer accounted for Dhammika Prasad, second ball for nought, before Broad added Dinesh Chandimal at first slip and Shaminda Eranga, a catch to the keeper, with the first two deliveries of his following over.
The sequence so confused Broad – and many others alongside him – that he was initially oblivious to the hat-trick.
“I’d absolutely no idea,” he admitted. It was a momentous moment all the same, taking him alongside Australia’s legspinner Jimmy Matthews (who did it twice in the same match), his fellow Australian Hugh Trumble and Wasim Akram of Pakistan as the only players to achieve the feat twice. Broad’s previous success came against India at Trent Bridge in 2011.
It was not all perfect by England, though.
Sangakkara is on what many presume to be his farewell tour of England, but he must have been flattered to see how many gifts were bestowed open him.
They treated him to a missed run out, a non-appeal when he nicked one and two catching blunders to enable him to blunt their progress.
England should have run him out before he had scored.
Sangakkara’s appetite for a single to mid-on from the fourth ball he received was misconceived, Broad’s low throw was calm enough to give Matt Prior time to hurtle up to the stumps, but the ball bounced awkwardly in front of him and he was unable to complete the run out.
His second let-off, in the last over before lunch, was belatedly revealed on Sky TV nearly an hour later. England stifled appeals for a catch at the wicket as Sangakkara’s bat also hit the ground, pushing at Plunkett, but Hot Spot revealed the presence of a thin edge.
Sangakkara’s third moment of fortune, on 27, surprised him so much that he was already four paces to the pavilion.
Plunkett, the bowler, was celebrating, the crowd was roaring its approval and England’s slips were setting off in unison towards the bowler when everybody realised that the ball had struck Prior on the chest and, oblivious to the fact that it was nestling on his gloves, he had thrown his hands apart in confusion and allowed it to drop to the floor.
Plunkett, not to be denied, struck back with two wickets in successive balls.
Mahela Jayawardene, on the drive, was athletically picked up, one handed, by Chris Jordan at second slip and Lahiru Thirimanne fell first ball, his poor tour extended by a hostile delivery which he could only fend to Sam Robson at short leg.
Plunkett, chest expanding by the over, was run for eight overs by Alastair Cook without further success – as surprising as had been James Anderson’s 10 overs with the new ball in the morning.
England added Angelo Mathews at third slip, a second wicket for Anderson but by tea, Sangakarra, given another life on 58 when Moeen Ali dropped a chance high to his right at point, had supplanted Jayawardene as Sri Lanka’s leading Test run maker.
Cook protested pre-match that something should be done about Shane Warne, a grouse that suggested that he was a captain feeling in need of friends.
Instead, he had to contend with Headingley, that most capricious of allies, a ground liable to indicate one thing and do quite another.
He took a deep breath and put Sri Lanka in to bat. — Cricinfo.
Online Reporter