Cricket: Hoggard's blitz boosts England; Injuries take toll as Bopara opens bowling.

Byline: RICHARD GIBSON

ENGLAND'S makeshift newball attack glossed over another pre-Test injury scare and a woeful batting display against a Sri Lanka Cricket Board President's XI yesterday, writes RICHARD GIBSON.

Matthew Hoggard and Ravi Bopara were the odd couple who left the President's men in tatters at 77-8 and England with a chance of winning the first-class fixture at the Nondescripts Cricket Club despite conceding a 164-run deficit on first innings.

Yorkshire's Hoggard was the only genuine pace bowler left when England took the field for a second time in the match.

While Steve Harmison continued to recuperate from a back spasm incurred in the first innings, James Anderson was not risked after being struck on the left ankle while fielding.

With pressure to perform added by the limited resources, Hoggard returned an outstanding spell of 9-3-25-5 while Essex all-rounder Bopara chipped in with two wickets and was also involved in a runout after top-scoring with 47 in England's paltry 134 all out.

Bopara, 22, entered this match in a head-to-head battle with Owais Shah for the number six spot in the first Test in Kandy - starting this Saturday. And his performance has helped compile an irresistible case for inclusion.

His temperament in testing circumstances - he came into bat at 44-4 - was unflappable and all three of his victims with the ball over two days have been top-order batsmen.

"It was quite exciting and I like doing it, because I don't do it often," said Bopara, of opening up. Bowling is going to be a massive part of the rest of my career, not just this trip and it is really important that I get the most out of my bowling ability."

Earlier, jolted by a vociferous lbw appeal from his second ball, Bopara was soon hitting cleanly, never more so than when a fierce return drive struck leg-spinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi's bowling hand and left him unlikely to play any further part in the match.

Bopara was the penultimate wicket of England's innings, attempting a third boundary in one Sujeewa de Silva over.

"I felt good from the moment I went in to bat," said the uncapped Bopara. "I tried to go out there and score runs, not just survive - that is the mental approach I take to batt ing."

England's top order were blitzed by left-arm duo de Silva and Chanaka Welegedara - with captain Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen, for the second time in a week, and Ian Bell all failing to make double figures.

Even Shah began stodgily, taking 34 deliveries to get off the mark, and doing so courtesy of a misfield.

Fluency returned in a half-century stand with Bopara but reverse swing in the afternoon proved as effective as conventional swing before lunch and Shah's departure for 26 began a slump.

The Sri Lankan second string - having declared on their overnight 298-9 declared - were batting again by the final session and were under threat of being dismissed before the scheduled close when three wickets in four balls from Hoggard left them 32-5.

"It swung for longer, it shaped more, it wasn't hooping around corners, there was just a little bit of shape and sometimes shape is better than massive swing," said Hoggard, whose haul included Upul Tharanga among four Test batsmen.

"I wasn't too happy with the way I bowled yesterday, I got a little bit of rhythm in the last spell and I wanted to take that into today. The ball also gripped a little bit more off the pitch today than it did yesterday."

CAPTION(S):

FALLING SHORT: R av i Bopara runs out Sujeewa de Silva during England's revival yesterday. Below, Matthew Hoggard who was the bowling star.