Then next ball, Eric Upashantha dropped a dolly of a catch at square leg.In grey, gloomy conditions on a hard, dry and cracked pitch, Hussain, after naming an unchanged side, won his second important toss in a row. The England captain, like 60 of the previous 67 successful tossers at this ground, decided to bat and it would only have taken a brief look outside before he could relax knowing he had made the correct decision.Michael Vaughan and Trescothick walked out to bat knowing a good start from the two of them, and a good first day for the team, would go a long way in sealing a 1-0 series win for England. They were greeted by opening spells from Chaminda Vaas and Upashantha that were as challenging for England’s openers as a conversation in the Big Brother household.Vaughan was first out, falling to an excellent piece of bowling from Fernando, who had at least brought some vigour to the tourists’ lacklustre effort. Through bending his back, the fast bowler showed this pitch was not devoid of help but it was a well-disguised slower ball that lured the Yorkshire batsman into chipping one to mid-off.The next success for the burly bowler came in a similar vein to his first.

Hussain, who came to the crease looking to be positive, was, like Vaughan, completely flummoxed by another slower ball, which, having an awful hack at, he top-edged to mid-off. Muralitharan fittingly took the catch, as it was his bowling which had forced Hussain to play recklessly against the seamers.The late loss of Thorpe gave Upashantha something to smile about at last, but it will be the England dressing-room that would have been the happier last night. Bad light stopped play 4.58-5.25pm 257-3 (Butcher 82, Thorpe 28) 68.4 overs. Rain stopped play 5.45pm.Trescothick 50: 116 min, 75 balls, 10 fours.Butcher 50: 133 min, 101 balls, 8 fours.SRI LANKA: M S Atapattu, R P Arnold, ? Sangakkara, D P M D Jayawardene, P A de Silva, *S T Jayasuriya, H P Tillakaratne, W P U C J Vaas, K E A Upashantha, C R D Fernando, M Muralitharan.Umpires: S A Bucknor and D L Orchard TV replay umpire: N A Mallender Match referee: G R Vishwanath.. Mark Butcher completed his fifth Test century today as England progressed towards a formidable total in a rain–hit final Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford. Gary Megson and his newly-promoted West Bromwich Albion side knew life at the top was going to be tough, but they could hardly have been presented with a more daunting start to the Premiership.

“This is what everybody at the club worked so hard for last season, to be playing teams like United, Leeds and Arsenal. There’s no point going flat out to win promotion and then being scared of the consequences.”Fellow newcomers Birmingham must face Arsenal at Highbury, while Manchester City, the First Division champions, meet Leeds United at Elland Road before entertaining their manager Kevin Keegan’s former club, Newcastle, a week later. City’s director of football, Dennis Tueart, said: “This is exactly the challenge which we have all worked for. We would all rather be playing Leeds United and Newcastle than the likes of Preston and Wimbledon.”FA BARCLAYCARD PREMIERSHIP Opening day fixtures: Arsenal v Birmingham, Aston Villa v Liverpool, Blackburn v Sunderland, Charlton v Chelsea, Everton v Tottenham, Fulham v Bolton, Leeds v Manchester City, Manchester Utd v West Bromwich, Newcastle v West Ham, Southampton v Middlesbrough (Matches to be played weekend 17-19 August).. It has been an amazing and touching experience to see a nation bonding and finding its identity over something as innocuous as a football match. The joy last week of South Korea’s first ever victory in a World Cup finals will surely be surpassed if Guus Hiddink’s heroes qualify today for the last 16 by at least drawing with Portugal.
It would be churlish just to point out that South Korea’s first victims, Poland, are not in the first tier of European nations, as was confirmed by their capitulation against Portugal.