Patel handed Test bow

Samit Patel
26 March 2012

Nottinghamshire all-rounder Samit Patel was given his England debut in the first Test against Sri Lanka, with Ravi Bopara missing out.

Patel was handed his England cap by wicketkeeping coach Bruce French in the pre-match huddle, with his left-arm spin offering England a fifth bowling option.

Bopara had been favourite to bat at number six for England following Eoin Morgan's axing, but a side injury means he is not fit to bowl - a factor that counted heavily against him in the searing heat of Galle. Stuart Broad, who has been battling an ankle problem, was deemed fit enough to play as one of two specialist seamers alongside James Anderson.

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and opted to bat first. It looked a crucial toss to win but Anderson gave England the perfect start with two wickets in as many balls in his second over.

He took just six deliveries to beat Lahiru Thirimanne, rapping the left-hander on the pads as he left a straighter one. Umpire Bruce Oxenford was unmoved and, after England opted to use the review, the decision was upheld. But Thirimanne was gone moments later when he wafted at one and edged to Graeme Swann at second slip.

The wicket was Anderson's 250th in Tests. Number 251 came off the very next ball as key man Kumar Sangakkara flashed outside off stump and fed wicketkeeper Matt Prior. England celebrated riotously as Sangakkara departed for a golden duck.

After two flashy strokes Tillakaratne Dilshan was next to fall, nicking Broad to Andrew Strauss at first slip.

With four overs gone, Sri Lanka were 15 for three and under serious pressure.

Sri Lanka: HDRL Thirimanne, TM Dilshan, KC Sangakkara, DPMD Jayawardene, TT Samaraweera, LD Chandimal, HAPW Jayawardene, S Randiv, HMRKB Herath, RAS Lakmal, UWMBCA Welegedara

England: AJ Strauss, AN Cook, IJL Trott, KP Pietersen, IR Bell, MJ Prior, SR Patel, SCJ Broad, GP Swann, JM Anderson, MS Panesar

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in