Hoggard ready to swing a Test spot

Matthew Hoggard will have more to gain than most when England let him loose again tomorrow.

Their decision to scrap the scheduled three-day game against an Invitation XI and replace it with a 50-overs contest means Hoggard cannot now improve his winter haul of first-class wickets during the visit to inland Kurunegala.

But the Yorkshire paceman will still relish another chance to keep England's Test attack under pressure.

Hoggard could not have done much more with his limited opportunities either side of Christmas.

He took 17 wickets during two warm- up matches in Pakistan and then helped himself to another three in the game immediately before England's first Test of this tour. Those impressive performances have not been enough to end Hoggard's wait for a second cap and it is now eight months since he made his debut against the West Indies last summer.

But the 24-year-old continues to push hard - and Andrew Caddick's lack of success as a wicket-taker on the sub-continent becomes all the more significant with England one down following their innings defeat in Galle.

There is no disputing Caddick's effectiveness when the pitch enables him to gain sideways movement or sharp lift. In this part of the world, though, he has been reduced to doing a containing job on the low, slow and grassless surfaces.

If Hoggard is given a Test chance before the end of this three-match series it will be because of the work he has put in all winter, rather than anything he might produce during tomorrow's limited-overs game.

Even so, another eye-catching performance would not go amiss.

"Matthew would be the first to admit that when he's played this winter he's had helpful conditions," said assistant coach Bob Cottam. "But you still have to perform on them, which he's done."

Tomorrow, England face an experienced line-up including Sri Lanka's pinch-hitting, World Cupwinning wicket-keeper Romesh Kaluwitharana and recent internationals Avishka Gunawardena, Lanka de Silva and Eric Upashantha.

ENGLAND: N Hussain (capt), M Trescothick, G Hick, G Thorpe, M Vaughan, C White, P Nixon (wkt), R Croft, D Gough, M Hoggard, J Brown.