England and Sri Lanka search for cutting edge

London, May 28: Sri Lanka minus Muttiah Muralitharan and England with their one-dimensional attack resembled two armies who had shields but no swords in the high-scoring drawn first test at Lord's.

How to take 20 wickets if confronted by another bland pitch is the pressing problem for England captain Nasser Hussain and his opposite number Sanath Jayasuriya in the second test at Edgbaston starting on Thursday.

Jayasuriya would like nothing more than to be able to call on the talents of his potential match-winner Muralitharan but the off-spinning magician has still not fully recovered from an injury to his left shoulder and it seems as though his first appearance of the series will have to wait until the third and final test at Old Trafford.

Sri Lanka's four-pronged pace attack responded to Muralitharan being sidelined by dismissing England for 275 in the first innings at Lord's but they were exposed when Hussain's men followed on 280 behind.

England saved the match by diligent batting on a pitch that became more benign the longer the game went on and they amassed 529 for five declared, with the top five in the order contributing two hundreds and three half-centuries.

As the door gradually closed on the prospect of a 10th consecutive test win for Sri Lanka, the spotlight fell increasingly on left-arm seamer Ruchira Perera's suspect action which at the end of the test was reported to the International Cricket Council (ICC) by umpires Srinivas Venkataraghavan of India and Australia's Daryl Harper.

Perera, who had a five-wicket match haul at Lord's, has been working with Australian specialist bowling advisor Daryl Harper to iron out the problems with his action, and a report on their progress must be submitted to the ICC after six weeks.

In the meantime there is nothing to stop Perera from playing international cricket and, given the continued absence of Muralitharan, he is likely to keep his place at Edgbaston.

 ertainly, there has been scant chance for other bowlers in the squad to press their test claims, with rain washing out the last three days of the four-day match against Glamorgan in Cardiff at the weekend -- the touring team's only game between the first and second tests.