By Geoffrey Dean in Colombo
ANDREW FLINTOFF, the former England Under-19 captain, has a future in the game that is as considerable as his huge frame.
Towering over the Sri Lankan Board President's XI yesterday, he must have looked like The Incredible Hulk to his young opposition, who spent much of the afternoon retrieving balls he had dispatched with sometimes frightening power.
Flintoff, 20, on the Lancashire staff, finished with an unbeaten 83 in 3.25 hours. Standing 6ft 4in, and with the physique of an international rugby forward, he has commanding presence at the crease. He uses his long reach to full effect, getting a long way forward wherever possible to hit in the 'V' with impressive cleanness. Many of his 16 boundaries were driven straight or through extra cover.
He was given a searching examination, when he came in at 139 for three, by a slippery left-arm seamer Ruchira Perera.
The pitch at the Sara Stadium had started damp after heavy rain 36 hours earlier had saturated it, and there was still some life in it. Flintoff was beaten several times, but whenever Perera erred with his length, he drove or pulled the bowling with clinical judgment.
Against spin, very much the weaker part of his game, Flintoff showed he had learnt from his mistake of a week earlier when he went down a turning pitch to a left-arm spinner and was stumped. This time, he sensibly elected to negotiate the leg-spinner and another left-armer from his crease.
Steve James and Darren Maddy both reached positive fifties, but not without some luck. When Perera came back for another spell, both fell to pull shots after being surprised by extra pace and bounce.
Maddy was not amused to have his name spelt 'Muddy' on the scoreboard, but that error was trumped by Chris Read's description as 'Dead'.
Day 3: Hutchison still hoping to be back in the swim
By Geoffrey Dean in Colombo
ENGLAND A may have been distracted by the implications of their security meeting yesterday, but if they were they did not show it in a commendable performance on the third day against the Board President's XI in Colombo.
England set a victory target of 349 after declaring on 244 for three, and the Sri Lankans finished on two without loss at the close, but England paid a price for their efforts.
Paul Hutchison, the Yorkshire left-arm seamer, suffered a back strain and left the field just before the close. The problem was in the same area as a stress fracture, which put him out of cricket for a year.
Hutchison said: ``It's a bit worrying after all the trouble I've had with it before. I felt it in the last couple of overs I bowled today, but I plan to have a swim and test it out in the morning and we will see where we go from there.''
Nick Knight, scratchy at first, grew in confidence to reach a first fifty in Sri Lanka, while Steve James scored his third in succession. Darren Maddy continued his purple patch, cutting and sweeping the spinners, and Mark Ealham looked equally authoritative.
England dismissed the Sri Lankans for 249 after they resumed on 204 for seven, Hutchison and Ashley Giles claiming three wickets.
Common sense clearly prevailed among the players when they made their decision to stay on in Sri Lanka notwithstanding Sunday's bomb blast in Kandy.
The party will leave tomorrow for Kurunegala, venue for Friday's first Test, and might not return to Colombo, the other main terrorist target, until the end of the tour.
Graham Gooch, tour manager, is due to discuss the rescheduled itinerary today with Dhammika Ranatunga, the Sri Lankan Board chief executive. Gooch disclosed that the tour party team had had two meetings, the first among themselves, and the second with management.
More than half the party were expressing severe reservations during the day about continuing the tour, but were talked around by those wanting to stay.
With nine players under 21, apprehension was understandable, but one 20-year-old, Andrew Flintoff, who had not wanted to leave, said that the waverers had just needed some reassurance.
The England and Wales Cricket Board deserve credit for their stance. ``Our board were very keen for the tour to continue,'' said Gooch. ``There are lots of other problems in other countries, not least our own in Northern Ireland. We want to play, but minimise the risk.''
The ECB are keen, no doubt, to repay a debt from seven years ago. When the Gulf War broke out, an England A side were advised to leave Pakistan immediately, whereupon Sri Lanka gave them sanctuary.
A seven-week tour was hurriedly organised, and eight days before its conclusion a massive bomb in Colombo killed the defence minister. The team stayed then, and are right to do so now.
Day 4: Giles and Cosker fell Sri Lankans
By Geoffrey Dean in Colombo
AN excellent performance in the field by England A, their best of the Sri Lanka tour so far, earned them a deserved half day off after victory over the Board President's XI was secured by 2.30pm in Colombo yesterday.
Their first win, by the resounding margin of 176 runs, lifted morale for Friday's first unofficial Test after the anxiety caused by Sunday's bomb in Kandy. Nick Knight, the captain, said: ``The problems have helped the team to gel.''
In contrast to England A's committed approach, it was the Board President's XI who played as if their minds were elsewhere. Resuming on two without loss, with an improbable 349 for victory, their top five showed little inclination to build an innings, all falling before lunch, four to loose shots.
Conditions for batting were admittedly not that easy. The ball was swinging under light cloud cover, and a bone dry, deteriorating pitch offered sometimes sharp turn.
Almost immediately, Jimmy Ormond broke through when he had Ruwin Peiris caught at mid-off, the victim of extra bounce when the ball hit high up the bat as he drove.
David Sales may not be the most athletic member of the England side, but he got down very well at mid-on to cling on to a stinging, low drive from Sanjeewa Ranatunga, the one batsman with Test experience.
Shorn of his application, the opposition's resolve visibly wilted. Steve James's catch at the finer of two gullies to remove Thushara Dilshan was an equally good effort. The bowler was Paul Hutchison, who was restricted to just five overs owing to his sore back.
The spinners then operated in tandem, bowling beautifully to take the last seven wickets in the space of 24 overs. Ashley Giles had Manoj Mendis picked up off bat-pad at silly-point, and on the stroke of lunch Dean Cosker beat Sanjeewa Silva in the air to have him caught at cover.
Giles and Cosker varied their flight and pace with intelligence and skill, each beating defensive prods with quicker balls.
With the batman handcuffed to the crease, English close fielders were on continual alert, especially Andrew Flintoff at short-leg, where he was hit three times and eventually took a catch.