A little like Ricky Hatton, Sri Lanka struggled to land many blows in the first two sessions here (the big fight, as you can imagine, created much interest at the Sinhalese Sports Club, as everywhere else, though those at the ground were denied any TV pictures or even radio commentary and had to follow the skirmish on the internet).
England seemed to suffer their biggest headaches before the match actually started. Watching Steve Harmison limber up is always a heart in the mouth moment. Spurs supporters who just occasionally used to watch Darren Anderton, aka Sicknote, trotting on to the pitch at White Hart Lane, must have had much the same feeling and Newcastle United and England followers of a more recent vintage have had a similar experience with Michael Owen.
A short time before the match was due to start Harmison started limping on his left ankle. Jimmy Anderson, who along with the injured Matthew Hoggard had made way for Harmison and Stuart Broad, looked in line for a very swift recall. Happily, Harmy appeared to make an immediate recovery and took his place in the side. Then Michael Vaughan won the toss. As WG Grace said, if you win the toss bat. If you're not sure have a think about it and then bat. And if you're really worried about it have a long think about it and then bat.
This was probably the best time in the match to unleash Harmison and Broad, who was handed his first Test cap by England captain Michael Vaughan before play. The pitch, though, suggested there was no compelling reason not to bat and you simply can't hand the initiative to the batting side in circumstances like this. Not a bad toss to lose.
Surprise, surprise, the pitch is flat. As flat as a denial. But Michael Vaughan batted like a dream. It is difficult to think of a finer sight in the game when he is in this form. His freak dismissal deprived him of a richly deserved hundred.
The other day a group of my colleagues went down to see the Surrey Cricket Village in Magonna. This is a joint development between Surrey County Cricket Club and the Sri Lanka Cricket Board to provide homes for those whose lives were devastated in the 2004 tsunami - the third anniversary of the disaster is coming up later this month.
The village was opened on February 10 by the Sri Lanka minister for for sports and recreation, Gamini Lokuge, and this media trip, in which reporters were accompanied by Surrey's chief executive Paul Sheldon, was to see what progress had been made.
Forty-five houses have been built on bushland and there is a central sports area for the community to use. There is a real cricketer heritage here, with streets named after famous Surrey cricketers like Alec Stewart and Graham Thorpe.
I had intended to make the trip myself but after clambering on board the coach and seeing my fine colleague Mike Selvey already sitting there I decided to get off (there are only so many Guardian hacks that can be inflicted upon the populace of Magonna at any one time).
Unfortunately for Mike he was required to do a podcast at the vital moment and missed most of the village tour, which everyone found funny (apart from him, strangely) as it involved almost four hours travelling on a dodgy road.
