De Silva is also a hero in Kent for his stirring deeds in his one season as an

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De Silva is also a hero in Kent for his stirring deeds in his one season as an overseas player in 1995. He made seven Championship centuries for them, almost twice as many runs as the next batsman in the averages, and scored a scintillating 112 in a losing cause at Lord's in the B&H Cup final.Nobody would have minded too much had he scored a century against the county yesterday. It looked a solid proposition when he pulled the last ball before lunch for his second six to bring up his fifty His timing and his intent looked as impeccable as ever. But he was undone by a good one from the worthy Martin Saggers which left him late and demanded to be edged to first slip.

Jayawardene played some strokes which were equally thrilling, 18 of which went for four.England have already seen plenty of him. He made 120 against them in the ill-starred one-dayer at Adelaide in 1999 in which Murali was no-balled for throwing and Sri Lanka chased 303 to win. In the Second Test at Kandy last year he gathered an unblemished 101.The pull and the cut of that innings were on show again yesterday, as epitomised by the contemptuous cut to the boundary which took him to a hundred. He was annoyed with himself for pulling one to deep backward square shortly after.Russel Arnold, one of their more prosaic middle-order men, went on pretty much as he liked and there was a slightly less flamboyant late-evening 50 for Thilan Samaraweera. The tourists will have been grateful for the practice, England know they have to bowl better at them.It is difficult to tell what sort of heart Sri Lanka are in.

Whatmore says each day that goes by makes it easier to cope without Murali. It has been said that they have never won a Test without him since he made his debut, but then he has only missed one match. Their force when he is around is obvious, but when he is not they are never less than worth watching.. For someone whose World Cup place is supposed to be in the balance, Joe Cole appears strangely relaxed Either that or he knows something we do not. He would never say, of course, but you sense he already knows that his month of June will include the odd plate of sushi. Sven Goran Eriksson may have been caricatured as someone who likes to keep his cards close to his chest, but the England manager has, in fact, left a trail of evidence in his wake.Eriksson has never changed his views on Cole.

No sooner had the Swede settled in at Soho Square than he had identified the young West Ham United midfielder as a special talent. It was no coincidence, for example, that he chose to visit Upton Park on his first weekend in charge 14 months ago. It also says everything that, when fit, Cole has never been omitted from an England squad under the new regime. Cole is, and always has been, part of Eriksson's plans.The player himself is naturally anxious not to present his inclusion in the World Cup party as a fait accompli, but even he had to admit that he has kept his summer schedule clear.