HOPE metamorphosed into an extremely rare sort of triumph for Sri Lanka yesterday as mounting embarrassment turned into something of a cricketing debacle for England. They brought it on themselves, for all the skill, courage and single-minded application of a succession of batting heroes.

By dropping nine catches in all — six of them in the second innings — to add to the seven that they missed when beaten at Lord’s by Australia last July, they allowed Sri Lanka to add a distinguished chapter to the book of famous cricketing escapes.

In all, Sri Lanka batted for 199 overs and for 14 hours and ten minutes in their second innings to defy their opponents after following on with a deficit of 359. Only twice before have as many as seven batsmen passed 50 in a Test innings and their eventual total of 537 for nine was the highest in a second innings at Lord’s.

By the time that the umpires offered the light with only 24 overs remaining, England’s hopes of a desperate run chase were fast receding in the face of a lead of 178.

Watching them as Sri Lanka extended their rearguard over eight sessions was like witnessing a confident national government disintegrate by means of a series of unexpected scandals. For Harold Macmillan or Tony Blair read Andrew Flintoff, whose leadership, so soon after its honeymoon in India, was revealed as being seriously, even fatally, short of imagination. He over-bowled himself, understandable though that was in the absence of Stephen Harmison, and persisted in bowling bouncers at Sri Lanka’s tailenders for a long time without a short leg to catch the ball lobbing up off glove or splice.

Worse, he gave a classical demonstration of the average English captain’s obsessive belief that a good seamer will always be more effective than a good spinner. He should have had Monty Panesar on yesterday within a few overs of Chaminda Vaas’s arrival at the crease.

There was rough outside the left-hander’s off stump at both ends and the left-arm spinner had saved his captain from embarrassment already on Saturday by getting two of the first three left-handers in the batting order by spinning the ball out of the rough from over the wicket. Vaas settled in stoutly against the four quick bowlers and defied them all for more than four hours.

Sri Lanka had a bit of help from the weather and a great deal from a pitch that, as predicted, got easier for batsmen throughout the five days. But most of all they helped themselves. The two senior batsmen, Mahela Jayawardena, the man of the match, and Kumar Sangakkara, had set the right example of patience, concentration and playing the line of the stumps, but from Upal Tharanga’s gutsy performance against the first new ball and Nuwan Kulaseka ra’s against the last, the spirit and application of the younger players was no less impressive.

Sri Lanka were in effect 22 for six when play started under threatening clouds, but only 20 minutes late on the final morning. Flintoff was guilty of the first of the day’s three dropped catches, Chamara Kapugedara missed at waist height in Matthew Hoggard’s second over, but an England victory still looked probable, first when Kapugedara, 19, attempted a hook and lobbed a gentle catch off his gloves to Geraint Jones, then when Liam Plunkett took a well-deserved wicket as Tillekeratne Dilshan edged a ball of the right length to the mercifully reliable Marcus Trescothick.

The last of the recognised batsmen thus fell before lunch, when the lead was only 70, but Vaas was in the early stages of an innings destined to last four hours and 13 minutes. Avoiding all risk, he guided young Kulasekara through a record ninth-wicket partnership for his country of 105 that finally settled the issue.

Kulasekera had shown bravery and a good eye in the first innings, too, and he drew further inspiration when Alastair Cook dropped him in the gully off Sajid Mahmood 15 minutes after lunch. Only 23, Kulasekara had scored only two fifties in 64 previous first-class innings, but he reached his third with a slog-swept six off Panesar and repeated the shot before finally succumbing to a skied hook to deep square leg.

It was already too late for England when Vaas offered one final, difficult chance to Collingwood off Mahmood before the weather had the final say. Sri Lanka’s tour has been transformed by this great recovery, whereas England, who need to preserve their assets for the long haul, have to some extent wasted the 68.3 overs vainly bowled by Flintoff.

They may yet win the series and in home conditions certainly should, but Sri Lanka may be reinforced by Sanath Jayasuriya in next week’s second Test at Edgbaston.

Flintoff should have Harmison to share the burden with him there, but on his way home last night he might have mused about his decision to bat first on Thursday. There was a strong case for putting Sri Lanka in on the first day, not least on the evidence of the only county championship match played earlier in the season at Lord’s, when Kent asked Middlesex to go in first and beat them comfortably by making more than 300 to win in the fourth innings.

If England’s fast bowlers had exploited the lateral movement off the seam better than Sri Lanka’s, they might have bowled their opponents out for less than 100 and gone on to win no matter how well the touring team recovered in easier batting conditions in the second innings.