There is still time for recovery, just, but after only five days of cricket, the latest England tour is a familiar story of injuries and batting collapses. Thanks to Matthew Hoggard’s five for 25, the traffic was not all one-way during an extraordinary second day on which none of the 17 wickets that fell had anything to do with a slightly uneven pitch. But James Anderson joined Stephen Harmison on the list of those unfit to bowl yesterday, leaving Chris Tremlett closer to a call-up and the vibrant Ravi Bopara several steps nearer to his first Test cap.

Harmison did no more than receive treatment on his stiff back before stretching gently in the club’s swimming pool and Anderson was not prepared to risk exacerbating his left ankle after turning it in a foothold when bowling on the first day, so Bopara was thrust suddenly but willingly into a role that was the making of Ian Botham. The 22-year-old took the new ball and bowled with verve after top-scoring in an abject England first innings. The young Sri Lankan team repeated some of England’s impatience against a new ball propelled with pleasing rhythm and dangerous, late outswing by Hoggard, but, by then, England had been bowled out for 134 in only 50.2 overs.

They were in too much of a hurry at first, then unable to get on top after sinking to 44 for four. Had he wanted to, Tillekeratne Dilshan, the home side’s captain, could have enforced a follow-on, but he chose to bat, while the men who were originally vying for the role of third fast bowler - Harmison and Anderson – brooded in the new pavilion at this pleasant, tree-lined ground. There are no advertisements as a matter of club policy and the only dissonant notes came from military bands tuning up tonelessly throughout the day – much like the England batting.

The match situation is intriguing and the result today could be important to England’s morale, but there is a delicate decision to be made by a management team reinforced by David Graveney. Tremlett, who is in Mohali, northern India, and due in Madras with the rest of the England Lions team on Thursday, could get to Kandy in 24 hours if necessary, but, with only three Tests to play and Stuart Broad in reserve, it would be better for him to have a match in Madras and to make the hop south only if either Harmison or Anderson were to be ruled out of the series.

Because neither has a serious injury, it would be unduly panicky to send for Tremlett at once. Moreover, it is possible that Graeme Swann will be needed as a second spinner in one or both of the second and third Tests in lieu of a third fast bowler. Without Broad or Swann, the tail in the Kandy Test would be uncomfortably weak.

The Sri Lankans bowled far more consistent lengths and lines than England had managed on the first day, led by two left-arm fast bowlers, Chanaka Welegedera, the smooth Chaminda Vaas lookalike, and the strong, slingy Sujeewa de Silva, who is in the 14 for the Kandy Test. De Silva started the rot by hitting Michael Vaughan’s off stump with a ball of perfect length that held its line from over the wicket and then having Ian Bell, who was earlier dropped at first slip, caught behind off an inside edge.

Kevin Pietersen got an outside edge, driving in an attempt to impose himself. He will need to get his head down for longer and show more respect to the bowlers if he is dominate as he can, but that goes for Bell, too. Alastair Cook looked untroubled as England thus subsided to 21 for three in the first seven overs after the overnight declaration, but he fell trying to sweep at the third ball bowled by Kaushal Lokourachchi, the little leg spinner.

As often seems to happen when two batsmen are competing for one Test berth, Bopara and Owais Shah found themselves together, needing runs for themselves and national pride. Shah refused to repeat the mistakes of the top order, playing himself in so fastidiously that he took 34 balls, in more than an hour and 13 overs, to score his first run. Even then, it came by courtesy of a misfield.

Bopara batted more comfortably, but neither could get on top in the early afternoon because Ishara Amarasinghe, the third seamer, bowled at the stumps, on a length and at a brisk pace. He was rewarded by bowling Shah off an inside edge, driving, after 31 overs of staunch but slightly careworn batting.

Once Matt Prior had driven too early at a slower ball and edged it to slip, England were into their long tail – and it failed to wag. Bopara was obliged to press on for runs and was eighth out, driving low to extra cover, but he had batted well and the package he represents makes him the right selection at No 6 in the first Test as things stand.

“If we are going to make mistakes, we want to make them early,” Peter Moores, the England head coach, said last week before five days of cricket that have been full of them. He might have said the same about injuries, but early setbacks such as this do not necessarily amount to a crisis. This should prove to be a resilient team.

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka Cricket Board President’s XI: First Innings 298-9 dec (W U Tharanga 86, J Mubarak 68, J K Silva 53). Second Innings

W U Tharanga b Hoggard 5
M L Udawatte c Prior b Bopara 45
B S M Warnapura lbw b Bopara 4
*T M Dilshan c Shah b Hoggard 3
J Mubarak lbw b Hoggard 0
C K Kapugedera c sub b Hoggard 0
†J K Silva c Prior b Hoggard 2
W R S de Silva run out 4
U W M B C A Welegedara not out 5
M K D I Amerasinghe not out 0
Extras (b 4, lb 2, nb 3) 9

Total (8 wkts, 28.4 overs) 77

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-14, 3-32, 4-32, 5-32, 6-40, 7-52, 8-75. Bowling: Hoggard 9-3-25-5; Bopara 10-2-32-2; Panesar 9-4-14-0; Pietersen 0.4-0-0-0.

England XI: First Innings

A N Cook lbw b Lokuarachchi 35
*M P Vaughan b De Silva 0
I R Bell c Silva b De Silva 3
K P Pietersen c Silva b Welegedara 1
O A Shah b Amerasinghe 26
R S Bopara c Kapugedera b De Silva 47
†M J Prior c Warnapura b Kapugedera 10
M J Hoggard b De Silva 0 J M Anderson b Welegedara 0
M S Panesar not out 0
S J Harmison absent hurt
Extras (lb 3, nb 9) 12

Total (50.2 overs) 134

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-20, 3-21, 4-44, 5-98, 6-123, 7-125, 8-134, 9-134. Bowling: Welegedara 10.2-2-35-2; De Silva 10-1-41-4; Kapugedera 7-2-15-1; Amerasinghe 11-4-16-1; Lokuarachchi 7.2-3-9-1; Dilshan 4.4-0-15-0. Umpires: R Martinesz and W A Senanayake.

Luke Wright, the emerging Sussex all-rounder who broke into the England one-day team last season, has been forced to return home from the England Performance Programme - formerly known as the ECB National Academy – in India because of a foot injury (Pat Gibson writes). Wright, 22, will have extensive treatment in the hope that he will be able to join the England Lions (formerly England A) programme at Loughborough in January. He has been replaced by Steve Finn, the Middlesex and England Under19 fast bowler. The 14-strong squad is working in sub-continental conditions in India to provide cover for the England team in Sri Lanka.