Thuppahi's Blog

Woods and I arrived early to ensure there were time to get the electricians to put the wires into the wall in order to get the fans working before the start of play. As the rest of the Irish players warmed up with a game of football, Paul Stirling sensibly opted for slip catching practice instead. My old friend Keerthi the Sri Lankan scorer turned up to say hello just as the TV in the Member’s Bar was showing highlights of the previous day’s play. Tucker should have been out caught at silly point off bat-pad just before the new ball was taken, but the umpire missed it and Frank was minded not to potentially waste his team’s last review. Unfortunately for Ireland Tucker was unable to take advantage of his lucky escape and was bowled by Vishwa from the fourth ball of the day for 80. It looked to everyone near where I was sitting that he had been caught at second slip as that was where the ball ended up. It’s hard to watch a game properly sitting in the sun at deep square leg ( 321–5).