By Jon Steer
December 10 2003

Paul Collingwood would have been a worried man after Nasser Hussein was declard fit to play for the second test against Sri Lanka. However, the selectors decided that an extra batsmen would be the best approach and so Colly kept his place. After a crucial innings in the second innings of his debut test match that lasted almost three hours and helped see England to the draw, it would have been very cruel for Colly to miss out. This was exactly what looked like happening when Nasser Hussein was declared fit and Michael Vaughan stated that Hussein would definately play.

With Sri Lanka already announcing that they were going to play an extra batmen for the second test, the England selectors were faced with the dilemna of whether this meant keeping the existing bowling attack or matching their opponents and strengthening the batting line-up.

They decided to pick Colly as the sixth batsmen and bring in Kirtley to share the new ball with Andrew Flintoff. Giles and Batty were retained as the spin attack and it was obvious that Colly would be expected to bowl his share of the overs.

With the first day's play coming to an end the test is delicately poised with Sri Lanka six wickets down approaching a total of 250. Colly bowled a total of seven overs for twelve runs but no wickets. Giles was again the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 for 74 from his 24 overs.