England will need record score to win first Test as Sri Lanka stretch their advantage by lunch on day three There is no Muttiah Muralitharan to torment them but the world's No 1 Test team have endured a string of batting failures this year against spinners on Asian pitches, something that will surely affect them on a pitch taking slow but increasing turn. There are no demons, though, and once the ball gets soft, batting does not appear that difficult. The previous highest score here was 253, made by Sri Lanka against Australia in a losing cause last year on a pitch criticised by the International Cricket Council for offering too much to the spinners. The highest successful run chase, though, is just 96, but with this being the 19th Test to be played at the ground, there is only a small sample size to choose from. He wasn't the first to strike, though, that accolade fell to Monty Panesar, who induced a rush of blood from Dinesh Chandimal, after the young batsman had appeared to be in control. One advantage of Panesar being the bowler was that he wasn't under the catch that Chandimal skied to mid-off. A tall man who'd reached a long way down the pitch, he reviewed, but Hawkeye had the ball disturbing the top of the bails, so the decision, much to the increasing chagrin of batsmen around the world, stayed with the umpire's original call, which was out. Swann followed that by bowling Rangana Herath, who attempted a horrible swipe. Quite why he was so reckless while the very capable Prasanna Jayawardene was at the other end is a puzzle, but maybe he felt Sri Lanka, 252 runs ahead at that point, already had a big enough lead. It might have gone better for England had they attacked more, but Andrew Strauss won't be the only leader to have been beneath the ramparts of Galle Fort wondering whether assualt or defence was more prudent. Yet, had he posted a leg gully to Swann, as he'd done the previous evening, he'd have dismissed Randiv in the day's first over, a strike that might have sent panic through Sri Lanka's ranks. As it is, they continue on into the afternoon session, their lead building towards Mt Improbable for England.