Vintage Vaas adds sparkle

Chaminda Vaas en route of figures of 4-28 to undermine England's reply

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For Chaminda Vaas on day three, read Mahela Jayawardene 24 hours earlier.

Vaas, the Sri Lanka opening bowler who ripped the heart out of the England top order in Galle, is underrated in much the same way as his captain.

Just as Jayawardene has been overshadowed by the batting exploits of Kumar Sangakkara in recent times, so Vaas’ contribution to Sri Lankan cricket has often been overlooked in favour of Muttiah Muralitharan’s consistent brilliance.

In that respect, Vaas has had the misfortune of sharing a dressing room with arguably the greatest bowler of all time, but in no way should that dampen the praise he deserves.

Only Muralitharan has taken more wickets than Vaas for Sri Lanka, with the latter’s haul of 4-28 on the third day of the final Test lifting that tally to a hugely impressive - yet seldom mentioned - 331.

The manner in which he dismantled the England top order during a devastating spell of 4-10 in 27 balls highlighted all Vaas’ qualities, and reinforced his status as arguably the best left-arm seamer in the world.

Vaas has Alastair Cook caught behind via an outside edge

Marrying appreciable swing with movement off the pitch and an immaculate line on or around off stump, he removed Michael Vaughan, Alastair Cook, Ravi Bopara and Matt Prior to extinguish last vestige of hope England had of winning the game and drawing the series.

Vaughan shouldered arms to one that jagged back to hit him on the back leg; Cook followed one that left him in the air to be caught behind; Bopara miscued an attempted drive to mid-on; and Prior was undone by one that kept low but also seamed in.

It mattered little that Vaas, playing his 102nd Test at the age of 33, hardly touches 80mph these days.

Indeed, he proved - with startling effect - that the old-fashioned virtues of pitching the ball up and making the batsmen play carry much more weight than the speed gun.

Thus what it took England the best part of two days to achieve - take six wickets - Sri Lanka achieved in little more than 10 overs, nudging his career average of 29 below Matthew Hoggard, England’s best seamer, in the process.

Vaas underlines his worth with the bat by making 90

It was the latest episode in a wonderfully successful game for Vaas, whose innings of 90 helped the hosts post a daunting 499 for eight declared.

By no means a novice with the bat - we has a Test century to his name, lest we forget - Vaas strengthened his claims to be regarded as a genuine all-rounder by adding 183 with Jayawardene for the seventh wicket.

He averages a solid 23 over his 13-year Test career, and there were enough strokes of genuine authority in his 133-ball innings to suggest he warrants a higher batting spot than his current position of eight.

Monty Panesar was punished for dropping short as Vaas stroked the ball through the off side, while Hoggard suffered the indignity of seeing a good-length delivery smashed back over his head as Sri Lanka raced along at nigh on six runs an over.

Vaas’ efforts allowed Jayawardene the comfort of declaring Sri Lanka’s innings for the third time this series, but his contribution with the ball was to prove to even more crucial.