Wed 21 Nov 2007
ENGLAND'S preparations for the three-Test series in Sri Lanka were held up by a dramatic thunderstorm and the appearance of two cobras on the boundary edge on the opening day of three against a Sri Lanka Cricket Board President's XI.
Conditions at the Colombo Cricket Club were quite different to early season back in England and rustiness was inevitable, even for those who triumphed on the one-day trip here last month, so it will not be a great concern that the President's XI closed on 218 for three when play was halted by the wet weather shortly after tea.
Neither surprisingly was the presence of two cobras basking in the sun a few yards from the boundary edge.
The England players were so intrigued by the presence of the snakes during the lunch interval that it rather deflected from the arrival of the tourists' potentially most venomous bowler Steve Harmison from domestic cricket in South Africa.
Stuart Broad was first made aware of the pair late in the morning session and by the end of the interval just about every member of the England party had been to look at the length of pipe into which they had slid.
However Graeme Swann was left unimpressed by the size of the snake. He said: "Someone came into the pavilion saying there was an eight-metre snake down there and that is when Kevin Pietersen went running over with a big stick and started poking it.
"When I went down I could see about six inches worth of snake, so I don't know who said eight metres."
Caption: One of the two cobras that appeared on the boundary edge during the first day of England's match against a Sri Lankan Cricket Board President's XI
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ENGLAND'S preparations for the three-Test series in Sri Lanka were held up by a dramatic thunderstorm and the appearance of two cobras on the boundary edge on the opening day of three against a Sri Lanka Cricket Board President's XI.
Conditions at the Colombo Cricket Club were quite different to early season back in England and rustiness was inevitable, even for those who triumphed on the one-day trip here last month, so it will not be a great concern that the President's XI closed on 218 for three when play was halted by the wet weather shortly after tea.
Neither surprisingly was the presence of two cobras basking in the sun a few yards from the boundary edge.
The England players were so intrigued by the presence of the snakes during the lunch interval that it rather deflected from the arrival of the tourists' potentially most venomous bowler Steve Harmison from domestic cricket in South Africa.
Stuart Broad was first made aware of the pair late in the morning session and by the end of the interval just about every member of the England party had been to look at the length of pipe into which they had slid.
However Graeme Swann was left unimpressed by the size of the snake. He said: "Someone came into the pavilion saying there was an eight-metre snake down there and that is when Kevin Pietersen went running over with a big stick and started poking it.
"When I went down I could see about six inches worth of snake, so I don't know who said eight metres."
Caption: One of the two cobras that appeared on the boundary edge during the first day of England's match against a Sri Lankan Cricket Board President's XI
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