Five-wicket Murali sparks England collapse](Yahoo is part of the Yahoo family of brands.)
GALLE, Sri Lanka (AFP) - Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan grabbed three wickets in six overs to trigger England’s collapse in the opening cricket Test here.
England were strongly placed at 142-2 before slipping to 164-6 at lunch on the third day in reply to Sri Lanka’s first-innings total of 331 at the Galle International Stadium on Thursday.
Mark Butcher was batting on 48 with Gareth Batty, who had yet to score.
Off-spinner Muralitharan, 31, started the slide after left-arm fast bowler Chaminda Vaas had broken the 75-run stand for the third wicket between left-handers Graham Thorpe (43) and Butcher.
The champion spinner then held the centre-stage on a turning pitch, troubling the England batsmen with his shrewd variations to bag his 39th haul of five or more wickets in an innings in 83 Tests.
Muralitharan, who took two wickets on Wednesday, looked virtually unplayable in his second spell as he dismissed debutant Paul Collingwood (one), Andrew Flintoff (one) and Chris Read (nought).
Collingwood was caught by Sanath Jayasuriya at first slip, Flintoff was trapped leg-before and Read was held by skipper Hashan Tillakaratne at silly-point.
Vaas provided the vital breakthrough when he trapped Thorpe leg-before with an angling delivery after the tourists had resumed at 97-2.
Thorpe and Butcher faced anxious moments in the opening hour when spinners Muralitharan and Jayasuriya were bowling in tandem.
Butcher was dropped in successive overs from Muralitharan – first by the bowler himself and then by wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara when the batsman was on 18.
Thorpe was lucky not to be given out when on 29 as TV replays showed slip fielder Thilan Samaraweera held an edge off Jayasuriya.
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