Cricket: Maddy and James spark scoring spree

The England A manager, Graham Gooch, and the coach, Mike Gatting, both wore contented smiles yesterday after Darren Maddy's century inspired England A against a Colts XI in Colombo.

On the opening day of their three-day match, the tourists produced an impressive batting display to reach an imposing 373 for 9 at the close.

Gooch and Gatting had reminded the side of the disciplines required to succeed in Sri Lanka after Saturday's disappointing defeat against the President's XI. Yesterday, instead of struggling to combat the spinners - a major factor in their weekend setback - they dominated so much that the opposition captain, Sajit Kalavitigoda, was forced to recall his main fast bowler, Suresh Perera, to protect his slow bowlers from more punishment.

Leading the run spree once again was Leicestershire's Maddy, who followed up his career best 202 in the drawn first-class match against Kenya a fortnight ago by hitting a superb 101.

Steve James put his disappointing early tour form behind him to score a determined 66 while both Ashley Giles and James Ormond produced a series of flamboyant late-order strokes to ensure that England reached a challenging total after their captain, Nick Knight, had fallen early.

First day of three; Colts XI won toss

ENGLAND A - First Innings

S P James st Dilshan b Rajan 66

*N V Knight c Dilshan b Suresh Perera 4

D L Maddy run out 101

M A Ealham c Suresh Perera b Rajan 15

B C Hollioake c Dilshan b Perera 33

D J Sales c Suresh Perera b Gallage 42

D C Nash run out 5

D R Brown c Mendis b De Silva 14

A F Giles run out 34

J Ormond not out 42

D A Cosker not out 1

Extras (b3, lb4, w5, nb4) 16

Total (for 9, 90 overs) 373

Fall: 1-17, 2-112, 3-167, 4-223, 5-241, 6-251, 7-284, 8-302, 9-348.

Bowling: Suresh Perera 17-7-58-2; Gallage 12-1-58-1; De Silva 24-5-97- 0; Rajan 27-6-131-2; Kalavitigoda 10-0-22-0.

SRI LANKAN COLTS XI: *S Kalavitigoda, B Ediriweera, S Fernando, Sampath Perera, M Mendis, A Polonowita, T M Dilshan, B De Silva, Suresh Perera, N Rajan, I Gallage.

Umpires: S Amarasinghe and J W Boteju.