'We just have to get on with it,' says Tudor

Even as England's Alex Tudor smiled at his own achievement in taking five wickets, he could not help but sympathise with Marcus Trescothick after the umpire Srinivas Venkataraghavan had failed to pick up the very marginal no-ball that lead to his dismissal.

"I suppose that with all the technology available now it is frustrating," said Tudor. "But it is the umpire out there making the decision, and of course they are human. We just have to get on with it. To lose Marcus just before the rain came like that is very frustrating."

But under the rules as they stand, the England and Wales Cricket Board spokesman Andrew Walpole confirmed there was no way the third umpire, David Constant, could have intervened to belatedly call the no-ball. "The rules are very clear on this, and the third umpire interpreted them as he had to," said Walpole.

Trescothick could nonetheless count himself doubly unlucky, and Tudor said: "It has happened to him before in Sri Lanka and it is obviously a bit freakish."

Tudor said his performance was owed to an unexpected party in Australia's Glenn McGrath. It was McGrath who took five wickets as England were bowled out for 185 first time round and Tudor said: "He showed where to bowl the ball in the first innings and I tried to do that as well.

"You can only learn from the best and there is no-one better than Glenn McGrath. He showed there is no point banging the ball in short when the wicket is moving around like that."

Tudor has had to spend two years out of international cricket because of injury and resulting loss of his top form. "I am more confident of going out and doing a good job for England now. I wanted to stamp my class when I started but a knee injury hindered my progress.

"I am on top of the world. To get five wickets in my comeback match, I cannot ask for more than that."