As dismal England crashed towards almost certain defeat (barring rain) on day two of the 3rd Test at Galle, life was peachy for Chaminda Vaas.

Well past the disappointment of being dropped in Australia for what would have been his 100th Test, Vaas is very much enjoying his 102nd. He started by taking his overnight score to 90 and shared a 7th wicket partnership of 183 with his captain (213*). He then shattered the England first innings, taking the wickets of four of the top seven batsmen. Vaas finished the day with 4-28.

And even more importantly, he held off a strong challenge for the longest name in Test cricket. That’s right, with six given names, debutant U.W.M.B.C.A. Welegedara showed some promise. However, detailed analysis (see below), has shown him to come up 3 short with 49 characters to Vaas’s 52. Chaminda’s parents were wise in selecting long names for their son.

UdaWalawweMahimBandaralageChanakaAsankaWelegedara
123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
WarnakulasuriyaPatabendigeUshanthaJosephChamindaVaas

Now about England’s dismal 81. You can’t expect me not to examine that a little more closely. Let me frame it this way: No less than three individual Sri Lankans single-handedly exceeded England’s team total. The number nine, all on his ownsome, scored 11% more than England could manage. The captain, Jayawardene scored more than two and half times England’s total. I guess that will do.

And special mention to Jayawardene – he has scored 408 in his last two innings (195 & 213*) for just once out.

If Sri Lanka can win, they will displace England in second place on the ICC Test team ladder.