Cricket: HICK SHOWS HE CAN PASS TEST; CRICKET: ENGLAND'S BRIGHT START

GRAEME HICK responded to growing competition for his Test place with his first major contribution of the Sri Lanka tour.

And it put England into a winning position in their opening first class match against the Board President's XI.

The Worcestershire batsman played a key role in helping the tourists clinch their dramatic victory in Karachi before Christmas with a crucial 40, but the disappointing series he had leading up to that has left him under pressure from Michael Vaughan.

Early tour performances suggested Hick would struggle to compete - while he claimed only 21 runs from his first two innings, rival Vaughan helped himself to a half-century during the opening of this match.

But when the pressure was on, Hick responded superbly by scoring a fluent 75 to help the tourists establish a 325-run lead, an advantage which was strengthened further by the close of the third day with Darren Gough reducing the opposition to 20 for three.

"I've been playing well in the nets and I played pretty well today - the time in the middle was pretty valuable for me," explained Hick. "I played some nice shots, the way I want to play by moving my feet and getting down the wicket."

Those shots included a six and 10 other boundaries during his 112- ball innings and, but for a rare attempt at a reverse sweep which gave a leading edge to cover point, he could well have been celebrating England's second century of the tour.

But Hick's display will have secured him greater support from the selection committee with a maximum two more innings left before England enter the opening Test at Galle on February 22.

Hick's contribution was much needed after another middle order collapse threatened England's strong position when they began their second innings 64 runs ahead.

After losing captain Nasser Hussain in the fifth over, England appeared to have got over the worst with a 60-run second wicket partnership between Michael Atherton and Graham Thorpe.

It was the dismissal of Atherton, however, just four overs before lunch which prompted the flurry of wickets and gave Dinuk Hettiarachchi the first of five victims.

At only 185 ahead, the impetus was moving back towards the President's XI until Hick and Craig White launched a counter-attack to effectively take the game out of the reach of their opponents, adding 63 runs in only 16 overs - with the Yorkshire all-rounder hitting an aggressive 39 off only 47 balls.

His spirit of adventure proved to be his downfall, pulling off- spinner Tilan Samaraweera to mid-wicket, but Hick continued to dominate.

The tourists declared on 261 for nine, giving them 11 overs at the President's XI and they used the time productively with Gough claiming three wickets.

He trapped opener Jehan Mubarak leg before with his first delivery and removed Michael Van Dork's off-stump the very same over before also sending back Chaminda Mendis.

SCOREBOARD

(Third day, Colombo) Overnight:England 329 (N Hussain 81, C White 63, M P Vaughan 57) v Sri Lanka Board President's XI 265 (T M Dilshan 121). ENGLAND.- Second Innings M A Atherton c Jaya'e b Hett'i.....47 N Hussain c Jayaw'e b Pushp'a......2 G P Thorpe lbw b Hettiarachchi ...40 A J Stewart st Jaya'e b Samar'a..11 G A Hick c Mendis b Hettiar'chi...75 M P Vaughan c sub b Sam'weera....0 C White c de Silva b Sam'weera...39 A F Giles lbw b Hettiarachchi.......16 R D B Croft not out....................15 A R Caddick b Hettiarachchi..........4 D Gough not out...........................6 Extras (b1; lb4; nb1).................6 Total (9 wkts dec; 76.3 ovs)...261 Fall: 1-19, 2-79, 3-102, 4-112, 5- 119, 6-182, 7-236, 8- 237, 9-250. Bowling: Pushpakumara 8.1-0-24-1, de Silva 9.5-1-44-0, Hettiarachchi 30- 4-84-5, Samaraweera 25.3-6-91-3, Tillakaratne 1-0- 9-0, Dilshan 2-1-4-0. SRI LANKA BOARD PRESIDENT'S XI.- Second Innings J Mubarak lbw b Gough................1 M C Mendis c Croft b Gough..........2 M G Vandort b Gough...................4 T M Dilshan not out......................5 H P Tillakaratne not out...............4 Extras (nb4).............................4 Total (3 wkts; 11 ovs).............20 Fall: 1-1, 2-6, 3-14. Bowling: Caddick 6-2-5-0, Gough 5- 1-15-3.

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