CRICKET: It's Shame Old Story Again as Nasser's Flops Are Humiliated; FIRST TEST ENGLAND V SRI LANKA: HUSSAIN'S HEADING FOR DEFEAT.(Sport)

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Byline: GARY FITZGERALD

ENGLAND went back to their sad, bad old kamikaze ways yesterday.

Now they are staring another Lord's humiliation in the face.

Nasser Hussain's men turned back the clock to the last Ashes series - and many times before that - by capitulating so meekly on day three of the First Test.

They were left reeling - all out for 275 - in their first innings, still 81 runs short of the follow-on target and nowhere in sight of Sri Lanka's massive 555-8.

Unknown seamer Ruchira Perera stepped into the wicket-taking shoes of absent injured star Muttiah Muralitharan to give his side a great chance of going 1-0 up in the series.

Perera took the wickets of Michael Vaughan and Graham Thorpe in successive balls, but missed out on becoming one of the few bowlers to grab a Lord's hat-trick when Alec Stewart kept out his next delivery.

Another Sri Lankan new boy, Buddika Fernando, also played a big role in putting the skids …