Related Links : England Vs Sri Lanka : Scorecard
Sri Lanka continued to impress on their England tour as they defeated the homeside for the third consecutive time on this tour. In the 1st ODI played at Lord’s today, Sri Lanka beat England by a comfortable margin of 20 runs. England requiring a challenging total of 258 fell apart due to a mixture of bad batting and some good tight bowling. Trescothick and new comer Jamie Dalrymple were the exceptions, but their well made half centuries were just enough to reduce the margin of defeat in the end. It was Upul Tharanga who was the star of the game as the left handed opener anchored the Sri Lankan innings with his well compiled 3rd ODI century. Tharanga’s innings was the only good one among all the Sri Lankan batsmen and he was also the Man of the Match winner.
The Sri Lankan Innings
Sri Lanka were put into bat first by Andrew Strauss on what looked like a grassy wicket. The two openers Jayasuriya and Tharanga started to put a promising start but Harmison ended that soon with the wicket of the dangerous looking Jayasuriya. The Former Sri Lankan captain fell edging his attempted upper cut to the wicket keeper and after his dismissal, England started to tighten the screws as the moving ball was keeping the batsmen slightly cautious. But the 2nd Powerplay saw the Sri Lankans cut loose in the form of Upul Tharanga, who scored boundaries at will. Tharanga soon got to his fifty in just 44 balls with the help of 10 fours. Jayawardene (24) in the 22nd over threw his wicket away trying to loft a slower one from Collingwood. After that wicket, England who had held back the 3rd powerplay enforced it immediately from the 23rd over. Another decent partnership went on between Tharanga and Sangakkara but it ended in a needless run out of Sangakkara with Tharanga calling his partner for a quick single and then sending him back. After Sangakkara who had made 15, wickets kept on falling and the rest of the batsmen failed in supporting Tharanga’s cause. Upul Tharanga kept his end intact and soon reached his hundred in 122 balls. Sri Lanka in the end could end up at just 257 for 9 and they could have easily got to atleast 280 had Tharanga got some support at the other end. He was supported by Mr.Extras who scored 42 thanks to some indisciplined bowling from the English. Upul Tharanga had made 120 after facing 26 overs on his own. For England, Paul Collingwood bowled superbly mixing his pace well to give away just 29 runs in his 10 overs and he had also taken the wickets of Jayawardene and Arnold. Collingwood also took a great diving catch to dismiss Dilshan off the bowling of Harmison and he also had the credit of running out Sangakkara at the non striker’s end. Harmison was the most successful when it comes to wicket taking and the big man took three wickets but had gone for 52 in his 10 which also included 8 wides. England had given ODI debut for Tim Bresnan, who bowled at a brisk pace mostly in the mid 80s miles per hour and he had a decent outing taking 1 for 44 in 9 overs.
The English Chase
England were off to a slow and steady start but the introduction of Dilhara Fernando in the 9th over paid dividends immediately for the Lankans. Strauss who had gone for a pull shot, bottom edged his shot to the keeper off the very first ball bowled by Fernando in this match. Bell was the next man to go in Fernando’s 2nd over and the right hander chopped his loose drive onto his stumps. England received a further blow when Kevin Pietersen who started off well was dismissed through a brilliant one handed over head catch by Jayawardene at mid wicket off Malinga. All this while, Trescothick was a spectator and he had to watch Collingwood depart as well in front of him. Collingwood was also taken by Fernando and the right hander was beaten by both pace and the movement off Fernando to be trapped in front of the stumps. At this stage, Trescothick was joined by the young Jamie Dalrymple with England tottering along at 66 for 4 in the 17th over. Both the batsmen started to build up a useful partnership and both put on 72 runs in about 15 overs before Trescothick committed an error in judgment. Trescothick was bowled by Dilshan for 67 as the left hander picked the wrong length to sweep. The left hander’s innings was slightly on the slower side with the 67 runs coming in 99 balls with the help of 6 fours and a six. Dalrymple then carried the fight on all his own but the asking rate was too much on him and eventually his knock of 67 had to come to and end through frustration of getting the big shots in the final stages. He fell to Muralitharan and it was only a formality to be gone through and Sri Lanka in the end restricted England to 237 for 9. Lasith Malinga picked up a couple of wickets in the last stages to end up with 3 for 26 in 8 and Dilhara Fernando was the best with 3 for 51 in his 8, but he had done the damage early on that made things easy for Sri Lanka.
The momentum is with Sri Lanka now and its not going to be easy for England to fight back. But the Sri Lankan batting needs to tighten up and its batsmen need to convert their starts into big ones. For England, they need a much better performance with the ball; there were far too many extras. Their top order batsmen weren’t that bad and they should be performing to their potential soon. The next game is on the 20th at The Oval.