Sports

Sports

Lankan lords stomp the pommies

Upul Tharanga's third one-day century led Sri Lanka to a 20-run win in the opening one-day match against England. The tourists totalled 257-9 after being put in by Andrew Strauss, helped by 42 extras gifted by England.

And they seized control by reducing England to 66-4, Kevin Pietersen among the early casualties, brilliantly caught by Mahela Jayawardene. Marcus Trescothick and Jamie Dalrymple each made 67 but England ran out of overs with their score on 267-9.

With England's leading pair Trescothick and Pietersen at the crease and the score 65-2 after 15 overs, Sri Lanka opted to complete their powerplays and the decision paid dividends immediately.

Pietersen's trademark flip through mid-wicket failed to clear Jayawardene who took a stunning one-handed catch above his head.

It was a key moment and despite the useful partnerships involving Dalrymple, England were always behind the rate as they slipped to their 11th defeat in the last 15 internationals.

The lack of experience was highlighted by the line-ups, with the England team's 401 total caps only just passing Sanath Jaysuriya's own 358, and way below the Sri Lankan team's total of 1658.

Having won the toss, England hoped that their quick bowlers would extract some life from a pacy pitch with a green tinge, but the main activity for the umpires was to signal wides and boundaries.

The first ball of the match from Steve Harmison barely pitched on the cut strip and landed between first and second slip, and Liam Plunkett was also unable to find the correct line to the left-handers.

Harmison had just bowled the eighth wide of the innings when Jayasuriya cut the final ball of the fifth over, also well wide of off-stump, and got a thin edge. The change bowlers also struggled, Sajid Mahmood twice hit for consecutive boundaries by Tharanga and taken out of the attack after two overs for 22.

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka innings in 50 overs
WU Tharanga c Dalrymple b Mahmood 120
ST Jayasuriya c Jones b Harmison 11
M Jayawardene c Strauss b Collingwood 24
KC Sangakkara run out (Collingwood/Mahmood) 15
TM Dilshan c Collingwood b Harmison 14
RP Arnold c Jones b Collingwood 8
CK Kapugedera c Pietersen b Plunkett 1
WPUJC Vaas c Strauss b Plunkett 10
SL Malinga b Bresnan 3
CRD Fernando not out 10
M Muralitharan not out 0
Extras (b 2, lb 13, w 23, nb 4) 42
Total (9 wickets; 50 overs) 257

Fall of wickets : 1-25 (Jayasuriya, 4.6 ov), 2-124 (Jayawardene, 21.3 ov), 3-153 (Sangakkara, 27.2 ov), 4-187 (Dilshan, 33.3 ov), 5-204 (Arnold, 38.3 ov), 6-207 (Kapugedera, 39.5 ov), 7-227 (Vaas, 45.2 ov), 8-236 (Malinga, 47.2 ov), 9-248 (Tharanga, 48.4 ov)
Bowling :SJ Harmison 10-0-51-3 (8w),LE Plunkett 7-0-32-1(6w),TT Bresnan 9-1-44-1(1nb, 5w),SI Mahmood 9-0-57-1 (3nb, 2w), PD Collingwood 10-1-30-2, JWM Dalrymple 5-0-28-0 (1w)

England Innings
ME Trescothick b Dilshan 67
AJ Strauss c Sangakkara b Fernando 12
IR Bell b Fernando 7
KP Pietersen c Jayawardene b Malinga 10
PD Collingwood lbw b Fernando 0
JWM Dalrymple b Muralitharan 67
GO Jones c Kapugedera b Jayasuriya 19
TT Bresnan b Malinga 16
SI Mahmood b Malinga 8
LE Plunkett not out 14
SJ Harmison not out 5
Extras (lb 7, w 3, nb 2) 12
Total (9 wickets; 50 overs) 237

Fall of wickets :1-31 (Strauss, 8.1 ov), 2-44 (Bell, 10.3 ov), 3-65 (Pietersen, 15.1 ov), 4-66 (Collingwood, 16.3 ov), 5-138 (Trescothick, 31.6 ov), 6-172 (Jones, 39.2 ov), 7-208 (Bresnan, 45.3 ov), 8-214 (Dalrymple, 46.3 ov), 9-220 (Mahmood, 47.5 ov)

Bowling : WPUJC Vaas 8-0-37-0, SL Malinga 9-2-26-3 (1w),,CRD Fernando 8-0-51-3 (2nb, 2w), M.Muralitharan 10-0-47-1, TM Dilshan 6-0-23-1, ST Jayasuriya 9-0-46-1