Published: Dec 03, 2014, 11:49 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 04, 2014, 01:17 AM (IST)
Dec 3, 2014
England managed to keep the seven-match One-Day International (ODI) series against Sri Lanka alive by winning the third game at Hambantota by five wickets, with the series at 2-1 in favour of the hosts after the match. Jos Buttler and Joe Root guided England to the victory with an unbroken 84 run partnership, scoring 55 and 48 in the process. Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews was the leading wicket-taker for the hosts with figures of two for 34. Moeen Ali top-scored for the visitors with a quickfire innings of 58 from 40 balls.
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat, playing without the services of Mahela Jayawardene. They lost the early wicket of Kusal Perera, who departed for a four-ball duck when he tried to cut a rising Chris Woakes delivery to point, where Eoin Morgan held on to a catch. Perera’s dismissal was followed by a prolonged spell of rain, which held the game back by a few hours.
Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara walked down the pavilion to bat once the skies cleared, with the number of overs being reset to 35 per side. Dilshan started to fire at will after that, scoring four quick boundaries, before his innings was brought to a halt when he was caught by Jos Buttler off the bowling of Steven Finn. Thilina Kandamby was next to follow him back to the pavilion, with a two-ball duck.
The innings was steadied by Sangakkara and skipper Mathews, with the duo adding 87 runs for the fourth wicket. Sangakkara completed a milestone when he reached 13 from 17 balls, completing 13,000 ODI runs in the process. After his dismissal on 63, it was Lahiru Thirimanne who propelled the Lankans to a challenging total of 242 for eight at the end of 36 overs. England were set a revised target of 236.
England were off to a quick start, with skipper Alastair Cook and Moeen Ali firing on all cylinders. England raced too 84 for no loss in less than 12 overs at a run-rate of over seven per over. Cook was the first man to depart when he was caught by Sangakkara off the bowling of Dhammika Prasad on a score of 34 from 42 balls. The catch was Sangakkara’s 473rd career dismissal, a new record in ODIs. Ali however, kept the party going on his end, hitting five sixes and two fours during his stay at the crease, scoring his third ODI fifty in the process. He was run-out after getting into a major mix-up with non-striker Alex Hales, with his innnings ending on 58 from 42 balls.
Hales added 41 runs for the third wicket with Root, before he was caught by Ajantha Mendis at at mid-on. Sri Lanka managed to briefly wrest control of the match with his dismissal, sending Ravi Bopara, who had enjoyed a good run in batting form, and Eoin Morgan back to the pavilion in a jiffy to reduce England to 152 for five. Another collapse seemed to be on the cards for the visitors.
Buttler and Root came to the rescue for England, playing a steady innings at first before accelerating themselves towards the target. The Sri Lankan fielding started to get sloppy as Buttler was dropped twice, with him not even entering double-figures in the first occasion.
With 50 runs needed of 30 balls, the game was starting to get interesting. The 31st over went for 10 runs with Buttler hitting two consecutive boundaries off the bowling of Ajantha Mendis. The next over by Dhammika Prasad can be considered the turning point of the match, with Root being caught at extra-cover in the second delivery, before it was found to be a no-ball. Three more boundaries came off that over, along with the six off the first ball. England now needed 19 from 18 balls.
Two more consecutive boundaries Buttler’s bat in the 33rd over helped him complete his fifth ODI half-century, as well as bring England to the brink of victory. A six off Root in the following over, along with a single off the fourth delivery of the 34th over helped England win their first match of the tournament.
Man of the Match: Jos Buttler
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 242 for 8 in 35 overs (Kumar Sangakkara 63, Angelo Mathews 37, Lahiru Thirimanne 62*; Chris Woakes 3 for 41) lost to England 236 for 5 in 33.4 overs (Alastair Cook 34, Moeen Ali 58, Joe Root 48*, Jos Buttler 55*; Angelo Mathews 2 for 34) by five wickets.
