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Tharanga,
Fernando script Lanka’s comfortable victory
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June 17, 2006 (Click to see the
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.
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