It was a COOK(up) for England:

Scintillating Sangakkara century helps Sri Lanka

Wrap up series 4-2:

By Elmo Rodrigopulle

A scintillating century from left hander Kumar Sangakkara (112) and a sterling knock of 68 from Tillekeratne who were involved in a stand of 153 for the second wicket took Sri Lanka to a 90-run victory over England in the 6th One-Day International at the Pallekele Stadium, here today.

England in reply to Sri Lanka’s 292 for 7 in 49.1 overs could muster only 202 in 41.3 overs. The Lankans thus wrap up the series 4-2 with one to go on Tuesday at the R.Premadasa Stadium.

It was a grand series win for Sri Lanka who beat England in England in a one-day series early this year and made amends for their 5-0 series loss to India.

When England began their charge for victory to keep the series alive, they were expected to bat sensibly on a wicket that was batting friendly. But to say the least it was poor batting shown the way by Captain Cook. Only Joe Root batted with any purpose to make 55 with 4 fours off 76 balls.

England batting collapse

England batting collapsed to the biting spin of Sachitra Senanayake 3 for 33, Tillekeratne Dilshan 2 for 55 and the stinging pace of Suranga Lakmal 4 for 30 playing in his first match in the series after recovering from injury.

It was a Cook(up) for England. He dropped a costly catch, scored one and his captaincy lacked an field placings lacked imagination. He just can’t play a straight ball and again went LBW to Sachitra Senanayake. He’s not watching the ball on to his bat. Sri Lankan Captain Angelo Mathews won the all-important toss and decided to take first hit. With this being the match to win and pocket the series, the Lankan selectors dared and made three changes.

They benched the out of form Kusal Janith Perera, Ajantha Mendis and Dhammika Prasad and slotted in Dinesh Chandimal, Seekugge Prasanna and Suranga Lakmal.

Same combination

For England it was a must win game to keep the series alive and they took the field with the combination that gave them a win in the previous game.

Sri Lanka opened with Mahela Jayawardene and Tillekeratne Dilshan and

as the Sri Lankan innings progressed it was obvious that it would not be easy to bat on this wicket with the ball coming on at various heights with a bit of movement from both Steven Finn and Chris Woakes. The first 10 overs produced only 27 runs.

Right arm medium pacer Chris Woakes who wreaked havoc in the previous game with figures of 6 for 46, struck early when a delivery from him moved slightly and Jayawardene playing a little too early top edged a catch to James Taylor at mid off. 8-1-5.

Again the selectors gamble to open with Jayawardene failed. That spot remains a hoodoo with batsmen who have been tried Upul Tharanga, Kusal Perera and now Jayawardene failing. How the selectors will solve this opening problem will be interesting to watch.

Batting with responsibility

With the wicket easing, Kumar Sangakkara joined Tillekeratne Dilshan and began to restore the innings, batting with a lot of responsibility, cutting out the risks and playing the bowling on its merits.

Once the batsmen got the measure of the bowling that was beginning to stray and the wicket beginning to ease, they broke out in lovely stroke play and made the bowling look innocuous.

They hoisted their 50 run stand, then the 100, followed with the 150 and took complete control. There was a costly miss when the score was on 91 and Sangakkara on 41. Sangakkara played a lazy looking stroke and lofted to Cook at mid off, off Ravi Bopara.

It was the simplest of catches which in normal circumstances Cook would have closed his eyes and taken. But he grassed it, proving that it was destined that Sangakkara grab the opportunity and playing his farewell game in his home town bid adios with a century.

Sangakkara unperturbed

Sangakkara unperturbed by the drop steadied himself and his innings and then punished the England bowlers. His signature shots which are too many to mention, all flowed from his willow and the bowlers and fielders were made to look just numbers.

After making 112 with 12 fours and 2 sixes in 112 balls and after figuring in stands of 153 for the second wicket with Dilshan in 184 deliveries and 52 in 37 balls with Dinesh Chandimal 35 before he was caught by Mooen Ali off Chris Jordan at 243.

His home town crowd kept urging ‘Sanga, Sanga, Sanga’ when he was on 99

and when he pushed a ball to the off to reach the dream three figures everyone watching stood up to give him a thunderous ovation which he fully deserved.

When he was out and making his way to the Pallekele Stadium Pavilion for the final time, the crowd stood up again and there were thunder claps as the full house put their hands together. It was a moving farewell for the son and hero of KANDY and TRINITY COLEGE - KUMAR CHOKSHANDA SANGAKKARA. He was man of the match.

Dilshan controlled innings

Tillekeratne Dilshan once again played a well controlled innings of 68 that contained 8 fours in 105 balls. He has been in the runs in this series and it is paramount that he stayed that way in the 2015 World Cup too.

Of the other batsmen Seekkuge Prasanna slogged 20 in 11 balls with 1 four and 2 sixes, Dinesh Chandimal 35 in 32 balls with 4 fours, Thisara Perera 16 in 10 balls with 3 fours and Jeevan Mendis 12 not out in 11 balls with 1 four. Sri Lanka made a strong 292 for 7 in 49.5 overs although losing Jayawardene 5 and Mathews one cheaply.

The England bowling lacked discipline and direction and the fielding was atrocious with two catches being dropped and Cook’s captaincy lacked imagination.

Pallekele, Saturday

SCOREBOARD

Sri Lanka innings
Mahela Jayawardene c Taylor b Woakes 			05
Tillekeratne Dilshan c Bopara b Tredwell	 	68
Kumar Sangakkara c Ali b Jordan 		       112
Seekkuge Prasanna c Morgan b Finn 			20
Angelo Mathews c Buttler b Finn 			01
Dinesh Chandimal b Jordan 				35
Thisara Perera c Cook b Woakes 				16
Jeevan Mendis not out 					12
Extras (b 10, lb 4, w 8, nb 1) 				23
TOTAL (7 wickets; 50 overs) 			       292

Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Jayawardene), 2-161 (Dilshan), 3-186 (Prasanna)
		 4-191 (Mathews), 5-243 (Sangakkara), 6-262 (Perera)
		 7-292 (Chandimal)
Bowling: Steven Finn 9-0-53-2
	 Chris Woakes 10-1-51-2
	 Moeen Ali 8-0-46-0
	 James Tredwell 10-0-37-1
	 Chris Jordan 9-0-68-2
	 Ravi Bopara 3-0-19-0
	 Joe Root 1-0-4-0

England innings 
Alastair Cook lbw b Senanayake 				01
Moeen Ali c Sangakkara b Dilshan 			34
James Taylor b Senanayake 				10
Joe Root b Lakmal 					55
Ravi Bopara c Sangakkara b Lakmal 			13
Eoin Morgan c Sangakkara b Lakmal 			00
Jos Buttler run out (Thirimanne)			22
Chris Woakes c & b Dilshan 				41
Chris Jordan c Sangakkara b Lakmal 			04
James Tredwell c Dilshan b Senanayake 			19
Steven Finn not out 					01
Extras (lb 1, w 1) 					02
TOTAL (all out; 41.3 overs) 			       202

Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Cook), 2-36 (Taylor), 3-50 (Ali), 4-84 (Bopara)
		 5-84 (Morgan), 6-123 (Buttler), 7-169 (Root)
		 8-175 (Jordan), 9-193 (Woakes), 10-202 (Tredwell)
Bowling: Sachithra Senanayake 8.3-0-33-3
	 Tillekeratne Dilshan 10-0-55-2
	 Seekkuge Prasanna 8-0-40-0
	 Suranga Lakmal 8-0-30-4
	 Jeevan Mendis 4-0-22-0
	 Thisara Perera 3-0-21-0