Sri Lanka beat England to make ODI series open

Sri Lanka beat England by seven runs in their fourth One Day International played at Lord's last night.

The visitors, put into bat, made a commanding 300 for 9 in 50 overs. A majestic century by veteran Kumar Sangakkara helped Sri Lanka to register the highest ODI total at Lord's in 12 years. In reply, England scored 293 for 8 in 50 overs.

Sangakkara smashed 112 off 104 balls to score his first-ever three figure mark at the Mecca of cricket at any format of international cricket. He shared a marathon 172-run partnership for the second wicket with opener Tillakaratne Dilshan (71 off 109 balls) in 30.3 overs after Sri Lanka lost the first wicket in the sixth over with only 26 runs on the board.

The win enabled Sri Lanka to make a strong comeback and level the series two-all. The five-match ODI series will be decided after the last match scheduled to be played under lights at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Tuesday (3).