It was the beginning of the future for Sri Lanka and England and a defining tour for both the teams. Major changes had occurred in both camps.
Changes Galore
For Sri Lanka Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara had retired from T20I, Paul Farbrace defected to England as the Assistant Coach, Marvan Atapattu took over the vacated Head Coach position from Farbrace, Sri Lanka officially appointed Lasith Malinga as the T20 Captain, Lahiru Thirimanna was appointed Vice Captain across all formats and most importantly the players had signed their contracts with the cricket board. A lot has happened since that magical April 6th day in Dhaka, isn’t it?
For England after the humiliating winter they had in which they lost the Ashes 5-0, crashed out of the World T20 at the hands of Netherlands … again! Andy Flower was sacked as coach; Peter Moores replaced him and the ever controversial, enigmatic Kevin Pietersen was shown the international cricket exit by the England Cricket Board in the name of a calm, better future.
Rumble in the Oval
After a few successful warm up matches the business started with the Sri Lanka playing their first T20 as the newly crowned World Champions in the only T20I in this tour. But first much like CIA and KGB would treat their defectors Russel Arnold took matters into his own hands. Future in Mixed Martial Arts Russel?! Funny how this was the last known sighting of Farbrace for the whole evening. Bless that man!
Mistaken Identities
All started pretty well for the visitors with Dilshan smacking a boundary of the first ball of Joe Root. Not a bad start for the match and for the series at all. It didn’t take long for some to think that if this baby faced Joe was in fact Ellen.
Am I seeing things or does Joe Root look like Ellen Degeneres?? #SLvENG
— Menaka Gunasekera (@menaka_crm) May 20, 2014
Oh how Dilshan would have wished this was Ellen herself bowling to him. Debutant Kithuruwan Vithanage came out guns blazing and attacked from the outset. He must have thought this was still the match against Sussex.
Kithruwan Vithanage looks a helluva lot like Ludacris.
— Murtaza Asgar (@toysoldier92) May 20, 2014
Well the trail blazing Vithanage didn’t ‘Act A Fool.’ Showed some aggressive intent and pulled out the Maxwell reverse sweep twice. Carberry Clanger The turning point of the match was when Carberry dropped Thisara Perera when he was on 20 amidst calling chaos, solidifying his claim in an interview that England’s communication was poor. Those who witnessed the dropped catch weren’t that surprised.
Nobody who has watched county cricket in the last decade will be surprised when Carberry drops a catch.
— George Dobell (@GeorgeDobell1) May 20, 2014
Peter Moores you ought to watch more county matches! Perera went on to make 49 of 22 and was clearly robbed off a six which was given as a four. The brute of a man is like an obsessed Hulk in these situations. There is only one way and it the ‘Hulk Smash.’ Sanga, Mahela who? Can Sri Lanka fill the void of retired Sanga and Mahela? This was the question that everyone had. Kithuruwan Vithanage and Lahiru Thirimanna complemented each other perfectly. While Vithanage was bludgeoning away Thirimanna rotated the strike. The partnership lacked the guile and classiness of Sanga and Mahela but these are still very early days. No immediate worry. All is well! Dernbach is that you? Chris Jordan didn’t let Sri Lanka miss the services of Jade Dernbach. Jordan missed his wide yorkers and Perera duly obliged and walloped him for 22 in the 19th over. Jordan should be proud. Dernbach couldn’t have done any better. In honour of Dernbach Lasith Malinga bowled an over of slow balls in the 17th over.
An over of slower balls from Lasith Malinga. The sort of stuff that gives Jade Dernbach false hope.
— Alternative Cricket (@AltCricket) May 20, 2014
Malinga Special
This was Lasith Malinga’s first match as captain away from the shadows of Sanga and Mahela. Many thought it was the two legends who guided them to the World Cup win while Malinga was the puppet captain. Malinga proved he can survive and guide the team even without Sanga and Mahela. He did it through leading by example. Picked up the all important wicket of Alex Hales completely deceiving him with a slower delivery when the game was shifting towards England. Bowled the penultimate over for 4 runs and finished with figures of 4-0-28-3. Nothing more can you expect from a captain.
Well, you’ve got to say, he’s pretty bloody good is Malinga.
— Test Match Sofa (@TestMatchSofa) May 20, 2014
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) May 20, 2014
In A Nutshell
Interesting game. Carberry’s drop. Perera’s merry slogging. England’s lack of a game-changing bowler. Malinga’s 4th over. SL by 9 runs.
— Simon Mann (@Cricket_Mann) May 20, 2014
Chris Jordan bowled the 19th over of Sri Lanka innings and went for 22 runs. Lasith Malinga went for four at the same stage. SL won by nine.
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 20, 2014
Nothing will be complete without the stamp of approval from Sangakkkara himself.
What a game young batsmen are class. No fear and amazing strokeplay. Kiththa @thiri66 and @PereraThisara respect Malinga magnificient again
— Kumar Sangakkara (@KumarSanga2) May 20, 2014
