England produced the perfect response to their humiliating defeat at Chester-le-Street as they crushed Sri Lanka by ten wickets at Old Trafford on Wednesday to take a 2-1 lead in their five-match one-day international series.
Sri Lanka’s produced one of their worst batting displays ever as they were bowled out for a mere 67 runs in only 24 overs. Sri Lanka’s total of 67 is the lowest one-day total by a Test-playing country in England. It was also the third-lowest ODI score in their history.
Heavy rain all morning in Manchester had delayed the start of play but Alastair Cook had no hesitation in bowling first after winning the crucial toss. Sri Lanka brought in Rangana Herath in place of Dhammika Prasad which was a good inclusion after seeing the weakness in England batting against Senanayake’s spin in the previous outings.
England’s most reliable new ball bowler James Anderson got the first breakthrough as Tillakaratne Dilshan was dismissed to a very good delivery from Anderson which cut into the Lankan opener off the pitch to take the inside edge for a neat catch by Buttler in the final ball of the 3rd over. Lahiru Thirimanne was undone by Anderson for the 3rd time in the current series after the Lankan vice-captain lost his composure top-edging through to the wicketkeeper while going for an expansive upper cut over the point fielder when the score was on 13 runs.
Sri Lanka’s most proficient batsmen in, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene combined once again to restore stability to the inning but the rising star of English cricket, Chris Jordan removed Kumar Sangakkara for 13 runs in the 12th over as the left hander nicked through to the wicketkeeper. Jordan was exceptional in getting ‘Sanga’ as he lured the legend to cover drive a little too loosely. Two overs later Jordan added Dinesh Chandimal to his wickets column as he was caught by Bell at extra cover when he drove a wide delivery.
Mahela Jayawardene cautiously got through the opening burst of the seam bowling attack but his forte of playing spin bowling did not favor the former captain as he was trapped in front of his stumps by the off spinner James Tredwell for 12 runs. Ashan Priyanjan joined his skipper Angelo Mathews when the score was on 58 with half of batsmen back in the pavilion.
Jos Buttler snaffled his fourth catch of the innings as Angelo Mathews was nowhere near his best trying to carve through the off-side to a much fuller delivery by Jordan which resulted only in a slight edge. Angelo reviewed the on-field decision but the TV umpire upheld his senior umpires call with hot spot going negative and snikko positive. Lankans were in more misery as Ravi Bopara produced a smart piece of fielding to run out Ashan Priyanjan as the tourists slumped to 65 for 7. Two balls later, Nuwan Kulasekara nicked through to the slips off a Jordan delivery handing the right arm fast bowler his fourth scalp.
Sri Lanka’s mindset of handling pressure situations were being questioned when substitute fielder Chris Woakes ran around the boundary to take a smart catch to account for Sachithra Senanayake who went for an unnecessary slog over the rope as Tredwell claimed his second wicket. Fittingly it was Chris Jordan who brought the end to the Lankan inning as he pinned a retreating Lasith Malinga leg before for just 2 runs as Sri Lanka’s quick procession of wickets were completed. Chris Jordan returned to the dressing room with career best figure of 5 wickets for 29 runs.
With the rains looming large, England was quick to finish off the chase as Alastair Cook and Ian Bell cruised to victory in only 12.1 overs. Lankan bowlers were less threatening than three days ago as Ian Bell stroked a fine six off Rangana Herath to seal a morale-boosting victory and take the lead in this five match series.
After the game, Angelo Mathews expressed his views on the game at the presentation ceremony – “It was a very poor performance. The poor shot selection was the main reason we got 67. The conditions and the pitches are going to be the main challenge for us, we played well in the second game and we’ll need to bounce back. We’ve got the team to do it, we’ve showed it the past and we want to stay alive in the series.
Alastair Cook spoke with a bright smile after the win – “The lads came out firing, we were desperate to prove a point today, and we did that. We do enjoy playing at Lord’s but so do the opposition and we can’t let Sri Lanka come back like we did today. “
