Kumar Sangakkara and Jos Buttler scored two brilliant but contrastingly different centuries at the Mecca of Cricket; The Lord’s as Sri Lanka held on to a 7 run win over England to level the series 2-2 with the series decider yet to be played.
After scoring just 67 and suffering a demoralizing 10-wicket defeat in Manchester on Wednesday, Sri Lanka fought back in the fourth ODI after they were asked to bat by England skipper Alastair Cook. Sri Lanka notched up exactly 300 from their 50 overs, with Kumar Sangakkara top-scoring with 112.
Sri Lanka started on a positive note, with opener Kusal Perera scoring at a fair clip. However, his fellow opening partner Tillakaratne Dilshan struggled to get the ball off the blocks. Perera got to 19 off 14 balls with two boundaries and a six before edging Harry Gurney to Chris Jordan at slip. That brought in Sangakkara and a very productive period of play for Sri Lanka.
Initially, both Sangakkara and Dilshan were unable to score runs quickly. At the end of their 10 overs, Sri Lanka had managed only 45 runs for one wicket. Sangakkara took 12 balls to get off the mark, while Dilshan looked out of sorts. The 18th over, bowled by Joe Root, was the start of an accelerated period of play for Sri Lanka, as Sangakkara broke the shackles with three boundaries in the over. The pair managed to find boundaries regularly after that, as they then raced to 198 for one in the 36th over before Dilshan was bowled by James Anderson trying to play his trademark “Dilscoop.” He was dismissed for 71 off 109 balls with five boundaries.
Mahela Jayawardene came in to bat at the loss of Dilshan’s wicket. Mahela was a little rusty, as he scratched about for 14 balls to score 7 runs before holing out to James Anderson off Harry Gurney. Kumar Sangakkara soon followed, stumped by Jos Buttler off James Tredwell for a typically attractive 112 off 104 balls. Sri Lanka lost wickets regularly after that, but Angelo Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne scored a few runs at the end to help Sri Lanka reach a challenging total in the end.
Lasith Malinga Enjoying taking a wicket
Chasing a massive 301 runs to win, England struggled early on with Lasith Malinga trapping down Alastair Cook in his first delivery. Malinga completed a double blow when Ian Bell edged a wide delivery straight to Mahela at slips as England were reeling at 10 for 2 in the 4th over. Joe Root and Gary Ballance prevented the sort of collapse that has been this series’ signature with a partnership of 84, but the run-rate was mounting. When Eoin Morgan fell, stumped off Sachithra Senanayake, England were 111 for 5, and it looked ‘game over’.
Then came Buttler’s show as he combined with Bopara to counter-attack the Lankan bowlers as they went on to score at a belligerent pace to record a tremendous 133-run stand in just over 15 overs. Bopara was dismissed by Ajantha Mendis for 51 off 47 balls with just one boundary.
Jos Buttler went on to score the fastest ever century for England in ODIs, off just 61 balls, beating Kevin Pietersen’s record of a hundred off 69 balls. Buttler scored at a tremendous rate, and took England to the brink of victory. However, with 12 runs needed off the last over bowled by Lasith Malinga, Buttler was run out as England fell agonizingly short by just seven runs. Lasith Malinga held his nerve as he stamped his authority as the best death bowler ever with another fine spell at the end to secure the victory for Sri Lanka.
“That was one hell of a game, it was one of the best innings I’ve seen; Jos batted brilliantly. But we saved the best ’til last and it’s pretty hard to get 10 runs of Lasith Malinga. Sangakkara and Dilshan batted extremely well; they set the platform.” – Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews expressed his views at the presentation ceremony.
