Sri Lanka outclassed England to a 3-2 Royal London Series victory beating the hosts by 6 wickets in a controversial decider played at Edgbaston on Tuesday night.
Day before the all-important 5th ODI, the ICC informed SLC that the umpires who officiated in the 4th ODI of the Sri Lanka vs England series have reported a number of deliveries bowled by Lankan off-spinner Sachithra Senanayake to be considered suspect. Amidst pre-match hype around Sachithra Senanayake’s bowling action, he stood out on different news at the 5th ODI as he ‘Mankaded’ (named after Indian bowler Vinoo Mankad who first effected such a run-out in 1947) Jos Buttler at the non-striker’s end when the new golden boy of England cricket strayed out of his crease as the off-spinner was about to deliver the ball.
Buttler had already received several warnings in this game, and previously at Lord’s, for backing up too far but umpire Michael Gough asked Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews if he was sure that he wanted Senanayake’s appeal to stand. Mathews replied in the affirmative and the batsman had to make his way back to the pavilion. It is a legitimate mode of dismissal, but one often frowned upon and rarely enforced – only seven times previously, in fact, in the history of international cricket.
Earlier in the day, England skipper Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to bat on a placid surface at Birmingham. English openers made short work of the two new balls as they played out the seam bowlers with ease to 76 runs before Ian Bell chipped back straight to Ajantha Mendis as Sri Lanka got the first breakthrough. One drop batsman Gary Ballance also pushed a simple catch back to the bowler, Lasith Malinga in the first delivery of his second spell. Joe Root fancied a reverse-sweep off part timer, Ashan Priyanjan but he only found the ball top edging and caught easily by Sangakkara for only 10 runs. Sachithra Senanayake claimed the prize wicket of Alastair Cook as he too top edged a sweep to be dismissed for a well-made 56 runs.
Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga (2L) celebrates after taking the wicket of England’s Gary Balance
England lost the 5th wicket when the score was on 142 as Eoin Morgan mistimed a short dab pull off Angelo Mathews and Mahela Jayawardene completed a simple catch. Ajantha Mendis claimed his 2nd wicket when he bowled through a disappointed Ravi Bopara’s legs as the Englishmen failed to make any contact with the ball but only found the timber behind him shattered.
Chaos and boos erupted in Birmingham when Sachithra Senanayake ran out Jos Buttler from the non-strikers end and the Lankan was totally within his rules to dismiss the in-form Buttler. Senanayake warned Buttler and Jordan twice before ‘Mankading’ the wicket-keeper batsman and the England tail could not wag as Lasith Malinga returned for his 3rd spell to scalp two late wickets and bowl out the Brits for 219 in 48.1 overs despite a resurgent knock of 30 by Chris Jordan down the order. Lasith Malinga was once again the best bowler for the islanders as he claimed 3 wickets for 3 wickets for 50 runs.
Chasing 220 runs to win in 50 overs, tourists began their reply in explosive fashion with Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kusul Perera bludgeoning the faster bowlers for 49 runs in 6 overs. TM Dilshan was the first to be dismissed as the right hander was caught brilliantly by Joe Root off James Tredwell when the Lankan score was only 55 runs. Minor collapse triggered the Lankan camp as previous encounter’s centurion Kumar Sangakkara edged a beautiful Tredwell delivery straight to the slips for only 2 runs and Sri Lanka was restricted to 62 for 3 after being 55 for no loss when James Anderson’s in-swinging delivery struck Kusal Perera’s front pad and the umpire adjudged him LBW which was upheld despite a referral from Perera.
Sri Lanka needed a great recovery partnership from Vice-captain Lahiru Thirimanne and Mahela Jayawardene. They had the reassurance of a target which would be within range if they could keep England’s bowlers at bay and apart from a Jayawardene edge between wicketkeeper and slip on eight off Gurney, and Thirimanne’s mis-hook just short of long-leg off Ravi Bopara, there were no mistakes as the pair put on a match-winning 98 run partnership for the 4th wicket before Jayawardene holed out to mid-off after making a fighting 53 runs off 90 deliveries.
England’s James Anderson (C) reacts during the fifth one-day international (ODI) cricket match between England and Sri Lanka at Edgbaston in Birmingham
Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews walked in with just over 60 runs to get and the brave captain played a gem of an inning as he counter-attacked the England bowlers to stroke a 34 ball – 42 runs with 6 boundaries as he and Thirimanne saw the job through in the 49th over with 10 balls to spare. Lahiru Thirimanne walked away with the Man of the Match award for his patient and resilient knock of 60 unbeaten runs.
After the match, Angelo Mathews expressed his views on the game and about Buttler’s dismissal – “After 2006 it’s a great moment for us, it’s a great achievement for the team. It started of pretty slowly but our bowlers did a brilliant job to pull them back to 220. Buttler was taking unfair starts so we gave him two warnings and after that I didn’t know what to do to stop him from doing it. It’s within the rules and in the spirit of cricket we gave him chances in this game and the last game.”
Losing skipper Alastair Cook was clearly disappointed in his opposing captain – “We got off to a good start, everyone got 20s and 30s. The Buttler dismissal, I think you’re going to ask Angelo why he did it, I was disappointed with it. You don’t know in the spur of the moment what you would do but you hope you wouldn’t do it. There were some good things about the series and some progress made. “
