Kandy witnessed their local boy, Kumar Sangakkara score a magnificent ton in what would be his final match in his home town as Sri Lanka took an unbeatable 4-2 lead winning the sixth ODI by 90 runs on Saturday.
The undisputed king of Kandy steered Sri Lanka to a formidable 292 with a well-constructed run-a-ball 112 which consisted of 12 fours and 2 sixes and incidentally this is the first and last ODI ton for Sangakkara at Pallekelle International Stadium. England failed to chase down an above par target in a wearying surface as the Lankan bowling attack bundled out the visitors for 202 with fast-bowler Suranga Lakmal making a scintillating return to international cricket capturing 4 wickets.
Angelo Mathews won the toss of coin and elected to bat on a dry surface which had loads of spin written all over it. England started promisingly with their seamers landing their deliveries on testing areas. Mahela Jayawardene, promoted up the order, was caught at mid-off from a leading edge off Chris Woakes in the 4th over and at the end 10 overs the score was a modest 27 for 1. Sangakkara and Dilshan shrugged-off the early pressure using all their experience of 688 matches amongst them to lay a superb platform.
Both stalwarts batted elegantly in their 153-run stand which ended just before the batting power play was taken as Dilshan holed out at long-on off Tredwell for a timely 68 in 105 deliveries. Sangakkara kept on manoeuvring the field and scoring runs at will. He was dropped at 41 by Cook off Bopara yet the 37-year old continued to smash the English bowlers. Seekuge Prasanna made a 12-ball 20 inside the power play as a pinch-hitter while Mathews made a rare failure with the willow.
Chandimal held his end of the deal with a lusty 35 runs in 31 balls to steer the final overs with the all-rounders, Thisara and Jeewan. Sangakkara took 71 balls for his fifty yet he took only 33 for his next fifty as he perfectly upped the scoring-rate delighting a packed crowd who had come to see their master of batting one final time in the town he grew up. Sri Lanka scored 92 runs in the final 10 overs to post a match-winning score on the board.
Chasing 293 runs to win, England lost their skipper Cook in his 2nd ball when he was caught LBW by Sachithra Senanayake as Sri Lanka once again employed the two off-spinners to use the two new balls. This time around, James Taylor could not prevail against Senanayake from around the wicket which beat his outside edge and the ball clipped the off-stump for only 10 while Moeen Ali became Dilshan’s first scalp as England was restricted to 50 for 3 at the end of mandatory power play.
Playing his first ODI since May, Suranga Lakmal showed positive signs of a fast-bowling spearhead for the upcoming world cup as he ran in and bowled brilliantly to conjure a collapse in the English chase taking Bopara and Morgan in consecutive balls in the 18th over of the innings. Joe Root once again put up a resilient display with the bat top-scoring for the visitors with a fighting 55 before being bowled by Lakmal attempting a ramp sweep.
Chris Woakes chipped in with 41 though it was for a dying cause as the England innings was wrapped up in the 42nd over. Lakmal finished with 4 for 30 while Senanayake and Dilshan shared 5 wickets between them to cap off a near perfect display as Sangakkara waved off his loyal fans in an emotional end to the game. Sri Lanka now unassailably lead the seven-match series with the final game scheduled on 16th December in Colombo and this game will be the ‘One last tango between Sanga and Mahela on home soil.’
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