A disciplined Lankan unit displayed a monumental all-round performance to rout hosts, England by a massive margin of 157 runs to win the 2nd ODI played at Chester-le-Street.
Eoin Morgan walked out for the toss instead of injured Alastair Cook which he won to put the visitors to bat first on a cloudy afternoon. Sri Lankan openers got through the early passage of play in a tentative way but Lahiru Thirimanne’s patient knock of 10 runs in 37 balls was ended by James Anderson in the 9th over. Sri Lanka determined to weather the early English storm took their time about gathering runs but the plan was to stay at the wicket. TM Dilshan and one drop batsman Kumar Sangakkara struggled initially to cope up with the swinging delivery but the experienced duo managed to put up an enduring 96 runs for the 2nd wicket before Kumar Sangakkara’s 67 ball inning came to an end due to his own fault. Sanga tried to slog sweep James Tredwell but the ball skied up only to let Jos Buttler take an easy catch. Mahela Jayawardene fell short of his crease on his way for the third run and gave away his wicket as double strikes for England helped them to restrict Sri Lanka to 132 for 3 with little over 100 balls left.
Dilshan continued with his fighting knock to accumulate 88 valuable runs in 101 with 7 boundaries but he fell just short of his 18th ODI century after being bowled through the gate by Chris Jordan by one he got to nip back sharply into the batsman. Skipper Angelo Mathews and Ashan Priyanjan played exceptionally well in the final 10 overs as they put up a late flurry of 87 runs to help Sri Lanka post a formidable total of 256 to defend. Angelo’s knock of 30 came to an end from a mistimed drive off impressive left arm seamer Harry Gurney. Ashan Priyanjan playing his 9th ODI showed he’s the next Aravinda De Silva as he pulled and drove like a master to score a brilliant 43 runs in 33 balls with 2 sixes and 2 fours.
Harry Gurney continued his dream start to international cricket picking up three wickets for 59 runs while Leader of the pack, James Anderson took 2 wickets including the scalp of Priyanjan.
England got off to miserable start chasing 257 to win. Nuwan Kulasekara was in his best, bowling wicket to wicket as he nicked through Michael Carberry only to find Sangakkara’s gloves. Ian Bell chased a wide delivery outside off-stump as he became Kulasekara’s second victim of the evening. Lasith Malinga got a delivery to nip back off the seam and clean bowled Joe Root for a duck to put England into more desolation. England was restricted to 29 for 4 when their hero of the 1st ODI, Gary Ballance was trapped in front of his stumps by another perfectly pitched Kulasekara swinger.
Sri Lankan bowlers showed great signs of having mastered the conditions in England as they bowled at correct line and length to trouble the hosts who was uncertain of their footwork against the seam and swing of the Asian champions.
The runs dried up and stand in captain Eoin Morgan was the only England batsman to handle the spin wizardry of Sachithra Senanayake as the hosts inched towards a minor recovery but the wickets kept on tumbling from the other end as Senanayake proved he is by far the best off-spinner presently in Sri Lanka to take out Ravi Bopara, Chris Jordan with pure mystery deliveries that bamboozled the batsmen. Jos Buttler lobbed up the first delivery from Mathews and Senanayake took an acrobatic catch as England was headed to a forgettable defeat.
Morgan remained an obstinate barrier to Sri Lanka and was the main reason they passed their lowest-ever ODI total of 86 against Australia in 2001 but he was caught on the boundary for 40 off Dhammika Prasad. England failed to reach three figures as Senanayake finished off the proceedings removing James Anderson in the 27th over and their total of 99 was their fifth lowest in ODI cricket.
Captain Angelo Mathews praised his team for a stunning performance at the post-match presentation: “It was a pleasing performance on a sporty wicket. The batters had to work really hard but Dilshan played outstandingly well. We were not really sure at half-time but the bowlers were great, very aggressive. The conditions were a challenge for our team, it was cold out there. Kulasekera is unplayable in these conditions and Senanayake has a lot of confidence and was outstanding once again.”
With the series poised at 1-1, the two sides next face off at Old Trafford on Wednesday for the 3rd match of series.
