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Cricket: Sri Lanka humble England in epic farewell

Sri Lanka yet again proved too powerful for a disappointing England side in the final one day international in Colombo overnight.  Tillakaratne Dilshan was the cricketing star of the match scoring 101 and taking 3-37, but Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene were the sentimental stars, playing their final match on home soil.  Neither set the World on fire in this particular game but both are so fondly revered in these parts that it hardly mattered, all that mattered was the farewell and the Sri Lankan win.

For the record, Sri Lanka destroyed England in game seven by 87 runs.  Batting first, the hosts amassed 302-6 from their allotment thanks to the aforementioned Dislhan knock and rollicking fifties from Dinesh Chandimal and Thisara Perera.  The old guard and captain Angelo Matthews added useful contributions and in unison with Dilshan always had the home side heading towards a large total.  Sangakkara did not reach the lofty heights of earlier in the series but when he got to 6 he broke Ricky Ponting’s record of most runs in a calendar year across all formats (FYI, Ponting had 2833 in 2005).

Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan – as he has done through most of the series – were the pick of the England bowlers.  Unfortunately, Ali couldn’t bring the bowling form to his bating.  His premeditated swipe at a straight, innocuous Dilshan ball set the tone for a collapse that would soon become 78-5.  Only Joe Root – again, as he has done all series – showed some fight.  Only the lack of partners got in the way of him putting up another ODI century.  His performances along with those of Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes (notwithstanding the tap he got in this game), and Chris Jordan are the major triumphs of England’s series.

Still of major concern is the form of Alastair Cook.  BBC analyst Simon Hughes commented after the game that the Sri Lankan players appeared to “feel sorry” for the England captain when he was dismissed after a scratchy 32, and even Cook himself has softened his position on whether he’ll captain at the World Cup.  He has hinted that he can have “no complaints” if he is stood down as he has not scored the runs or had the wins he would have liked.

To cap off the farewell and to send the crowd into a fits of joy, Jayawardene and Sangakkara combined to have James Tredwell stumped in the final act of the game.  It wasn’t his first ODI wicket but will probably go down as the most memorable.

Sri Lanka 302 for 6 (Dilshan 101, Chandimal 55*, T Perera 54) beat England 215 (Root 80, Prasanna 3-35, Dilshan 3-37) by 87 runs

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