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| Sri Lanka deserved win
Sri Lanka thoroughly deserved their narrow victory and they did extremely well to restrict England to 206 and win their first match in the series. For that, they must thank their four spinners - Upul Chandana, Thilan Samaraweera, Sanath Jayasuriya and Russel Arnold - who, between them, bowled 34 overs and took five wickets for 114 runs. It is true that they found some slow spin on this worn pitch but, even so, England's efforts were hugely disappointing.
There were three run outs as the batsmen became increasingly desperate and, for the first time, Sri Lanka's fielding looked international class with lightening-fast throws arriving beside the bails, while Marvan Atapattu took an excellent catch to dismiss Alex Tudor. Sri Lanka will have taken the field knowing that their total had been at least 30 runs fewer than it should have been. They suffered a collapse of their own, losing their last eight wickets for 67 runs in 16 overs. Michael Vaughan was the first bowler to suggest the spinners might have a field day by returning the most unlikely figures of 4 for 7 from only 15 balls. Only Kumar Sangakkara, the man of the match, converted his good start into an innings of substance, scoring 70 from 79 balls, and there was little to suggest that Sri Lanka were sufficiently motivated to cause England problems.
Nasser Hussain, who is desperate to show his critics that he belongs at number three, opened his shoulders and hit a six and two fours as he scored 28 from 43 balls. But he was the first run-out victim, throwing a thunderous look at Alec Stewart, his partner, as the third umpire despatched him. Ronnie Irani also reached 28 before launching a catch to the deep, and Paul Collingwood, England's last chance, appeared to be steering his team home when he was run out by another superb throw from Mahela Jayawardene. The match ended with another carbon copy Jayawardene/Chandana run out to dismiss the labouring Gough for a duck and, finally, Sri Lanka's long suffering supporters had something to smile about. |
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