Sri Lanka set England tough chase

1 October 2007, Dambulla

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FIRST ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL, DAMBULLA:
Sri Lanka 269-7 (50 overs) v England

Captain Mahela Jayawardene hit 66 as Sri Lanka posted a formidable 269-7 on a slow Dambulla pitch in the first of five one-day matches against England.

Openers Sanath Jayasuriya (41) and Upul Tharanga (40) shared 71 but they and Kumar Sangakkara (38) struggled.

Sangakkara was stumped by debutant Phil Mustard to give Graeme Swann a maiden wicket in his first ODI since 2000.

Jayawardene played fluently before he was caught and though wickets tumbled late on, his team finished in charge.

Interview: England captain Paul Collingwood Interview: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene

It left England with a difficult task as they looked to improve a dismal record of seven defeats in eight previous ODIs in Sri Lanka - even though the hosts were without star off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan (biceps injury).

Dambulla last staged a match more than two years ago and its recently relaid surface caused plenty of problems for Jayasuriya and Tharanga with its lack of pace and variable bounce.

Alarm bells were still beginning to ring for England when James Anderson was heaved over wide long-on for six and to the backward square-leg boundary by Jayasuriya in an over costing 16.

But after Anderson dropped a chance running behind bowler Ryan Sidebottom's end from mid-on, Ravi Bopara held on two balls later at deep mid-wicket to send the dangerous veteran on his way.

Stuart Broad was then rewarded for an encouraging spell, his first since being smacked for 36 in an over by India's Yuvraj Singh at the World Twenty20, when Tharanga was snapped up at deep point.

Sangakkara was outfoxed by the prodigious turn Swann found and toiled away desperately before charging down the track to be stumped off the Nottinghamshire off-spinner.

Jayawardene knew patience was required in such difficult conditions and showed his class by cutting skipper Paul Collingwood and sweeping Swann for early boundaries.

Together with the young Chamara Silva, he kept the scoreboard ticking without taking too many risks as he reached his fifty off 61 balls.

Silva cracked Sidebottom over the wide long-on rope and Jayawardene carved Swann over extra-cover to signal the start of the final onslaught.

But the captain was one of three wickets to fall for 15 runs to give England hope of limiting the damage.

Jayawardene failed to clear Owais Shah on the cover-point boundary, Silva (33) holed out to deep square-leg and Jehan Mubarak was expertly snapped up by Anderson at fine-leg to give Broad a deserved second wicket.

Farveez Maharoof clubbed several boundaries at the end off the young seamer in his cameo of 22 off 12 balls and though he fell in the final over, the hosts appeared to have more than enough on the board.

Source: BBC Sport