Alastair Cook's stewardship of England's one day side got off to the best start possible as England beat Sri Lanka with plenty to spare in a rain affected opening match to the series. With Sri Lanka winning the toss and inserting the hosts, the heavens opened with the score at 35-1 after seven overs, the new captain having fallen for just 5 in what was the only blot on his copybook for the day. A prolonged period of rain rendered the game a revised 32 over contest when played eventually restarted at 5pm.
Upon the resumption, Craig Kieswetter, in tandem firstly with Kevin Pietersen (26), and then Eoin Morgan (45), took the remaining powerplay overs and proceeded at a lively run rate with Kieswetter eventually making 61 at better than a run a ball. His ball striking in the V down the ground was impressive and it was a positive return to the top of the order. Whether or not the truncated nature of the innings helped to clear his mind remains to be seen when we hopefully return to the traditional 50 over format for the second match, but his purposeful knock was pleasing. Morgan unveiled his usual array of flamboyant reverse sweeps and lusty blows to leg, and his 45 from just 35 balls was vital in propelling England to a very impressive 229 from their 32 overs with contributions all the way down the order. Sanath Jayasuriya captured the wicket of Ian Bell in his 445th and final ODI and Lasith Malinga was the standout bowler both in terms of wickets and economy and he will play a crucial part as the series unfolds with his lethal variety of yorkers.
With Duckworth Lewis dictating that Sri Lanka required 232 to win from their 32 overs, the contest was effectively over as early as the fifth ball of the fifth over, with Sri Lanka tottering on 15-4. A combination of good swing and seam bowling in helpful conditions, and lose shots by the Sri Lankan top order handed the game decisively to England. Jayasuriya was a little unlucky to depart for 2 in his final innings as he drilled a ball to point, an area which had been so fruitful for him throughout his lengthy career. He was rightly given a standing ovation as he left the field. James Anderson took 4-18 to knock over the top order and from 15-4 the game went through the motions, with Jade Dernbach enjoying a successful, but ultimately unchallenging, debut taking 2-25. Whether he has enough weapons beside his useful slower ball remains to be seen though. At 69-8, Sri Lanka were facing the ignominy of failing to reach three figures for the first time in an ODI at The Oval, but some lusty hitting from Lasith Malinga, aided by some slightly brainless bowling by the off colour Stuart Broad propelled Sri Lanka to some sort of respectability and a final score of 121. Alastair Cook will undoubtedly face greater tests to his captaincy in the future, but this was an ideal start for him.
England's 110-run win was in marked contrast to their last match with Sri Lanka, a hmbling 10 wicket defeat in Colombo at the World Cup. The conditions could hardly have been any different with the stifling, humidity of Colombo and its sharply spinning wicket replaced with a cool, cloudy day conducive to seam and swing bowling on a lively pitch in London. Sri Lanka will hope that the weather, and their own performance, improves as we move onto Headingley for the second match of the series on Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment