It was the first match of Sri Lanka’s tour to England and Ireland. It was the match between the Sri Lanka Vs. England at The Oval. At present, the cricket world seemed to be obsessed with IPL. But the attendance and excitement for today’s match spoke something different. The ground was full and there was no corner in the stands which had an empty seat.
Sri Lanka came into the match bubbling with confidence as they are presently the World Champions in T20 cricket. England, on the other hand, did not have a good time for the past few months.
England won the toss and opted to field first. The pitch looked to be a batting paradise and a run feast was expected. It was Tilekaratne Dilshan and Kusal Perera, who opened the innings for Sri Lanka. Joe Root started the proceedings for the hosts. The match started with a boundary from Dilshan through the square leg region. But then Dilshan edged a ball but the ball landed in no-man’s land. The openers were looking to get settled but not for long. TM Dilshan was bowled by a fantastic good-length out-swinger from HF Gurney in the 3rd over. The first wicket was followed by a second one from Chris Jordan in the very next over in the form of Kusal Perera. Then there was a good looking partnership built between KDK Vithanage and Lahiru Thirmanne. Both of them were playing well and also had the sheer of luck. Finally, it was Chris Woakes, who struck in the breakthrough for the hosts in the 10th over. Vithanage was dismissed while he tried to cut a ball and got caught in the hands of Carberry. He played a fine knock of 38 runs off 26 balls with 7 fours. Dinesh Chandimal came in next. Sri Lanka scored 79 runs in the first 10 overs by losing 3 wickets. Chandimal did not manage to score much and was dismissed in the 11th over. Mathews came in next and tried to hit boundaries right from the start but was dismissed in the 15th over. Thisara Perera came in next and started to amplify the scoring rate by scoring very aggressively. Thirmanne, on the other hand was assisting him well but he departed in the 18th over and had scored 40 runs off 32 deliveries. Perera carried on with his aggression though and smacked Jordan for 22 runs in the 19th over of the innings with 4 fours and a six. Perera ran out in the last delivery of the innings. He scored 49 runs off 20 balls. His cameo, later turned to be a match winning one for the Lankans. Sri Lanka managed to put up a target of 184 runs on the board.
The chase was never going to be easy for the hosts with the kind of bowling Sri Lanka possessed. England lost their opener, Carrberry in the second over of the innings, while he tried to knock a ball over the third man region. Ian Bell came in next and looked to form a partnership with Alex Hales. Bell looked to struggle a bit initially though. It was the skipper, Lasith Malinga who struck for the Lankans in the 6th over. Bell was dismissed at a score of 13.Root came in next but did not manage to stay for long. Morgan disappointed with his performance today. Hales, on one end was playing extremely well but wickets kept falling on the other end. Butler came in next and played some fine strokes and assisted Hales in the partnership. But his dismissal in the 16th over worsened things for England. Finally, it was 51 needed off the last 4 overs. And it was Malinga again who picked up the wicket of the big fish, Alex Hales, which proved to be the turning point. Hales failed to judge a slower from Malinga and was bowled. He scored 66 runs off 41 deliveries which included 7 fours and 2 sixes. But the game was yet not over. It was Ravi Bopara who turned on the game with his boundaries. But to bring back things in balance, it was Lasith Malinga once again. He gave just 4 runs in the 19th over of the innings and snatched the game away from England. Finally, it was 24 needed off the last over and Chandimal defended it well, though he went for a few boundaries initially.
Sri Lanka won the match by a margin of 9 runs. Malinga was the pick of the bowlers for the Lankans. He gave only 28 runs off his 4 overs and managed to take 3 crucial wickets.
Thisara Perera was adjourned as the Man of the Match by his stunning performance with the bat. He also took the crucial wicket of English skipper, Eoin Morgan and gave 24 runs in 3 overs.