Jayawardene century sinks England

By Oliver Brett
BBC Sport

Second one-day international, Headingley

Sri Lanka 309-5 beat England 240 by 69 runs

Mahela Jayawardene's highest score in one-day internationals set Sri Lanka on their way to a 69-run victory as the tourists levelled the five-match series against England at one win apiece.

Jayawardene hit 144 in 150 balls with no hint of savagery as Sri Lanka, put in by Alastair Cook, made 309-5.

On a wonderful wicket for batting at sunny Headingley, England nevertheless struggled during the chase.

Eoin Morgan top-scored with 52 from 40 balls in a total of 240 all out.

The final wicket fell with 25 balls remaining, and the series moves to Lord's on Sunday where England will have to improve markedly.

Though the most obvious difference between the two sides was Jayawardene's delightful century, his 15th in ODIs, Sri Lanka's fielding was excellent throughout while England's was woefully shoddy.

As expected, the hosts named a line-up unchanged from the team that had coasted to victory in the rain-affected series opener at The Oval.

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This performance again raises questions about England's batting order, while Sri Lanka also had more variety to call on from the bowlers

Test Match Special's Vic Marks

With Sanath Jayasuriya having played his last game, Jayawardene was promoted to open the batting with Tillakaratne Dilshan, while youngster Dinesh Chandimal took the vacant batting slot at number three.

England began with some accurate bowling, but the first two wickets came about as a result of sharp fielding and terrible judgement from Sri Lanka's batsmen.

The direct hits from Stuart Broad and James Anderson - running out Dilshan and Chandimal respectively - did not reflect England's general performance in the field.

Jayawardene was critically dropped at slip by Graeme Swann when on seven, while Cook spilt a much tougher chance when he had already reached his century.

Swann then dropped a second catch in the closing overs at short fine-leg, palming the ball away for four.

There were overthrows and basic errors as well, while the bowling, with the exception of Swann and James Anderson, was also poor, with too many wides and full tosses.

Jayawardene and by Kumar Sangakkarra (69) put on 159 in 29 overs before Swann hit back when Sangakkara was stumped from a ball that turned sharply.

Sri Lanka stepped up the scoring in the final overs, with 59 runs coming in the five-over batting powerplay and some muscular strikes from Angelo Mathews (46 not out from 30 balls) ensuring England would need more than a run a ball from the very start.

Cook and Craig Kieswetter started brightly before both were caught in the deep - Cook's 48 from 52 balls emphasising that he has the ability to score at a decent rate in this format - but Jonathan Trott began slowly and Kevin Pietersen was nicely caught by Lasith Malinga in the deep for only 13.

When Trott was bowled by a perfect inswinging yorker from Suranga Lakmal for 39, Morgan played beautifully until he was stumped off Suraj Randiv.

Two more wickets quickly fell, leaving Bell, again looking ill-suited to the number six slot, to try to pull the game out of the fire. But he swept meekly to short fine-leg and it all ended when Jade Dernbach holed out to long-off.

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Jayawardene makes England suffer

By Sam Sheringham
BBC Sport Venue: CardiffDate: 26-30 MayStart time: 1100 BST each dayCoverage: Live ball-by-ball Test Match Special commentary on BBC 5 live sports extra, BBC Radio 4 Long Wave & BBC Sport website; live video scorecard on Red Button (not Freeview); live text commentary on BBC Sport website & mobiles; watch live on Sky Sports (subscription required); highlights on Channel 5 Jayawardene scored a century in his first Test on English soil Prasanna Jayawardene hit 112 to put Sri Lanka in control of the first Test against a weary England in Cardiff.

James Anderson struck in the third over of the day but Thilan Samaraweera kept the tourists on top with an elegant 58.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Jayawardene then took centre stage, reaching his third Test century from 147 balls as Sri Lanka racked up 400 all out.

Captain Andrew Strauss was caught at slip in the penultimate over as England finished day two on 47-1.

The late wicket capped an excellent performance from the tourists on a day when the vulnerabilities of England's four-bowler strategy were exposed.

Part-time seamer Jonathan Trott, filling the role previously performed by Paul Collingwood, gave up 29 runs from his six overs, while the Sri Lankans coped comfortably with Graeme Swann's off spin.

Suranga Lakmal struck a late blow with the wicket of Strauss

That put pressure on England's trio of seamers and when Anderson was forced off with back and side injuries - which require a precautionary scan - Strauss was left short of options.

Nonetheless, the hosts stuck to their task, with the luckless Broad eventually becoming the second youngest Englishman after Ian Botham to reach 100 Test wickets, and Swann helping to wrap up the tail.

And with plenty of batting still to come, there is every reason to believe they can get back into the game over the weekend.

With Sri Lanka resuming on 133-2, England needed early wickets on Friday morning and Anderson delivered the goods from the final ball of the third over.

It was a brilliant piece of bowling from the Ashes hero as he followed five outswingers with a fierce inswinger that caught the shoulder of Mahela Jayawardene's bat and flew to first slip, where Strauss took a sharp reaction catch.

Tharanga Paranavitana continued to favour caution over aggression as he added just seven runs to his overnight 58 in the first hour of play.

His cause was not aided by a straight ball from Chris Tremlett which struck him full in the groin, requiring lengthy treatment. The left-hander never looked comfortable thereafter, surviving a leg-before appeal from Broad before he was bowled by Tremlett two deliveries later off a thick inside edge.

Samaraweera kept the scoreboard ticking over with a regular supply of attractive boundaries, reaching 23 off 37 balls before he survived a close shave. A poorly-executed cut shot looped towards Eoin Morgan at point, but the ball dropped just short of the fielder as he dived to his left.

If that incident left Tremlett cursing his luck, Broad's efforts to claim his 100th victim were littered with misfortune as Jayawardene twice edged at a catchable height between third slip and gully.

Samaraweera reached his 26th Test fifty from 72 balls as his partnership with Jayawardene reached 84. But the second new ball proved his undoing as Anderson got a delivery to straighten off the seam and catch the outside edge before flying through to Swann at second slip.

There followed a period of immense frustration for England, and especially Broad, who had a flurry of marginal leg-before-wicket appeals rejected by umpire Aleem Dar.

But the wheel of fortune turned full circle as Farveez Maharoof was run out for 16 in a desperately unlucky manner. Bowler Trott got a hand to a Jayawardene drive and deflected the ball onto the stumps, leaving Maharoof stranded as he backed-up looking for a run.

New batsman Thisara Perera should have been run out in more orthodox fashion shortly afterwards when Jayawardene called him through for a suicidal single but Kevin Pietersen's underarm throw missed the stumps by some distance.

Broad's frustrations intensified after tea when he drew a thick outside edge from Perera, only for Cook at third slip to drop a tricky chance. But the bowler finally gained the reward his exertions deserved when Perera mis-hit a drive straight to Tremlett at mid-on.

A fifty partnership between Jayawardene and Herath added to Strauss's woes, with the former reaching three figures in his first Test appearance in England.

Herath cracked 25 from 35 balls before he was caught slashing wildly at Swann, who wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Lakmal in his next over after Broad had removed Jayawardene caught behind.

Strauss and Alastair Cook made a comfortable start to England's reply as Dilshan gave all five of his frontline bowlers a try.

But just when the openers appeared to be guiding the hosts through to the close, Suranga Lakmal got one to deviate off the seam and Strauss's edge was well-taken by Mahela Jayawardene at second slip.

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