England ease to comfortable win against Sri Lanka

Saturday, 24 May 2014 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: A combination of brutal batting and aggressive bowling ensured England beat Sri Lanka by 81 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method

in a rain interrupted first one-day international at the Oval on Thursday. All rounder Chris Jordan bludgeoned 38 runs with the bat before claiming three wickets as he staked his claim for a place in the England test squad, while their were promising performances from relative newcomers Gary Ballance and Harry Gurney. “I came in to try to score with a flurry and I’m glad it came off,” man-of-the-match Jordan told the BBC. “We wanted as many runs as we could because Sri Lanka bat really deep and we were wary of that. “I want to keep improving my game and want to capitalise on any chances I get to score runs. We know they had to go some guns and luckily it came off.” The hosts lost the toss and were put in to bat by Sri Lanka and having lost captain Alastair Cook (11) early in the innings, England progressed nicely with Ian Bell registering his 31st ODI fifty before being dismissed four balls later. Torrential rain halted proceedings for 2-1/2 hours with the game being limited to 39 overs per side. Upon resumption Ballance top-scored with 64 and Joe Root added 45 before a swashbuckling cameo by Jordan who struck five fours and two sixes in a breathless knock of 38 from 13 balls as England scored 60 runs in the final four overs of their innings. Sri Lanka’s reply got off to the worst possible start with James Anderson claiming the wicket of Lahiru Thirimanne inside the first over while star batsman Kumar Sangakkara was dismissed for just eight. After a second rain delay Sri Lanka were set a revised target of 226 from 32 overs and after Mahela Jayawardene top-scored with 35 the visitors lost wickets at regular intervals as they struggled to keep pace with the required run rate and eventually collapsed to 144 all out and a 1-0 deficit in the five-match series. The second ODI will take place at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street on Sunday.

Poor effort by the whole team: Angelo

In post-match comments, Sri Lanka Captain Angelo Mathews said it was a poor effort by the whole team. “It was a pretty poor performance; we were not up to the mark with the ball. It was an off-day for them. A poor effort by the whole team. You can’t control the weather, but we played some poor cricket. The wicket played pretty well. The confidence remains high, it’s just one game,” Angelo said. England Alastair Cook said: “It was very professional. Sometimes we thought we had better of conditions and sometimes not. Everyone did well. Gary started really, we know what Jos can hit like and then Jordan as well. The lads played [Malinga] really well. Even the great bowlers can go the distance. That extra 30-runs made a big difference.” Man of the Match Chris Jordan said. “Just twisted by ankle a little but nothing serious. I enjoyed whacking the ball and bowling with some aggression. [The short ball] was something we spoke about after not finishing well the other night. It’s nice to get one back on Malinga after the other night.”(Source: ESPNCricinfo)

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