Sri Lanka wins their second series in the long tour of England - After winning their first series against the Ireland in the tour of England Sri Lanka were hoping to continue their form against the English side in the ODI’s. The five match one day series between England and Sri Lanka had all the ingredients of a cracker of a series. Though the expectations were not meant and first three matches of the series ended up a one sided affair. The opener of the series was played in the historic ground Kennington Oval. The English side made use of the home condition to the fullest as batting first they scored 247. Ian bell and Gary Ballance was the top scorer for the team. While chasing the Sri Lankan was believed to be a good batting side but they failed miserably and lost the first match by 81 runs. The visitors were bowled out in just 28 over’s at a score of 144. The young bowler Chris Jordan registered 3 wickets in the match.
In the second match played at Chester le Street saw the visitors batting first and this time they didn’t make any mistake and scored 256 runs in their 50 over’s. Tilakaratne Dilshan top scored as he fell short by 12 runs for his century. While the top wicket taker for English side this time was Harry Gurney as he took 3 wickets. The match seemed to be evenly poised as the home side looked in form. But the match was yet again a one sided affair as the visitors bowled the home team for 99. Eoin Morgan was the top scorer in the team as he scored 40 runs. The right arm off break bowler Sachithra Senanayake left a huge dent in the batting line up of England as he took 4 wickets in the match.
The third ODI was yet again a low scoring game as the young Chris Jordan took 5 wickets as Sri Lanka batting first was bowled out for just 67 runs. Not a single player from the visitor team was able to cross the 15 run mark. On the other hand the home side won this game in just 12 over without even losing a wicket. After the three match ended up as a one sided affair the fourth match proved to be an exciting one as It had a nail biting finish. Riding on the century of Kumar Sangakkara the visitors scored 300 in the first innings. While chasing Jos Buttler gave some late hope as his 102 balls 121 run innings brought the team close to the target but it was a fabulous last over from Latish Malinga proved to be the deciding factor in the game. After the four matches it was all left for the last match to be the decider.
Playing at the Edgbaston England scored 219 runs batting first. Alastair Cook top scored for his team while Latish Malinga took 3 wickets. Chasing the score was made look easy by Mahela Jayawardene, Lahiru Thirimane and Angelo Mathews as they reached the target in the 49th over of the innings. The visitors won their second series in the tour. Tilakaratne Dilshan was the top scorer in the series as he scored 222 runs in the 5 matches. While Jos Buttler was the top scorer for England as he scored 172 runs at an average of 57.33. Chris Jordan the young bowling star from England registered 12 wickets in the series. The first three matches was a one sided affair but the last two matches proved to be the highlight of the series which was eventually won by Sri Lanka 3-2 as Latish Malinga won the player of the series award.