Chris Jordan shines with bat and ball in an England win against Sri Lanka - England after a dismal performance in the Australian tour won their first One Day International match against Sri Lanka in the five match ODI series. The match though was rain hit and the result was decided with the help of the Duckworth-Lewis method still it was a memorable win for England. Sri Lanka on winning the toss put the home team into bat. The visitors got their first success in the 6th over taking the wicket of Alastair Cook. Ian Bell and Gary Ballance stitched a partnership for the second wicket taking their team past 100 run mark. Bell lost his wicket to Angelo Mathews after finishing his half century. The rain effected the match and the game was reduced to 39 over’s each side. Just as the match resumed Eion Morgan was bowled by Sachithra Senanayake. Later Ravi Bopara with Ballance managed to take England to a score of 150 as both the batsmen scored 45 and 64 respectively. England struggled in the end as wickets kept falling but it was Chris Jordan who played a blinder of an innings scoring 38 off just 13 deliveries. This innings changed the fortunes for the home team as they managed to score 247 runs in 39 overs. Senanayake was the most economical bowler for the visitors.
Rain acted as a spoiler yet again in the chase as it came down in the 14th over of the game when Sri Lanka was 60/2. The game started yet again with a revised target of 226 in 32 overs. They lost their first wicket in the very first over and Tilakaratne Dilshan too lost his wicket to Chris Jordan. It was a dream performance from Jordan as after playing a Blinder of an innings with the bat he managed to take three important wickets which included Nuwan Kulasekara and Dinesh Chandimal. The wickets kept on tumbling for Sri Lanka in the swinging conditions and it was never easy. Sri Lanka was bowled out in the 28th over at the score of 144 thus losing the match by 81 runs. Jordan was named as the man of the match for his all-round performance. England now
leads the five match series 1-0.