As It Happened - Sri Lanka vs England, 7th ODI in Colombo
Live cricket score and ball-by-ball commentary from the 7th One-Day International (ODI) match between Sri Lanka and England at the R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Tuesday.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: December 16, 2014 11:07 PM IST
Sri Lanka thrashed England by 87 runs in the seventh and final one-day international and won the series 5-2 as Tillakaratne Dilshan starred with bat and ball, smashing his 18th hundred and snaring three wickets on Tuesday. Catch all the highlights of the match here: (SCORECARD)
Electing to bat first, Sri Lanka posted 302-6 thanks to Dilshan's 101 off 124 deliveries, Dinesh Chandimal's unbeaten 55, and an aggressive 26-ball 54 from Thisara Perera.
England's reply started badly, Moeen Ali out for a duck in the second over, and fellow opener and captain Alastair Cook for 32 at 51-3. Joe Root easily stood out with 80 in a lost cause, as England was bundled out for 215 in 45.5 overs.
The last England wicket was fittingly taken by Mahela Jayawardene, off a stumping by Kumar Sangakkara, in their last ODI at home.
Live Score: Sri Lanka vs England
Right then! That ends a pretty one-sided series with Sri Lanka thwarting the Brits. The Lankans now move to New Zealand for another 7-ODI series and a couple of Tests while England take a break before heading to Australia for the tri-series involving India. That is all we have from tonight. Until next time, Adios! Take Care!
Victorious Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews feels that it was a great effort. Dilshan was brilliant today and seems to be getting better with age. Wants to enjoy this victory tonight and get on the plane tomorrow to fly to New Zealand. Agrees that it is going to be a sad day for all owing to the retirement of the two stalwarts Mahela and Sanga.
Tillakaratne Dilshan has been named the Man Of The Match and Series. Feels happy to end the series on a high. Is very happy with my all-round performance and thinks these are really good things before the Worlds Cup. The young guys are clicking and he feels that the Lankans are peaking at the right time. Admits that Mahela and Sangakkara will be missed but they still have some 10-15 matches before they go, so they need to extract as much as possible from these guys.
England captain Alastair Cook says that they let themselves down today. The total was too big to chase. Admits that it was a poor series but finds a few positives in Joe Root, Jos Buttler and James Tredwell. Says that they also had a look at some close contenders for the World Cup. But the bottom line is they were not good enough. Does not want to fault the players or the pitch. Cheers the fantastic crowd which turned up to support Mahela and Sanga and also the Barmy Army.
All positives for Sri Lanka. No negatives. England left for some soul searching, which was provided somewhat by Root, Buttler and Moeen Ali. But a 2-5 series loss would be a big scar.
Easy win for the Lankans. Raked up 302 on the board, then bundled out the English pretty cheaply. Root was the only one with a fight. Dilshan and Prasanna got a few cheap wickets. 3 each.
The Lankans are performing a victory lap at the ground. The crowd is cheering, happy, yet sad. There won't be any Mahela-Sanga combo in any format in Sri Lanka. The true legends of the sport for their country have really done Sri Lanka proud.
OUT! STUMPED! Mahela gets the final wicket! Tossed up outside off, Tredwell charges down the track and swings wildly but misses. Easy stumping for Sangakkara. SRI LANKA WIN BY 87 RUNS AND TAKE THE SERIES 5-2!
The batsman has pushed it to the cover region. They pick up a single.
The batsman has played that off the front foot and into the ground.