England Bowl Sri Lanka Out For 211 Runs In The Fifth And Final ODI At Colombo

England produced another impressive effort in the field to bowl Sri Lanka out for 211 in their fifth and final one-dayer at Colombo on Saturday.

Already 3-1 up in the series, they were on top once Sanath Jayasuriya (26) and debutant Dilruwan Perera (30) departed.

Ryan Sidebottom (2-41) continued his fine form, while recalled spinner Monty Panesar, Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara also chipped in with vital wickets.

Chamara Silva stroked a defiant 73 but Stuart Broad (3-36) mopped up at the end to leave his side firmly in charge.

Jayasuriya twice pulled James Anderson for six, while Perera looked bright enough as he cut successive fours off the expensive seamer.

But the left-hander Anderson to mid-off, his younger partner edged Sidebottom behind and


skipper Mahela Jayawardene got a leading edge to mid-on in the same over to leave the hosts in trouble.

Panesar was only the 12th player to be used by England in the series, coming in for Graeme Swann (torn hamstring) and skipper Paul Collingwood reacted to the deviation he found by bringing on Shah.

The part-time off-break bowler surprised Kumar Sangakkara (26) in his first over with vicious spin to bowl the left-hander, who had earlier passed 6,000 runs in ODIs.

Even umpire Rudi Koertzen was bamboozled, referring the decision to the third umpire, but there was no doubt when Tillakaratne Dilshan was run out by Ian Bell after being sent back by Silva.

Silva was now Sri Lanka's best hope of a challenging total.

He timed the ball beautifully at times, producing peachy cover drives off Anderson and Broad as he reached 50 off 79 balls.

The problem was at the other end, with Jehan Mubarak tamely steering a short and wide ball from Panesar straight to gully before Bopara angled one in to trap Kausal Lokuarachchi lbw third ball.

England became slightly ragged in the closing stages with the previously miserly Bopara struggling with his line, which Silva latched on as he added 34 with Chaminda Vaas.

However Broad saw Vaas play on, had Silva snapped up at third man and cleaned up Dilhara Fernando to put the seal on a polished performance from the visitors.

They went off strong favourites to seal a comprehensive series triumph which would lift them to fourth in the ICC rankings.

Scorecard:

Sri Lanka Innings

D Perera c Mustard b Sidebottom 30

S Jayasuriya c Pietersen b Anderson 26

K Sangakkara b Shah 26

M Jayawardene c Broad b Sidebottom 0

C Silva c Anderson b Broad 73

T Dilshan run out (Bell/Mustard) 9

J Mubarak c Bopara b Panesar 6

K Lokuarachchi lbw b Bopara 0

C Vaas b Broad 15

D Fernando b Broad 12

L Malinga not out 0

Extras: (lb-4, w-9, nb-1) 14

Total: (all out; 48.1 overs) 211

Fall of wickets:

1-45 (Jayasuriya), 2-74 (Perera), 3-74 (Jayawardene), 4-108 (Sangakkara), 5-131 (Dilshan), 6-158 (Mubarak), 7-159 (Lokuarachchi), 8-193 (Vaas), 9-210 (Silva), 10-211 (Fernando)

Bowling O - M - R- W

J Anderson 8 -1- 48 - 1
R Sidebottom 10 - 2- 41- 2
S Broad 9.1- 0 - 36 - 3
M Panesar 10 - 0 - 31 - 1
O Shah 3- 0 -18 - 1
R Bopara 8 - 1 - 33 - 1