England Thrash Sri Lanka In Opening ODI

England Thrash Sri Lanka In Opening ODI

Alastair Cook leads England off the field following an impressive 110-run win over Sri Lanka at The Kia Oval

©Action Images / Paul Childs Livepic

England 229-8 (Kieswetter 61, Morgan 45) beat
Sri Lanka 121 (Anderson 4-18) by 110 runs (D/L)
First One-Day International, The Kia Oval
Scorecard

England bounced back from their Twenty20 International defeat to beat Sri Lanka by 110 runs in the first One-Day International at The Oval.

It was the perfect start to Alastair Cook's career as full-time ODI captain while on the other end of the spectrum Sanath Jayasuriya made just two runs in his final match.

England made their way to 35 for one before rain reduced the match to 32 overs per side and they closed on 229 for eight. In reply, Sri Lanka - set 232 to win - were bowled out for just 121.

Cook made a poor start to his captaincy reign by scoring five before edging Lasith Malinga to Kumar Sangakkara but the rest of the batsmen stepped up and kept England in a strong position.

Craig Kieswetter top scored with 61 in 56 balls while Eoin Morgan (45), Kevin Pietersen (26), Jonathan Trott (23) and the returning Tim Bresnan (23) all played their part.

The ever-dangerous Malinga also removed Bresnan and Stuart Broad (13) to finish with three for 40.

Despite boasting an immensely experienced top order, Sri Lanka were quickly in trouble at 15 for four as James Anderson (4-18) and Bresnan (1-26) got to work.

Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan (1), Mahela Jayawardene (5) and Kumar Sangakkara (4) were all dismissed within the first five overs and as a contest, the game was as good as over.

Thilina Kandamby (19) and Angelo Mathews (16) took the score onto 40 but England were not about to lift up, and Graeme Swann played his part with three for 18, debutant Jade Dernbach returned two for 25 to dismiss the Sri Lankans in 27 overs.

Malinga (26) and Suraj Randiv (23) were the only other players to reach double figures as a rampant English side laid down a big marker ahead of the rest of the series.

© Cricket World 2011