England vs. Sri Lanka Live: Sangakkara scores 75 to set a moderate chase of 175

Kumar Sangakkara

England is 2-1 down in the series and the 3^rd ODI will decide whether we go to a decider or not. England got a head-start and foolishly threw it away as Sri Lanka managed a decent total of 174 inspite of being 57-5 at one stage. Sangakkara played a resolute innings dragging his team to a competitive total with inputs from Angelo Matthews and the lower order. Bresnan and Anderson were key destroyers upfront but Stuart Broad bowled a useful spell in the middle over to tug back the lions within 200. Trent Bridge has been a happy-hunting venue for the English and a win here will settle some nerves. English skipper Alastair Cook has drawn instant criticism since falling behind 2-1 in the series.

England had won the toss and elected to field first. The decision was in light of the swing responsive nature of the Trent Bridge track traditionally. James Anderson has a history with the venue and he did the damage upfront by removing Dilshan in the very first over. Dilshan was found feeling for the ball outside his off stump, and the tentativeness that accompanies an unsettled batsman was there to be explored. Anderson did well to put the ball in the right area and the pitch was left to do its work thereafter. An even bigger blow followed as the man in form, Mahela Jayawardene was dismissed in the 4rth over of the innings. Jayawardene was caught by Trott on a short of length delivery by Bresnan.

England continued to penetrate the Sri Lankan middle order as Sangakkara held one end. He played cautiously on his part but there was some silly stroke-making on part of the inexperienced Lankans. Once half the team was in the hunt, Sangakkara found an able partner in Angelo Matthews as they strung up a partnership together. They were just out of a muddle when Matthews was surprised by a short delivery by Bresnan. He made an extraordinary effort in the field to complete the caught and bowled himself.

Sangakkara battled hard till the very end and was the last man to be dismissed. He scored 75 runs of 107 balls in order to give the bowlers an outside chance of completing the job. This innings was worth a hundred any day for the amount of application and character he exhibited. England has the task of chasing this moderate score down and captain Alastair Cook would want to lead from the front.