English cricket team in Sri Lanka in 2007-08
Encyclopedia
The England cricket team toured Sri Lanka from 28 September to 22 December 2007. England made two trips to Sri Lanka in this tour with the ODI team arriving on 25 September before returning to England on the 15 October. The Test team arrived on the 15 November and stayed there for the remainder of the tour. The tour included three Test matches
and five ODIs.
and beat Bangladesh 3–0. Their recent record against England was good winning seven of the last ten ODI matches which included a whitewash series of 5–0 in 2006. With the injury to Andrew Flintoff
captain Mahela Jayawardene
wished to exploit his absence saying his presence adds balance to the team.
going on his first away tour while James Anderson
and Stuart Broad
formed a new front line attack. Other relative newcomers to the squad were all-rounders Dimitri Mascarenhas
and Ravi Bopara. England had still not resolved their keeping problem with Matthew Prior
not being offered a central contract and had selected five wicketkeepers in the past 12 months; Chris Read
, Geraint Jones
, Paul Nixon
, Prior and Phil Mustard.
Unlike the ODI team the Test team was ranked higher than Sri Lanka but with England playing away the series was expected to be a close affair. Their recent Test performances had been disappointing however, suffering a whitewash in the last Ashes tour and losing their first home series in six years to India.
missed the ODI series due to a biceps injury and Kaushal Lokuarachchi was called up as a replacement.
Matthew Prior
was originally included in England's ODI squad but was withdrawn from the squad after breaking his thumb in a training session prior to the New Zealand game in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20. Phil Mustard was selected as his replacement which was his first England call-up while Graeme Swann
gained his first England call-up in seven years. On 20 September Andrew Flintoff
pulled out of the ODI series after suffering a recurrence of an ankle injury and was replaced by Chris Tremlett
. Flintoff was ruled out of the Test series so he could undergo further keyhole ankle surgery .
For Sri Lanka, Sanath Jayasuriya
announced his retirement from Test cricket on Day 3 of the first Test, effective at the end of that Test. Tillakaratne Dilshan
and Chanaka Welegedara
joined the squad for the third Test. Dilshan replaced the ineffective Jehan Mubarak
. Welegedara earned his first Test cap as a substitute for Dilhara Fernando
, who was forced to undergo ankle surgery for an injury suffered during Sri Lanka's 2007 tour to Australia that clearly affected him during the first two Tests.
, Stuart Broad
, Luke Wright, Alastair Cook
and Kevin Pietersen
all recovered from a stomach virus to start the match. Due to special regulations both teams consisted of 14 players with 11 of these players fielding/batting. England won the toss and chose to bat first and initially scored slowly with Mustard taking 15 balls to get off the mark. Cook and Bell established a strong partnership of 89 before Pietersen scored 50 from only 29 deliveries. Quick runs from Bopara and then Shah insured England set a good target of 314/4 with Bell scoring an unbeaten 131.
Sri Lanka suffered two early setbacks but made a minor recovery with Chamara Kapugedera
and Indika de Saram
putting on 65 for the third wicket. Wickets then fell at regular intervals and when Kapugedera was caught of the bowling of James Anderson
the game was effectively over. Ashan Priyanjan and Malinga Bandara
provided some resistance but England still managed to gain a comfortable 80 run victory.
Graeme Swann
was picked ahead of Monty Panesar
as England decided not to field with a second spinner. The conditions on the day were windy with little swing in the wicket. The pitch was recently re-laid resulting in little pace and variable bounce which was to trouble both teams in the match. Paul Collingwood
commented that the wicket was like an English wicket.
Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat and started well with Upul Tharanga
and Sanath Jayasuriya
adding 77 for the opening wicket. After 30 overs Sri Lanka were in a strong position of 150/2 and were looking to set a large total but when Swann got Kumar Sangakkara
stumped the rate slowed. This was Swann’s first ODI wicket and Phil Mustard’s first stumping for England. Sri Lanka could not accelerate in the final overs, losing four wickets in quick succession but still managed to finish on a good total of 269/7. Numerous interruptions in the match meant that Sri Lanka’s first innings went over the allocated time as there were problems with the sightscreens, bails falling off and even a dog running across the outfield.
As a result of a prolonged innings the break was reduced to 30 minutes. A dropt catch at second slip allowed Mustard to get of the mark, this would be a sign of things to come as England collapsed from 43/0 to 106/6 losing Mustard, Bell, Pietersen and Collingwood within 15 runs. A stand of 42 between Swann and Ravi Bopara delayed the end but England still lost by 119 runs their biggest defeat to Sri Lanka in terms of runs.
Farveez Maharoof
was awarded man of the match with bowling figures of 4/31 and was compared to Glenn McGrath
with his bowling performance on the day. The winning captain Jawardere said patience with the bat was the key to setting a good score of 270 stating that if he aimed for 300 he would have risked being bowled out on less than 250. Collingwood was disappointed with England’s batting effort and admitted that Sri Lanka’s bowling was at a level that his team wanted to achieve.
Despite England's heavy defeat in the previous match their team remained unchanged while Sri Lanka also carried the same squad. England won the toss and elected to bat. Sri Lanka started in similar vein to the previous game and had England on 61/4. Collingwood and Owais Shah
began the England recovery putting on 78 runs before Collingwood was out lbw. A stand of 70 between Swann and Shah followed allowing England to finish on 234/8.
Ryan Sidebottom
and Stuart Broad
disciplined bowling yielded four early wickets putting Sri Lanka on 38/4 after 14.1 overs. Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan
started a recovery but after both their wickets fell within nine deliveries of each other the game was largely in England’s control. From then on wickets fell at regular intervals and although Dilhara Fernando
and Farveez Maharoof
added 43 runs for the final wicket it was too much to ask for the final pair to win the match.
Shah was awarded man of the match with his score of 82 and was largely responsible for England setting a decent score of 234/8. This was the first win for England in Sri Lanka since 1982 while Shah’s score of 82 was the highest ever for an Englishman in Sri Lanka. Winning captain Collingwood said he was delighted with his team’s performance but wanted this match to be the benchmark for the rest of the series.
, back up the order as an opener, was trapped LBW by Malinga Bandara
. As top-scorer Alastair Cook
reached his fifty, with seven fours, the rest of his teammates were investigating rumoured sittings of a snake underneath the advertising board. Only Kevin Pietersen
fell cheaply, for 4, while the other top-order batsmen all retired after making semi-impressive starts to ensure as many batsmen could have a knock but the match was over as any kind of contest due to the poor performance of the 9 bowlers used.
. A 100 run partnership between Kumar Sangakkara
(who top-scored with 92) and Prasanna Jayawardene
(the keeper) followed to allow Sri Lanka to post a vaguely respectable score, but they were bowled out for 188. England made a confident reply, reaching 49/1 by the close of play, with the loss of Alastair Cook
in the first over as the only blemish.
England’s innings proceeded well through the morning of day 2, with Ian Bell posting a fluent 83 before chipping a shot to midwicket. However, England then suffered a mini collapse, triggered by Muttiah Muralitharan
, and slipped to 185/6 before rain curtailed the day’s play. By this point, all eyes were on Muralitharan who was on the verge of overtaking Shane Warne
’s career haul of 708 test wickets.
England resumed positively on day 3, with Ryan Sidebottom
providing useful assistance to the remaining recognised batsman, Paul Collingwood
. However, it would be Collingwood who eventually provided Muralitharan with his record-breaking dismissal, being clean bowled by the spinner. The wicket prompted scenes of mass celebration, and an ad-hoc presentation along with the awarding of a special trophy by senior Sri Lankan officials took place at the lunch break. Michael Vaughan
attended this ceremony.
Alongside all this, England were bowled out for 281, and took a useful 93 run lead into the second innings. However, the strength of this position quickly evaporated as Sri Lanka made a very good start to their second innings, with the openers (Sanath Jayasuriya
and Michael Vandort
) putting on 113. During this opening stand, Jayasuriya became only the second batsman to score six fours off a six-ball over in Test cricket (with James Anderson
being the unfortunate bowler). After the day's proceedings, he announced his retirement from Test cricket.
Sri Lanka continued with a far more assertive batting display in their second innings. Mahela Jayawardene
and Kumar Sangakkara
dominated the first session, and Sangakkara became the first batsman ever to score 150 in each of four consecutive Tests. England’s bowlers toiled throughout the day but struggled to contain the Sri Lankan batsman. Sri Lanka declared near to the close of play on 442/8, shortly after a swarm of bees had forced a halt in play with players and umpires all diving for cover!
England lost Alastair Cook
in the first over again, and needed to bat the final day out (or score an unlikely 350 to win). The biggest threat was clearly Muralitharan, and so it was therefore of some disappointment that the 4 wickets to fall during the morning session on the final day were to the seam bowlers. At 125/5 at lunch, their quest seemed doomed, but Ian Bell and Matt Prior batted for 45 overs through the tea break and beyond to give England a chance of a draw.
However, Muralitharan had the last word when he dismissed both these well-set batsmen within an over of each other. Shortly afterwards, Ryan Sidebottom
was dismissed to a controversial lbw
decision (replays showed a big inside edge onto pad) which ended the stiffest of the resistance the lower order could offer. Matthew Hoggard
was clean bowled by a Lasith Malinga
yorker a few overs later, and Sri Lanka had won the match by 88 runs.
, England made two changes to their side. One was an enforced change, Matthew Hoggard
having suffered an injury during the second innings. James Anderson
was the other man to give way, with Stephen Harmison and Stuart Broad
coming in. It was Broad’s debut.
Sri Lanka’s only change was enforced by Sanath Jayasuriya
’s retirement – Upul Tharanga
replacing him at the top of the order. Jayasuriya was present at the Test match - but in the form of a TV commentator!
England won the toss, chose to bat and made an impressive start to their innings, with the opening stand being worth 133 in 39 overs. Michael Vaughan
played some exquisite shots, bringing back memories of his performances against India and Australia in 2002 when he reached the top of the world rankings. It took a freakish dismissal to remove him, the ball getting caught in the trousers of the short leg fielder who then managed to grab it before it hit the ground. Vaughan had made 87, and was very disappointed to have to leave the crease when he had the potential to make a very large score.
Unusual dismissals were to be the theme of the day. Kevin Pietersen
was given out to a catch that didn’t appear to have carried, and Alastair Cook
fell victim to a questionable lbw decision. Ravi Bopara was clean bowled by Lasith Malinga
next ball, and England closed the day on 258/5 – which was disappointing given the promising start.
England suffered further losses early on day 2, with Paul Collingwood
shouldering arms to a straight delivery, and Stuart Broad
failing as a batsman on his debut. Matt Prior batted very well for 79, and only fell when trying to accelerate the scoring with 9 wickets down. Before this, Ryan Sidebottom
had provided him with good assistance with a partnership worth 74. England were all out for 351 – a somewhat below par total, but something to work with for the bowlers.
The bowlers made a very good start in the Sri Lankan reply, with Sidebottom removing Tharanga and then the prize wicket of Kumar Sangakkara
very cheaply. The score was 22/2 at this point. Stuart Broad
had shared the new ball with Sidebottom and bowled impressively, although he did receive two warnings for running on the danger area of the pitch.
However, this was as good as it got for England, as the Sri Lankan skipper, along with Michael Vandort
proceeded to build a big partnership for the third wicket. They ended day 2 on 105/2, and carried on well into the afternoon session of day 3, and both picked up centuries in the process. Mahela Jayawardene
also passed 7,000 test runs in his innings, the first Sri Lankan to achieve this milestone.
England toiled hard for just 2 wickets on day 3, those of Vandort and Chamara Silva
, and the score was 379/4 at the end of the day. Stephen Harmison bowled very well following his comeback from injury, and deserved more success than the one wicket (of Silva) he got.
On day 4, England managed to make further inroads into Sri Lanka’s innings, but the lead was ballooning out of control. A 98 run partnership for the ninth wicket effectively killed their chance of winning the test. When Sri Lanka finally declared on 548/9, they led by 197 runs and with one day’s play remaining; the only possible results were a Sri Lankan win or a draw.
England’s openers again posted a century partnership, the first time an English opening pair had done so for over 35 years. Michael Vaughan
, Ian Bell and Alastair Cook
all posted fifties to get up to parity with Sri Lanka and then take the lead. By tea, they had reached 250/3, but play was then brought to a halt due to rain, and the Test match drawn.
Mahela Jayawardene
said after the match that he felt England’s approach had been too negative, and they had eliminated their chances of winning by scoring too slowly in the first innings. He would go on to make similar comments at the end of the series.
stadium since it had been destroyed by the tsunami 3 years prior
. The teams of ground staff had worked tirelessly on getting the stadium ready for the match, and heavy rainfall a few days before did not stop them achieving this memorable feat. Following the match, both the teams and all the officials were quick to congratulate them on their fantastic work that allowed the match to go ahead.
Sri Lanka made two change – swapping out the underperforming Jehan Mubarak
for Tillakaratne Dilshan
, a three dimensional player who many believe should never have been dropped from the side. His good batting record, useful bowling ability and world class fielding is nearly always an asset to Sri Lanka when he is on the team. The other change was to swap the injured Dilhara Fernando
for a debutant, Chanaka Welegedara
.
England brought Matthew Hoggard
back into the side, at the expense of Stuart Broad
, despite an impressive debut in extremely difficult bowling conditions.
England won the toss and chose to field – a decision which looked correct as the new ball bowlers found plenty of movement of the pitch. However, they failed to take advantage of this situation, and the two wickets earned during the first session of play were due to lbw decisions that the batsmen could consider themselves unlucky to get out to. The biggest wicket of the day for England was that of Kumar Sangakkara
, who pulled a ball out to deep square leg into the waiting hands of Monty Panesar
. He had scored 46, but looked set for a much larger score. At the end of the day’s play, Sri Lanka were 147/4, but with Mahela Jayawardene
still at the crease.
Day 2 was a long and frustrating one for England, who were only able to take two wickets. Jayawardene and the recalled Dilshan batted for almost two sessions, before Dilshan was run out for 84 trying to give his captain the single that would earn him his century. England’s only positive moment of the day occurring during the same over, where Ravi Bopara picked up his first test wicket when Prasanna Jayawardene
edged the ball through to the keeper. Chaminda Vaas
joined his captain at the crease and the two of them put on an unbroken 97, to take the score to 384/6.
Any hopes England had of winning the test and squaring the series were eliminated on day 3. Jayawardene went on to score 213 not out, Vaas had scored 90 before being dismissed, and Sri Lanka declared on 499/8. But things then turned from bad to catastrophic for England, as they lost 4 wickets during a 20 minute passage of play before lunch. Two wickets then fell quickly after lunch too to leave England on 33/6. Ryan Sidebottom
and Paul Collingwood
managed a partnership of 37 before the lower order were blown away. England were bowled out for the pitiful total of 81.
Chaminda Vaas
was the stand out bowler for Sri Lanka, taking 4 wickets, and Chanaka Welegedara
took his first two test wickets, including that of Paul Collingwood
which prevented England getting past 100.
England received high levels of criticism for their first innings batting performance. Bob Willis
, talking on Sky Sports’ highlights show described it as “an absolute disgrace”. Lots of debate was raised thorough a variety of media, calling factors into question such as the length of the tour (too short for three tests), the proximity to Christmas and the longer term argument about the volume of cricket that teams have to play. Several of the fringe players came under scrutiny too.
Having surrendered a first innings deficit of 416, England now had to bat for two days to save the game. They were able to do this with considerable assistance from the weather, which ensured that half the remaining available match time was wiped out. By the time the game was determined a draw late on day 5, England had reached 251/6 – a marked improvement on the first innings. Alastair Cook
had scored 118, recording England’s first and solitary century on the tour. Sri Lanka, in contrast, had scored 4. England suffered a scare when 3 wickets fell in four balls, including a first ball run out for Ravi Bopara, but they managed to avoid a defeat - which many felt they shouldn’t have. This was in contrast to the first match in Kandy
, when they did deserve to escape with a draw, but didn’t.
Series result: a 1-0 win to Sri Lanka. Mahela Jayawardene
raised points similar to what he said after the Colombo
test, saying England’s approach was too negative. Whilst his criticism was perhaps unjustified in the second test, it certainly wasn’t here. England did appear to have given up during day 2, and this possibly acted as a catalyst for the poor batting performance that followed.
England left Sri Lanka with concerns about some of their best players. Monty Panesar
and Kevin Pietersen
in particular had not enjoyed a good series, and many of the other players enjoyed good starts but were unable to maintain their consistency levels.
Sri Lanka on the other hand were much happier. Their side had climbed to 3rd place in the ICC Test Match rankings, with England slipping from 2nd to 5th. Their two best batsmen were in imperious form, their newer players were improving by the game and their bowling attack was delivering as a unit. At the end of the series, the world’s top ranked test batsman and bowler were both Sri Lankan: Sangakkara and Muralitharan respectively.
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
and five ODIs.
Sri Lankan cricket team
Sri Lanka entered the series ranked fourth at both ODI and Test levels. The team had good recent performances in ODI reaching the final of 2007 Cricket World Cup2007 Cricket World Cup
The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007, using the sport's One Day International format...
and beat Bangladesh 3–0. Their recent record against England was good winning seven of the last ten ODI matches which included a whitewash series of 5–0 in 2006. With the injury to Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Flintoff
Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff MBE is a former English cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club, England and the Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings. A tall fast bowler, batsman and slip fielder, Flintoff according to the ICC rankings was consistently rated amongst the top...
captain Mahela Jayawardene
Mahela Jayawardene
Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene , known as Mahela Jayawardene, is the former captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team. He is a specialist batsman who has a Test average of over 50, and an ODI average in the 30s...
wished to exploit his absence saying his presence adds balance to the team.
English cricket team
England ranked seventh in the ODI rankings had had mixed performances winning the 2006-07 Commonwealth Bank Series and the recent ODI series against India but lost to the West Indies and performed poorly in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The team had a new look with new captain Paul CollingwoodPaul Collingwood
Paul David Collingwood MBE is an English cricketer. He has been a regular member of the England Test side, was captain of the One Day International team 2007–2008. He is also vice-captain of his county, Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood is a batting all-rounder, whose batting...
going on his first away tour while James Anderson
James Anderson (cricketer)
James Michael "Jimmy" Anderson is an English cricketer. He plays first-class cricket for Lancashire County Cricket Club and since bursting onto the scene in 2002/03, before his first full season of county cricket, Anderson has represented England in over 50 Test matches and over 100 One Day...
and Stuart Broad
Stuart Broad
Stuart Christopher John Broad is a cricketer who plays Test and One Day International cricket for England and is currently the captain of their Twenty20 team...
formed a new front line attack. Other relative newcomers to the squad were all-rounders Dimitri Mascarenhas
Dimitri Mascarenhas
Adrian Dimitri Mascarenhas is an English cricketer of Sri Lankan Tamil heritage. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He currently plays county cricket for Hampshire County Cricket Club, in the Indian Premier League for the Kings XI Punjab and for the Otago Volts in New...
and Ravi Bopara. England had still not resolved their keeping problem with Matthew Prior
Matthew Prior (cricketer)
Matthew James Prior is an English One Day International and Test cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Sussex. He is a wicket-keeper, and his aggressive right-handed batting enables him to open the innings in ODI matches...
not being offered a central contract and had selected five wicketkeepers in the past 12 months; Chris Read
Chris Read
Christopher Mark Wells Read is an English cricketer, a wicket-keeper who is the captain of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club...
, Geraint Jones
Geraint Jones
Geraint Owen Jones MBE is an England cricketer of Welsh extraction but raised in Australia. Until August 2006 he was the first-choice wicketkeeper for England in both Test and One-day cricket, but fell behind Chris Read, Paul Nixon, Matt Prior and Tim Ambrose...
, Paul Nixon
Paul Nixon
Paul Andrew Nixon is an English cricket player who has played for Leicestershire, England, England A, MCC and Kent. He is a wicket-keeper and left-handed batsman...
, Prior and Phil Mustard.
Unlike the ODI team the Test team was ranked higher than Sri Lanka but with England playing away the series was expected to be a close affair. Their recent Test performances had been disappointing however, suffering a whitewash in the last Ashes tour and losing their first home series in six years to India.
Squads
Muttiah MuralitharanMuttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan , often referred to as Murali, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002...
missed the ODI series due to a biceps injury and Kaushal Lokuarachchi was called up as a replacement.
Matthew Prior
Matthew Prior (cricketer)
Matthew James Prior is an English One Day International and Test cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Sussex. He is a wicket-keeper, and his aggressive right-handed batting enables him to open the innings in ODI matches...
was originally included in England's ODI squad but was withdrawn from the squad after breaking his thumb in a training session prior to the New Zealand game in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20. Phil Mustard was selected as his replacement which was his first England call-up while Graeme Swann
Graeme Swann
Graeme Peter Swann is an English international cricketer. He is primarily a right-arm offspinner, and also bats right-handed. After initially playing for his home county Northamptonshire, for whom he made his debut in 1997, he moved to Nottinghamshire in 2005. He often fields at slip...
gained his first England call-up in seven years. On 20 September Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Flintoff
Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff MBE is a former English cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club, England and the Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings. A tall fast bowler, batsman and slip fielder, Flintoff according to the ICC rankings was consistently rated amongst the top...
pulled out of the ODI series after suffering a recurrence of an ankle injury and was replaced by Chris Tremlett
Chris Tremlett
Christopher Timothy "Chris" Tremlett is an English cricketer who plays for Surrey County Cricket Club. He is 6 ft 8 in tall and is a fast bowler able to extract bounce on most surfaces. He is a competent number 8 or 9 batsman, with seven first-class fifties to his name...
. Flintoff was ruled out of the Test series so he could undergo further keyhole ankle surgery .
For Sri Lanka, Sanath Jayasuriya
Sanath Jayasuriya
Sanath Teran Jayasuriya is a former Sri Lankan cricketer. An all-rounder, he played for the Sri Lankan cricket team from 1989 to 2011...
announced his retirement from Test cricket on Day 3 of the first Test, effective at the end of that Test. Tillakaratne Dilshan
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan born October 14, 1976 in Kalutara, Sri Lanka is a Sri Lankan cricketer and captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team since April 2011. He has been a member of the team since November 1999, and was also known as Tuwan Mohammad Dilshan prior to his conversion...
and Chanaka Welegedara
Chanaka Welegedara
Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanka Welegedara, more commonly referred to as Chanaka Welegedara, , is a Sri Lankan international cricketer. A left-arm fast bowler by trade, he has a healthy bowling average in both first-class and List A cricket, in the mid-to-low 20s...
joined the squad for the third Test. Dilshan replaced the ineffective Jehan Mubarak
Jehan Mubarak
Jehan Mubarak is an American-born Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm offbreak bowler.-Early career:...
. Welegedara earned his first Test cap as a substitute for Dilhara Fernando
Dilhara Fernando
Congenige Randhi Dilhara Fernando is a cricketer who plays for Sri Lanka. He is a right-handed pace bowler.Dilhara studied at De Mazenod College Kandana...
, who was forced to undergo ankle surgery for an injury suffered during Sri Lanka's 2007 tour to Australia that clearly affected him during the first two Tests.
| Test Squads | ODI Squads | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mahela Jayawardene Mahela Jayawardene Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene , known as Mahela Jayawardene, is the former captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team. He is a specialist batsman who has a Test average of over 50, and an ODI average in the 30s... (c Captain (cricket) The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player... ) |
Michael Vaughan Michael Vaughan Michael Paul Vaughan OBE is a retired cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England. A classically elegant right-handed batsman and occasional off-spinner, Vaughan was ranked one of the best batsmen in the world following the 2002/3 Ashes, in which he scored 633 runs, including three centuries... (c Captain (cricket) The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player... ) |
Mahela Jayawardene Mahela Jayawardene Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene , known as Mahela Jayawardene, is the former captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team. He is a specialist batsman who has a Test average of over 50, and an ODI average in the 30s... (c Captain (cricket) The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player... ) |
Paul Collingwood Paul Collingwood Paul David Collingwood MBE is an English cricketer. He has been a regular member of the England Test side, was captain of the One Day International team 2007–2008. He is also vice-captain of his county, Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood is a batting all-rounder, whose batting... (c Captain (cricket) The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player... ) |
| Prasanna Jayawardene Prasanna Jayawardene Hewasandatchige Asiri Prasanna Wishvanath Jayawardene is a Sri Lankan cricketer... (wk Wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike... ) |
Matt Prior (wk Wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike... ) |
Kumar Sangakkara Kumar Sangakkara Kumar Sangakkara is a Sri Lankan, Sinhalese cricketer and the former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is a left-handed top-order batsman... (wk Wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike... ) |
Phil Mustard (wk Wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike... ) |
| Malinga Bandara Malinga Bandara Herath Mudiyanselage Charitha Malinga Bandara , commonly known as Malinga Bandara, is a Sri Lankan Test and one-day international cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and also bowls legbreaks. Malinga Bandara was earmarked from an early age as a legspinner of great potential... |
James Anderson James Anderson (cricketer) James Michael "Jimmy" Anderson is an English cricketer. He plays first-class cricket for Lancashire County Cricket Club and since bursting onto the scene in 2002/03, before his first full season of county cricket, Anderson has represented England in over 50 Test matches and over 100 One Day... |
Tillakaratne Dilshan Tillakaratne Dilshan Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan born October 14, 1976 in Kalutara, Sri Lanka is a Sri Lankan cricketer and captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team since April 2011. He has been a member of the team since November 1999, and was also known as Tuwan Mohammad Dilshan prior to his conversion... |
James Anderson James Anderson (cricketer) James Michael "Jimmy" Anderson is an English cricketer. He plays first-class cricket for Lancashire County Cricket Club and since bursting onto the scene in 2002/03, before his first full season of county cricket, Anderson has represented England in over 50 Test matches and over 100 One Day... |
| Sujeewa de Silva Sujeewa de Silva Sujeewa de Silva is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a left-arm medium-fast bowler.... |
Ian Bell | Dilhara Fernando Dilhara Fernando Congenige Randhi Dilhara Fernando is a cricketer who plays for Sri Lanka. He is a right-handed pace bowler.Dilhara studied at De Mazenod College Kandana... |
Ian Bell |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan Tillakaratne Dilshan Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan born October 14, 1976 in Kalutara, Sri Lanka is a Sri Lankan cricketer and captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team since April 2011. He has been a member of the team since November 1999, and was also known as Tuwan Mohammad Dilshan prior to his conversion... |
Ravi Bopara | Sanath Jayasuriya Sanath Jayasuriya Sanath Teran Jayasuriya is a former Sri Lankan cricketer. An all-rounder, he played for the Sri Lankan cricket team from 1989 to 2011... |
Ravi Bopara |
| Dilhara Fernando Dilhara Fernando Congenige Randhi Dilhara Fernando is a cricketer who plays for Sri Lanka. He is a right-handed pace bowler.Dilhara studied at De Mazenod College Kandana... |
Stuart Broad Stuart Broad Stuart Christopher John Broad is a cricketer who plays Test and One Day International cricket for England and is currently the captain of their Twenty20 team... |
Kaushal Lokuarachchi | Stuart Broad Stuart Broad Stuart Christopher John Broad is a cricketer who plays Test and One Day International cricket for England and is currently the captain of their Twenty20 team... |
| Sanath Jayasuriya Sanath Jayasuriya Sanath Teran Jayasuriya is a former Sri Lankan cricketer. An all-rounder, he played for the Sri Lankan cricket team from 1989 to 2011... (retired from Test cricket after first Test) |
Paul Collingwood Paul Collingwood Paul David Collingwood MBE is an English cricketer. He has been a regular member of the England Test side, was captain of the One Day International team 2007–2008. He is also vice-captain of his county, Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood is a batting all-rounder, whose batting... |
Farveez Maharoof Farveez Maharoof Mohamed Farveez Maharoof is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He first made his impression in the 2004 U19 World Cup in which he captained the Sri Lankan team. He enjoyed a prolific school career for Wesley College, with a highest score of 243 and best bowling figures of 8 for 20. An all-rounder, he made... |
Alastair Cook Alastair Cook Alastair Nathan Cook, MBE is an English international cricket player. He is a left-handed opening batsman who plays county cricket for Essex and International cricket for England, where he is their ODI captain. Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003... |
| Lasith Malinga Lasith Malinga Separamadu Lasith Malinga is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a fast bowler with a rare round-arm action, sometimes referred to as a sling action, which leads to his nickname, "Slinga Malinga"... |
Alastair Cook Alastair Cook Alastair Nathan Cook, MBE is an English international cricket player. He is a left-handed opening batsman who plays county cricket for Essex and International cricket for England, where he is their ODI captain. Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003... |
Lasith Malinga Lasith Malinga Separamadu Lasith Malinga is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a fast bowler with a rare round-arm action, sometimes referred to as a sling action, which leads to his nickname, "Slinga Malinga"... |
Dimitri Mascarenhas Dimitri Mascarenhas Adrian Dimitri Mascarenhas is an English cricketer of Sri Lankan Tamil heritage. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He currently plays county cricket for Hampshire County Cricket Club, in the Indian Premier League for the Kings XI Punjab and for the Otago Volts in New... |
| Jehan Mubarak Jehan Mubarak Jehan Mubarak is an American-born Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm offbreak bowler.-Early career:... |
Steve Harmison Steve Harmison Stephen James Harmison MBE is an English cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, he represented England in 63 Tests, 58 ODI's, and 2 T20's. He also plays county cricket for Durham.... |
Jehan Mubarak Jehan Mubarak Jehan Mubarak is an American-born Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm offbreak bowler.-Early career:... |
Monty Panesar Monty Panesar Mudhsuden Singh Panesar, known as Monty Panesar , is an English cricketer who currently plays for Sussex. A left-arm spinner, Panesar played Test and one-day cricket for England until 2009. In English county cricket he played for Northamptonshire until 2009... |
| Muttiah Muralitharan Muttiah Muralitharan Muttiah Muralitharan , often referred to as Murali, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002... |
Matthew Hoggard Matthew Hoggard Matthew James Hoggard MBE is an English cricketer. The 6' 2" Hoggard is a right arm fast-medium bowler and right-handed batsman. He played international cricket for England cricket team from 2000-2008, playing both Test cricket and One Day International cricket. He is currently the captain of... |
Dilruwan Perera Dilruwan Perera Mahawaduge Dilruwan Kamalaneth Perera is a Sri Lankan first class cricketer. He plays for the Panadura Sports Club and also represents Sri Lanka A. An allrounder, Perera is a right-arm offbreak bowler and right-handed batsman and has made the double of 200 wickets and 2000 first class runs... |
Kevin Pietersen Kevin Pietersen Kevin Peter Pietersen, MBE is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England and Surrey... |
| Kumar Sangakkara Kumar Sangakkara Kumar Sangakkara is a Sri Lankan, Sinhalese cricketer and the former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is a left-handed top-order batsman... |
Phil Mustard | Chamara Silva Chamara Silva Lindamlilage Prageeth Chamara Silva is a Sri Lankan cricketer... |
Owais Shah Owais Shah Owais Alam Shah is an English cricketer. A middle-order batsman, he played for Middlesex between 1996-2010, before joining Essex CCC in the winter of 2010. He has represented England in all forms of the games.Between 2001 and 2009, he played 71 ODIs and 17 Twenty20 Internationals... |
| Chamara Silva Chamara Silva Lindamlilage Prageeth Chamara Silva is a Sri Lankan cricketer... |
Monty Panesar Monty Panesar Mudhsuden Singh Panesar, known as Monty Panesar , is an English cricketer who currently plays for Sussex. A left-arm spinner, Panesar played Test and one-day cricket for England until 2009. In English county cricket he played for Northamptonshire until 2009... |
Upul Tharanga Upul Tharanga Warushavithana Upul Tharanga , commonly known as Upul Tharanga, is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a left-handed opening batsman and wicketkeeper.-Early life:Upul Tharanga had his education at Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda... |
Ryan Sidebottom Ryan Sidebottom Ryan Jay Sidebottom is an English cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Yorkshire. He is a primarily a left-arm fast-medium bowler. Sidebottom played his first Test match in 2001 against Pakistan, but failed to take a wicket and was dropped for six years... |
| Upul Tharanga Upul Tharanga Warushavithana Upul Tharanga , commonly known as Upul Tharanga, is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a left-handed opening batsman and wicketkeeper.-Early life:Upul Tharanga had his education at Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda... |
Kevin Pietersen Kevin Pietersen Kevin Peter Pietersen, MBE is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England and Surrey... |
Chaminda Vaas Chaminda Vaas Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas , usually known as Chaminda Vaas, is a Sri Lankan cricketer is regarded as the best fast bowler to have come out of the country - he has been described as the 'most penetrative and successful new-ball bowler Sri Lanka have had'... |
Graeme Swann Graeme Swann Graeme Peter Swann is an English international cricketer. He is primarily a right-arm offspinner, and also bats right-handed. After initially playing for his home county Northamptonshire, for whom he made his debut in 1997, he moved to Nottinghamshire in 2005. He often fields at slip... |
| Chaminda Vaas Chaminda Vaas Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas , usually known as Chaminda Vaas, is a Sri Lankan cricketer is regarded as the best fast bowler to have come out of the country - he has been described as the 'most penetrative and successful new-ball bowler Sri Lanka have had'... |
Owais Shah Owais Shah Owais Alam Shah is an English cricketer. A middle-order batsman, he played for Middlesex between 1996-2010, before joining Essex CCC in the winter of 2010. He has represented England in all forms of the games.Between 2001 and 2009, he played 71 ODIs and 17 Twenty20 Internationals... |
Gayan Wijekoon Gayan Wijekoon Wijekoon Mudiyanselage Gayan Ramyakumara is a Sri Lankan cricketer... |
Chris Tremlett Chris Tremlett Christopher Timothy "Chris" Tremlett is an English cricketer who plays for Surrey County Cricket Club. He is 6 ft 8 in tall and is a fast bowler able to extract bounce on most surfaces. He is a competent number 8 or 9 batsman, with seven first-class fifties to his name... |
| Michael Vandort Michael Vandort Michael Graydon Vandort is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler. He is one of the tallest batsman ever to play test cricket and stands at 6 feet 5 inches.... |
Ryan Sidebottom Ryan Sidebottom Ryan Jay Sidebottom is an English cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Yorkshire. He is a primarily a left-arm fast-medium bowler. Sidebottom played his first Test match in 2001 against Pakistan, but failed to take a wicket and was dropped for six years... |
Muttiah Muralitharan Muttiah Muralitharan Muttiah Muralitharan , often referred to as Murali, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002... (Withdrawn) |
Luke Wright |
| Chanaka Welegedara Chanaka Welegedara Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanka Welegedara, more commonly referred to as Chanaka Welegedara, , is a Sri Lankan international cricketer. A left-arm fast bowler by trade, he has a healthy bowling average in both first-class and List A cricket, in the mid-to-low 20s... |
Graeme Swann Graeme Swann Graeme Peter Swann is an English international cricketer. He is primarily a right-arm offspinner, and also bats right-handed. After initially playing for his home county Northamptonshire, for whom he made his debut in 1997, he moved to Nottinghamshire in 2005. He often fields at slip... |
Matthew Prior Matthew Prior (cricketer) Matthew James Prior is an English One Day International and Test cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Sussex. He is a wicket-keeper, and his aggressive right-handed batting enables him to open the innings in ODI matches... (Withdrawn) |
|
| Andrew Flintoff Andrew Flintoff Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff MBE is a former English cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club, England and the Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings. A tall fast bowler, batsman and slip fielder, Flintoff according to the ICC rankings was consistently rated amongst the top... (Withdrawn) |
|||
| Sources: Cricinfo.com. Published: 23 November 2007. Cricinfo.com. Published: 7 December 2007. Cricinfo.com. Published: 14 December 2007. |
Source: Cricinfo.com. Published: 19 October 2007. | Source: Cricinfo.com. Published: 18 September 2007. | Source: Cricinfo.com. Published: 20 September 2007. |
Tour match
Paul CollingwoodPaul Collingwood
Paul David Collingwood MBE is an English cricketer. He has been a regular member of the England Test side, was captain of the One Day International team 2007–2008. He is also vice-captain of his county, Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood is a batting all-rounder, whose batting...
, Stuart Broad
Stuart Broad
Stuart Christopher John Broad is a cricketer who plays Test and One Day International cricket for England and is currently the captain of their Twenty20 team...
, Luke Wright, Alastair Cook
Alastair Cook
Alastair Nathan Cook, MBE is an English international cricket player. He is a left-handed opening batsman who plays county cricket for Essex and International cricket for England, where he is their ODI captain. Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003...
and Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Peter Pietersen, MBE is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England and Surrey...
all recovered from a stomach virus to start the match. Due to special regulations both teams consisted of 14 players with 11 of these players fielding/batting. England won the toss and chose to bat first and initially scored slowly with Mustard taking 15 balls to get off the mark. Cook and Bell established a strong partnership of 89 before Pietersen scored 50 from only 29 deliveries. Quick runs from Bopara and then Shah insured England set a good target of 314/4 with Bell scoring an unbeaten 131.
Sri Lanka suffered two early setbacks but made a minor recovery with Chamara Kapugedera
Chamara Kapugedera
Chamara Kantha Kapugedera is a Sri Lankan cricketer.Kapugedera made his first-class debut in a match for Sri Lanka A and in domestic cricket, he plays for Colombo Cricket Club....
and Indika de Saram
Indika de Saram
Samantha Indika de Saram is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off-break bowler who usually occupies the position of wicketkeeper....
putting on 65 for the third wicket. Wickets then fell at regular intervals and when Kapugedera was caught of the bowling of James Anderson
James Anderson (cricketer)
James Michael "Jimmy" Anderson is an English cricketer. He plays first-class cricket for Lancashire County Cricket Club and since bursting onto the scene in 2002/03, before his first full season of county cricket, Anderson has represented England in over 50 Test matches and over 100 One Day...
the game was effectively over. Ashan Priyanjan and Malinga Bandara
Malinga Bandara
Herath Mudiyanselage Charitha Malinga Bandara , commonly known as Malinga Bandara, is a Sri Lankan Test and one-day international cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and also bowls legbreaks. Malinga Bandara was earmarked from an early age as a legspinner of great potential...
provided some resistance but England still managed to gain a comfortable 80 run victory.
1st ODI
Graeme Swann
Graeme Swann
Graeme Peter Swann is an English international cricketer. He is primarily a right-arm offspinner, and also bats right-handed. After initially playing for his home county Northamptonshire, for whom he made his debut in 1997, he moved to Nottinghamshire in 2005. He often fields at slip...
was picked ahead of Monty Panesar
Monty Panesar
Mudhsuden Singh Panesar, known as Monty Panesar , is an English cricketer who currently plays for Sussex. A left-arm spinner, Panesar played Test and one-day cricket for England until 2009. In English county cricket he played for Northamptonshire until 2009...
as England decided not to field with a second spinner. The conditions on the day were windy with little swing in the wicket. The pitch was recently re-laid resulting in little pace and variable bounce which was to trouble both teams in the match. Paul Collingwood
Paul Collingwood
Paul David Collingwood MBE is an English cricketer. He has been a regular member of the England Test side, was captain of the One Day International team 2007–2008. He is also vice-captain of his county, Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood is a batting all-rounder, whose batting...
commented that the wicket was like an English wicket.
Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat and started well with Upul Tharanga
Upul Tharanga
Warushavithana Upul Tharanga , commonly known as Upul Tharanga, is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a left-handed opening batsman and wicketkeeper.-Early life:Upul Tharanga had his education at Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda...
and Sanath Jayasuriya
Sanath Jayasuriya
Sanath Teran Jayasuriya is a former Sri Lankan cricketer. An all-rounder, he played for the Sri Lankan cricket team from 1989 to 2011...
adding 77 for the opening wicket. After 30 overs Sri Lanka were in a strong position of 150/2 and were looking to set a large total but when Swann got Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara is a Sri Lankan, Sinhalese cricketer and the former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is a left-handed top-order batsman...
stumped the rate slowed. This was Swann’s first ODI wicket and Phil Mustard’s first stumping for England. Sri Lanka could not accelerate in the final overs, losing four wickets in quick succession but still managed to finish on a good total of 269/7. Numerous interruptions in the match meant that Sri Lanka’s first innings went over the allocated time as there were problems with the sightscreens, bails falling off and even a dog running across the outfield.
As a result of a prolonged innings the break was reduced to 30 minutes. A dropt catch at second slip allowed Mustard to get of the mark, this would be a sign of things to come as England collapsed from 43/0 to 106/6 losing Mustard, Bell, Pietersen and Collingwood within 15 runs. A stand of 42 between Swann and Ravi Bopara delayed the end but England still lost by 119 runs their biggest defeat to Sri Lanka in terms of runs.
Farveez Maharoof
Farveez Maharoof
Mohamed Farveez Maharoof is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He first made his impression in the 2004 U19 World Cup in which he captained the Sri Lankan team. He enjoyed a prolific school career for Wesley College, with a highest score of 243 and best bowling figures of 8 for 20. An all-rounder, he made...
was awarded man of the match with bowling figures of 4/31 and was compared to Glenn McGrath
Glenn McGrath
Glenn Donald McGrath AM , nicknamed "Pigeon", is a former Australian cricket player. He is one of the most highly regarded fast-medium pace bowlers in cricketing history, and a leading contributor to Australia's domination of world cricket from the mid-1990s to the early 21st century...
with his bowling performance on the day. The winning captain Jawardere said patience with the bat was the key to setting a good score of 270 stating that if he aimed for 300 he would have risked being bowled out on less than 250. Collingwood was disappointed with England’s batting effort and admitted that Sri Lanka’s bowling was at a level that his team wanted to achieve.
2nd ODI
Despite England's heavy defeat in the previous match their team remained unchanged while Sri Lanka also carried the same squad. England won the toss and elected to bat. Sri Lanka started in similar vein to the previous game and had England on 61/4. Collingwood and Owais Shah
Owais Shah
Owais Alam Shah is an English cricketer. A middle-order batsman, he played for Middlesex between 1996-2010, before joining Essex CCC in the winter of 2010. He has represented England in all forms of the games.Between 2001 and 2009, he played 71 ODIs and 17 Twenty20 Internationals...
began the England recovery putting on 78 runs before Collingwood was out lbw. A stand of 70 between Swann and Shah followed allowing England to finish on 234/8.
Ryan Sidebottom
Ryan Sidebottom
Ryan Jay Sidebottom is an English cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Yorkshire. He is a primarily a left-arm fast-medium bowler. Sidebottom played his first Test match in 2001 against Pakistan, but failed to take a wicket and was dropped for six years...
and Stuart Broad
Stuart Broad
Stuart Christopher John Broad is a cricketer who plays Test and One Day International cricket for England and is currently the captain of their Twenty20 team...
disciplined bowling yielded four early wickets putting Sri Lanka on 38/4 after 14.1 overs. Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan born October 14, 1976 in Kalutara, Sri Lanka is a Sri Lankan cricketer and captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team since April 2011. He has been a member of the team since November 1999, and was also known as Tuwan Mohammad Dilshan prior to his conversion...
started a recovery but after both their wickets fell within nine deliveries of each other the game was largely in England’s control. From then on wickets fell at regular intervals and although Dilhara Fernando
Dilhara Fernando
Congenige Randhi Dilhara Fernando is a cricketer who plays for Sri Lanka. He is a right-handed pace bowler.Dilhara studied at De Mazenod College Kandana...
and Farveez Maharoof
Farveez Maharoof
Mohamed Farveez Maharoof is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He first made his impression in the 2004 U19 World Cup in which he captained the Sri Lankan team. He enjoyed a prolific school career for Wesley College, with a highest score of 243 and best bowling figures of 8 for 20. An all-rounder, he made...
added 43 runs for the final wicket it was too much to ask for the final pair to win the match.
Shah was awarded man of the match with his score of 82 and was largely responsible for England setting a decent score of 234/8. This was the first win for England in Sri Lanka since 1982 while Shah’s score of 82 was the highest ever for an Englishman in Sri Lanka. Winning captain Collingwood said he was delighted with his team’s performance but wanted this match to be the benchmark for the rest of the series.
3rd ODI
4th ODI
5th ODI
English v Sri Lanka Cricket Board President's XI
After two tame days of bowling from the England squad which saw the President's XI reach an impressive 500 for 5, England took to the wicket for one day in this warm up match. The team started off well, an opening stand of 77 before Michael VaughanMichael Vaughan
Michael Paul Vaughan OBE is a retired cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England. A classically elegant right-handed batsman and occasional off-spinner, Vaughan was ranked one of the best batsmen in the world following the 2002/3 Ashes, in which he scored 633 runs, including three centuries...
, back up the order as an opener, was trapped LBW by Malinga Bandara
Malinga Bandara
Herath Mudiyanselage Charitha Malinga Bandara , commonly known as Malinga Bandara, is a Sri Lankan Test and one-day international cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and also bowls legbreaks. Malinga Bandara was earmarked from an early age as a legspinner of great potential...
. As top-scorer Alastair Cook
Alastair Cook
Alastair Nathan Cook, MBE is an English international cricket player. He is a left-handed opening batsman who plays county cricket for Essex and International cricket for England, where he is their ODI captain. Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003...
reached his fifty, with seven fours, the rest of his teammates were investigating rumoured sittings of a snake underneath the advertising board. Only Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Peter Pietersen, MBE is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England and Surrey...
fell cheaply, for 4, while the other top-order batsmen all retired after making semi-impressive starts to ensure as many batsmen could have a knock but the match was over as any kind of contest due to the poor performance of the 9 bowlers used.
English v Sri Lanka Cricket Board President's XI - First-class match
1st Test 1st December - 5th December
The first day of the tour was a dramatic one, and it ended up being England’s most impressive one of the whole tour. Sri Lanka, having won the toss and chose to bat first, were reduced to 42/5 due to some highly impressive swing bowling by Matthew HoggardMatthew Hoggard
Matthew James Hoggard MBE is an English cricketer. The 6' 2" Hoggard is a right arm fast-medium bowler and right-handed batsman. He played international cricket for England cricket team from 2000-2008, playing both Test cricket and One Day International cricket. He is currently the captain of...
. A 100 run partnership between Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara is a Sri Lankan, Sinhalese cricketer and the former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is a left-handed top-order batsman...
(who top-scored with 92) and Prasanna Jayawardene
Prasanna Jayawardene
Hewasandatchige Asiri Prasanna Wishvanath Jayawardene is a Sri Lankan cricketer...
(the keeper) followed to allow Sri Lanka to post a vaguely respectable score, but they were bowled out for 188. England made a confident reply, reaching 49/1 by the close of play, with the loss of Alastair Cook
Alastair Cook
Alastair Nathan Cook, MBE is an English international cricket player. He is a left-handed opening batsman who plays county cricket for Essex and International cricket for England, where he is their ODI captain. Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003...
in the first over as the only blemish.
England’s innings proceeded well through the morning of day 2, with Ian Bell posting a fluent 83 before chipping a shot to midwicket. However, England then suffered a mini collapse, triggered by Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan , often referred to as Murali, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002...
, and slipped to 185/6 before rain curtailed the day’s play. By this point, all eyes were on Muralitharan who was on the verge of overtaking Shane Warne
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne is a former Australian international cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet...
’s career haul of 708 test wickets.
England resumed positively on day 3, with Ryan Sidebottom
Ryan Sidebottom
Ryan Jay Sidebottom is an English cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Yorkshire. He is a primarily a left-arm fast-medium bowler. Sidebottom played his first Test match in 2001 against Pakistan, but failed to take a wicket and was dropped for six years...
providing useful assistance to the remaining recognised batsman, Paul Collingwood
Paul Collingwood
Paul David Collingwood MBE is an English cricketer. He has been a regular member of the England Test side, was captain of the One Day International team 2007–2008. He is also vice-captain of his county, Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood is a batting all-rounder, whose batting...
. However, it would be Collingwood who eventually provided Muralitharan with his record-breaking dismissal, being clean bowled by the spinner. The wicket prompted scenes of mass celebration, and an ad-hoc presentation along with the awarding of a special trophy by senior Sri Lankan officials took place at the lunch break. Michael Vaughan
Michael Vaughan
Michael Paul Vaughan OBE is a retired cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England. A classically elegant right-handed batsman and occasional off-spinner, Vaughan was ranked one of the best batsmen in the world following the 2002/3 Ashes, in which he scored 633 runs, including three centuries...
attended this ceremony.
Alongside all this, England were bowled out for 281, and took a useful 93 run lead into the second innings. However, the strength of this position quickly evaporated as Sri Lanka made a very good start to their second innings, with the openers (Sanath Jayasuriya
Sanath Jayasuriya
Sanath Teran Jayasuriya is a former Sri Lankan cricketer. An all-rounder, he played for the Sri Lankan cricket team from 1989 to 2011...
and Michael Vandort
Michael Vandort
Michael Graydon Vandort is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler. He is one of the tallest batsman ever to play test cricket and stands at 6 feet 5 inches....
) putting on 113. During this opening stand, Jayasuriya became only the second batsman to score six fours off a six-ball over in Test cricket (with James Anderson
James Anderson (cricketer)
James Michael "Jimmy" Anderson is an English cricketer. He plays first-class cricket for Lancashire County Cricket Club and since bursting onto the scene in 2002/03, before his first full season of county cricket, Anderson has represented England in over 50 Test matches and over 100 One Day...
being the unfortunate bowler). After the day's proceedings, he announced his retirement from Test cricket.
Sri Lanka continued with a far more assertive batting display in their second innings. Mahela Jayawardene
Mahela Jayawardene
Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene , known as Mahela Jayawardene, is the former captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team. He is a specialist batsman who has a Test average of over 50, and an ODI average in the 30s...
and Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara is a Sri Lankan, Sinhalese cricketer and the former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is a left-handed top-order batsman...
dominated the first session, and Sangakkara became the first batsman ever to score 150 in each of four consecutive Tests. England’s bowlers toiled throughout the day but struggled to contain the Sri Lankan batsman. Sri Lanka declared near to the close of play on 442/8, shortly after a swarm of bees had forced a halt in play with players and umpires all diving for cover!
England lost Alastair Cook
Alastair Cook
Alastair Nathan Cook, MBE is an English international cricket player. He is a left-handed opening batsman who plays county cricket for Essex and International cricket for England, where he is their ODI captain. Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003...
in the first over again, and needed to bat the final day out (or score an unlikely 350 to win). The biggest threat was clearly Muralitharan, and so it was therefore of some disappointment that the 4 wickets to fall during the morning session on the final day were to the seam bowlers. At 125/5 at lunch, their quest seemed doomed, but Ian Bell and Matt Prior batted for 45 overs through the tea break and beyond to give England a chance of a draw.
However, Muralitharan had the last word when he dismissed both these well-set batsmen within an over of each other. Shortly afterwards, Ryan Sidebottom
Ryan Sidebottom
Ryan Jay Sidebottom is an English cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Yorkshire. He is a primarily a left-arm fast-medium bowler. Sidebottom played his first Test match in 2001 against Pakistan, but failed to take a wicket and was dropped for six years...
was dismissed to a controversial lbw
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
decision (replays showed a big inside edge onto pad) which ended the stiffest of the resistance the lower order could offer. Matthew Hoggard
Matthew Hoggard
Matthew James Hoggard MBE is an English cricketer. The 6' 2" Hoggard is a right arm fast-medium bowler and right-handed batsman. He played international cricket for England cricket team from 2000-2008, playing both Test cricket and One Day International cricket. He is currently the captain of...
was clean bowled by a Lasith Malinga
Lasith Malinga
Separamadu Lasith Malinga is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a fast bowler with a rare round-arm action, sometimes referred to as a sling action, which leads to his nickname, "Slinga Malinga"...
yorker a few overs later, and Sri Lanka had won the match by 88 runs.
2nd Test 9th December - 13th December
Following the defeat in KandyKandy
Kandy is a city in the center of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is one of the most scenic cities in Sri Lanka; it is both an...
, England made two changes to their side. One was an enforced change, Matthew Hoggard
Matthew Hoggard
Matthew James Hoggard MBE is an English cricketer. The 6' 2" Hoggard is a right arm fast-medium bowler and right-handed batsman. He played international cricket for England cricket team from 2000-2008, playing both Test cricket and One Day International cricket. He is currently the captain of...
having suffered an injury during the second innings. James Anderson
James Anderson (cricketer)
James Michael "Jimmy" Anderson is an English cricketer. He plays first-class cricket for Lancashire County Cricket Club and since bursting onto the scene in 2002/03, before his first full season of county cricket, Anderson has represented England in over 50 Test matches and over 100 One Day...
was the other man to give way, with Stephen Harmison and Stuart Broad
Stuart Broad
Stuart Christopher John Broad is a cricketer who plays Test and One Day International cricket for England and is currently the captain of their Twenty20 team...
coming in. It was Broad’s debut.
Sri Lanka’s only change was enforced by Sanath Jayasuriya
Sanath Jayasuriya
Sanath Teran Jayasuriya is a former Sri Lankan cricketer. An all-rounder, he played for the Sri Lankan cricket team from 1989 to 2011...
’s retirement – Upul Tharanga
Upul Tharanga
Warushavithana Upul Tharanga , commonly known as Upul Tharanga, is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a left-handed opening batsman and wicketkeeper.-Early life:Upul Tharanga had his education at Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda...
replacing him at the top of the order. Jayasuriya was present at the Test match - but in the form of a TV commentator!
England won the toss, chose to bat and made an impressive start to their innings, with the opening stand being worth 133 in 39 overs. Michael Vaughan
Michael Vaughan
Michael Paul Vaughan OBE is a retired cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England. A classically elegant right-handed batsman and occasional off-spinner, Vaughan was ranked one of the best batsmen in the world following the 2002/3 Ashes, in which he scored 633 runs, including three centuries...
played some exquisite shots, bringing back memories of his performances against India and Australia in 2002 when he reached the top of the world rankings. It took a freakish dismissal to remove him, the ball getting caught in the trousers of the short leg fielder who then managed to grab it before it hit the ground. Vaughan had made 87, and was very disappointed to have to leave the crease when he had the potential to make a very large score.
Unusual dismissals were to be the theme of the day. Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Peter Pietersen, MBE is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England and Surrey...
was given out to a catch that didn’t appear to have carried, and Alastair Cook
Alastair Cook
Alastair Nathan Cook, MBE is an English international cricket player. He is a left-handed opening batsman who plays county cricket for Essex and International cricket for England, where he is their ODI captain. Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003...
fell victim to a questionable lbw decision. Ravi Bopara was clean bowled by Lasith Malinga
Lasith Malinga
Separamadu Lasith Malinga is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a fast bowler with a rare round-arm action, sometimes referred to as a sling action, which leads to his nickname, "Slinga Malinga"...
next ball, and England closed the day on 258/5 – which was disappointing given the promising start.
England suffered further losses early on day 2, with Paul Collingwood
Paul Collingwood
Paul David Collingwood MBE is an English cricketer. He has been a regular member of the England Test side, was captain of the One Day International team 2007–2008. He is also vice-captain of his county, Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood is a batting all-rounder, whose batting...
shouldering arms to a straight delivery, and Stuart Broad
Stuart Broad
Stuart Christopher John Broad is a cricketer who plays Test and One Day International cricket for England and is currently the captain of their Twenty20 team...
failing as a batsman on his debut. Matt Prior batted very well for 79, and only fell when trying to accelerate the scoring with 9 wickets down. Before this, Ryan Sidebottom
Ryan Sidebottom
Ryan Jay Sidebottom is an English cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Yorkshire. He is a primarily a left-arm fast-medium bowler. Sidebottom played his first Test match in 2001 against Pakistan, but failed to take a wicket and was dropped for six years...
had provided him with good assistance with a partnership worth 74. England were all out for 351 – a somewhat below par total, but something to work with for the bowlers.
The bowlers made a very good start in the Sri Lankan reply, with Sidebottom removing Tharanga and then the prize wicket of Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara is a Sri Lankan, Sinhalese cricketer and the former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is a left-handed top-order batsman...
very cheaply. The score was 22/2 at this point. Stuart Broad
Stuart Broad
Stuart Christopher John Broad is a cricketer who plays Test and One Day International cricket for England and is currently the captain of their Twenty20 team...
had shared the new ball with Sidebottom and bowled impressively, although he did receive two warnings for running on the danger area of the pitch.
However, this was as good as it got for England, as the Sri Lankan skipper, along with Michael Vandort
Michael Vandort
Michael Graydon Vandort is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler. He is one of the tallest batsman ever to play test cricket and stands at 6 feet 5 inches....
proceeded to build a big partnership for the third wicket. They ended day 2 on 105/2, and carried on well into the afternoon session of day 3, and both picked up centuries in the process. Mahela Jayawardene
Mahela Jayawardene
Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene , known as Mahela Jayawardene, is the former captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team. He is a specialist batsman who has a Test average of over 50, and an ODI average in the 30s...
also passed 7,000 test runs in his innings, the first Sri Lankan to achieve this milestone.
England toiled hard for just 2 wickets on day 3, those of Vandort and Chamara Silva
Chamara Silva
Lindamlilage Prageeth Chamara Silva is a Sri Lankan cricketer...
, and the score was 379/4 at the end of the day. Stephen Harmison bowled very well following his comeback from injury, and deserved more success than the one wicket (of Silva) he got.
On day 4, England managed to make further inroads into Sri Lanka’s innings, but the lead was ballooning out of control. A 98 run partnership for the ninth wicket effectively killed their chance of winning the test. When Sri Lanka finally declared on 548/9, they led by 197 runs and with one day’s play remaining; the only possible results were a Sri Lankan win or a draw.
England’s openers again posted a century partnership, the first time an English opening pair had done so for over 35 years. Michael Vaughan
Michael Vaughan
Michael Paul Vaughan OBE is a retired cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England. A classically elegant right-handed batsman and occasional off-spinner, Vaughan was ranked one of the best batsmen in the world following the 2002/3 Ashes, in which he scored 633 runs, including three centuries...
, Ian Bell and Alastair Cook
Alastair Cook
Alastair Nathan Cook, MBE is an English international cricket player. He is a left-handed opening batsman who plays county cricket for Essex and International cricket for England, where he is their ODI captain. Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003...
all posted fifties to get up to parity with Sri Lanka and then take the lead. By tea, they had reached 250/3, but play was then brought to a halt due to rain, and the Test match drawn.
Mahela Jayawardene
Mahela Jayawardene
Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene , known as Mahela Jayawardene, is the former captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team. He is a specialist batsman who has a Test average of over 50, and an ODI average in the 30s...
said after the match that he felt England’s approach had been too negative, and they had eliminated their chances of winning by scoring too slowly in the first innings. He would go on to make similar comments at the end of the series.
3rd Test 18th December - 22nd December
The final test of the series was a poignant and emotional affair – it was the first Test match to take place at the GalleGalle
Galle is a city situated on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, 119 km from Colombo. Galle is the capital city of Southern Province of Sri Lanka and it lies in Galle District....
stadium since it had been destroyed by the tsunami 3 years prior
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
. The teams of ground staff had worked tirelessly on getting the stadium ready for the match, and heavy rainfall a few days before did not stop them achieving this memorable feat. Following the match, both the teams and all the officials were quick to congratulate them on their fantastic work that allowed the match to go ahead.
Sri Lanka made two change – swapping out the underperforming Jehan Mubarak
Jehan Mubarak
Jehan Mubarak is an American-born Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm offbreak bowler.-Early career:...
for Tillakaratne Dilshan
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan born October 14, 1976 in Kalutara, Sri Lanka is a Sri Lankan cricketer and captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team since April 2011. He has been a member of the team since November 1999, and was also known as Tuwan Mohammad Dilshan prior to his conversion...
, a three dimensional player who many believe should never have been dropped from the side. His good batting record, useful bowling ability and world class fielding is nearly always an asset to Sri Lanka when he is on the team. The other change was to swap the injured Dilhara Fernando
Dilhara Fernando
Congenige Randhi Dilhara Fernando is a cricketer who plays for Sri Lanka. He is a right-handed pace bowler.Dilhara studied at De Mazenod College Kandana...
for a debutant, Chanaka Welegedara
Chanaka Welegedara
Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanka Welegedara, more commonly referred to as Chanaka Welegedara, , is a Sri Lankan international cricketer. A left-arm fast bowler by trade, he has a healthy bowling average in both first-class and List A cricket, in the mid-to-low 20s...
.
England brought Matthew Hoggard
Matthew Hoggard
Matthew James Hoggard MBE is an English cricketer. The 6' 2" Hoggard is a right arm fast-medium bowler and right-handed batsman. He played international cricket for England cricket team from 2000-2008, playing both Test cricket and One Day International cricket. He is currently the captain of...
back into the side, at the expense of Stuart Broad
Stuart Broad
Stuart Christopher John Broad is a cricketer who plays Test and One Day International cricket for England and is currently the captain of their Twenty20 team...
, despite an impressive debut in extremely difficult bowling conditions.
England won the toss and chose to field – a decision which looked correct as the new ball bowlers found plenty of movement of the pitch. However, they failed to take advantage of this situation, and the two wickets earned during the first session of play were due to lbw decisions that the batsmen could consider themselves unlucky to get out to. The biggest wicket of the day for England was that of Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara is a Sri Lankan, Sinhalese cricketer and the former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is a left-handed top-order batsman...
, who pulled a ball out to deep square leg into the waiting hands of Monty Panesar
Monty Panesar
Mudhsuden Singh Panesar, known as Monty Panesar , is an English cricketer who currently plays for Sussex. A left-arm spinner, Panesar played Test and one-day cricket for England until 2009. In English county cricket he played for Northamptonshire until 2009...
. He had scored 46, but looked set for a much larger score. At the end of the day’s play, Sri Lanka were 147/4, but with Mahela Jayawardene
Mahela Jayawardene
Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene , known as Mahela Jayawardene, is the former captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team. He is a specialist batsman who has a Test average of over 50, and an ODI average in the 30s...
still at the crease.
Day 2 was a long and frustrating one for England, who were only able to take two wickets. Jayawardene and the recalled Dilshan batted for almost two sessions, before Dilshan was run out for 84 trying to give his captain the single that would earn him his century. England’s only positive moment of the day occurring during the same over, where Ravi Bopara picked up his first test wicket when Prasanna Jayawardene
Prasanna Jayawardene
Hewasandatchige Asiri Prasanna Wishvanath Jayawardene is a Sri Lankan cricketer...
edged the ball through to the keeper. Chaminda Vaas
Chaminda Vaas
Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas , usually known as Chaminda Vaas, is a Sri Lankan cricketer is regarded as the best fast bowler to have come out of the country - he has been described as the 'most penetrative and successful new-ball bowler Sri Lanka have had'...
joined his captain at the crease and the two of them put on an unbroken 97, to take the score to 384/6.
Any hopes England had of winning the test and squaring the series were eliminated on day 3. Jayawardene went on to score 213 not out, Vaas had scored 90 before being dismissed, and Sri Lanka declared on 499/8. But things then turned from bad to catastrophic for England, as they lost 4 wickets during a 20 minute passage of play before lunch. Two wickets then fell quickly after lunch too to leave England on 33/6. Ryan Sidebottom
Ryan Sidebottom
Ryan Jay Sidebottom is an English cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Yorkshire. He is a primarily a left-arm fast-medium bowler. Sidebottom played his first Test match in 2001 against Pakistan, but failed to take a wicket and was dropped for six years...
and Paul Collingwood
Paul Collingwood
Paul David Collingwood MBE is an English cricketer. He has been a regular member of the England Test side, was captain of the One Day International team 2007–2008. He is also vice-captain of his county, Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood is a batting all-rounder, whose batting...
managed a partnership of 37 before the lower order were blown away. England were bowled out for the pitiful total of 81.
Chaminda Vaas
Chaminda Vaas
Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas , usually known as Chaminda Vaas, is a Sri Lankan cricketer is regarded as the best fast bowler to have come out of the country - he has been described as the 'most penetrative and successful new-ball bowler Sri Lanka have had'...
was the stand out bowler for Sri Lanka, taking 4 wickets, and Chanaka Welegedara
Chanaka Welegedara
Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanka Welegedara, more commonly referred to as Chanaka Welegedara, , is a Sri Lankan international cricketer. A left-arm fast bowler by trade, he has a healthy bowling average in both first-class and List A cricket, in the mid-to-low 20s...
took his first two test wickets, including that of Paul Collingwood
Paul Collingwood
Paul David Collingwood MBE is an English cricketer. He has been a regular member of the England Test side, was captain of the One Day International team 2007–2008. He is also vice-captain of his county, Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood is a batting all-rounder, whose batting...
which prevented England getting past 100.
England received high levels of criticism for their first innings batting performance. Bob Willis
Bob Willis
Robert George Dylan Willis MBE , known as Bob Willis, is a former English cricketer who played for Surrey, Warwickshire, Northern Transvaal and England...
, talking on Sky Sports’ highlights show described it as “an absolute disgrace”. Lots of debate was raised thorough a variety of media, calling factors into question such as the length of the tour (too short for three tests), the proximity to Christmas and the longer term argument about the volume of cricket that teams have to play. Several of the fringe players came under scrutiny too.
Having surrendered a first innings deficit of 416, England now had to bat for two days to save the game. They were able to do this with considerable assistance from the weather, which ensured that half the remaining available match time was wiped out. By the time the game was determined a draw late on day 5, England had reached 251/6 – a marked improvement on the first innings. Alastair Cook
Alastair Cook
Alastair Nathan Cook, MBE is an English international cricket player. He is a left-handed opening batsman who plays county cricket for Essex and International cricket for England, where he is their ODI captain. Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003...
had scored 118, recording England’s first and solitary century on the tour. Sri Lanka, in contrast, had scored 4. England suffered a scare when 3 wickets fell in four balls, including a first ball run out for Ravi Bopara, but they managed to avoid a defeat - which many felt they shouldn’t have. This was in contrast to the first match in Kandy
Kandy
Kandy is a city in the center of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is one of the most scenic cities in Sri Lanka; it is both an...
, when they did deserve to escape with a draw, but didn’t.
Series result: a 1-0 win to Sri Lanka. Mahela Jayawardene
Mahela Jayawardene
Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene , known as Mahela Jayawardene, is the former captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team. He is a specialist batsman who has a Test average of over 50, and an ODI average in the 30s...
raised points similar to what he said after the Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
test, saying England’s approach was too negative. Whilst his criticism was perhaps unjustified in the second test, it certainly wasn’t here. England did appear to have given up during day 2, and this possibly acted as a catalyst for the poor batting performance that followed.
England left Sri Lanka with concerns about some of their best players. Monty Panesar
Monty Panesar
Mudhsuden Singh Panesar, known as Monty Panesar , is an English cricketer who currently plays for Sussex. A left-arm spinner, Panesar played Test and one-day cricket for England until 2009. In English county cricket he played for Northamptonshire until 2009...
and Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Peter Pietersen, MBE is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England and Surrey...
in particular had not enjoyed a good series, and many of the other players enjoyed good starts but were unable to maintain their consistency levels.
Sri Lanka on the other hand were much happier. Their side had climbed to 3rd place in the ICC Test Match rankings, with England slipping from 2nd to 5th. Their two best batsmen were in imperious form, their newer players were improving by the game and their bowling attack was delivering as a unit. At the end of the series, the world’s top ranked test batsman and bowler were both Sri Lankan: Sangakkara and Muralitharan respectively.