LIVE - http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 v England – 5th ODI - 25 Overs Update
The fifth and final match of the 5-match ODI series between England and Sri Lanka was scheduled to kick-off on July 9, 2011 at Old Trafford, Manchester.
The fixture started at 10:45 local time, where English captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Alastair-Nathan-Cook-c42852, won the toss and elected to bat.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/C-Kieswetter-c1206 and skipper Cook lead the English batting line-up. As the ODI series is levelled so far, and this match is the series decider, hence it has a lot of thrill and excitement associated with it.
The English team has the confidence, but the Sri Lankans have the thirst to strike back and claim a series victory.
England started off well as Kieswetter hit his first boundary at the 2nd delivery of the first over, bowled by Sri Lankan captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tillakaratne-Mudiyanselage-Dilshan-c93947.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KMDN-Kulasekara-c1802 came in to bowl the second over but Kieswetter replied with the same hard-hitting and scored another boundary on the 5th delivery.
After the second over, England was 16/0 with Kieswetter at 13. Cook had not opened his batting account till now.
6 runs came in the 4th over as Kieswetter had punished Kulasekara with a big six. Off-spinner Dilshan bowled the 5th over, which remained very expensive for him as the English openers stole 12 runs in this over.
Right-hand fast bowler, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Separamadu-Lasith-Malinga-c89197, was called in to bowl the 7th over, but was faced well by the English lads. England was at a score of 51/0.
Kulasekara edged the ball in the 8th over, which could have been fruitful if wicket-keeper Sangakkara had not dropped the catch of Kieswetter.
The Poms continued to hit http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Adam-Griffith-c919 shots and nothing seemed to be working for the guests. Prasad was tried in the 10th over, Randiv in the 11th, but none managed to upset the well set English openers.
The 13th over brought sigh of relief for the guests as spinner Randiv sent the English captain back to the dressing room. This left England at 85/1.
28-year-old Prasad took the crucial wicket for Sri Lanka as he bowled out Kieswetter in the 14th over, leaving the hosts at 87/2.
The pitch was predicted to be favourable for the spinners, which seemed to be correct, as off-spinner Prasad struck again in the 16th over and took out http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kevin-Peter-Pietersen-c71169 at a score of 5.
The match seemed to have taken a turn towards the visitors as they had confined the Poms to 95/3.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Eoin-Joseph-Gerard-Morgan-c56032 stood at the crease and kept on taking singles and doubles in the subsequent overs.
The bowling power-play was taken in the 19th over by the Sri Lankan side, which remained successful during the English batting power-play.
Trott punished Kulasekara in the 22nd over and managed to sneak 10 runs. Jeevan Mendis was brought in for the 25th over to double the spin-attack.
Seven runs came in the 25th over, including one boundary hit by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Morgan-c77707. The English had reached 149 runs and had 7 wickets in hand by then.
The English will be looking to strike back aggressively and post a massive total for the Lankan http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lions-c808 to chase, especially given the batting prowess of the visiting team.
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