James Anderson bounced back from his World Cup disappointment with a world-class display of fast swing bowling, as Sri Lanka were sent spiralling towards a thumping defeat in the first ODI at The Oval.
After 14 overs Sri Lanka had crumbled to 49 for 5 chasing a D/L target of 232 in 32 overs, with Anderson scalping three wickets in his first 17 balls, before pulling off a flying catch at midwicket to give Jade Dernbach his first ODI wicket.
First to go was the returning captain, Tillakaratne Dilshan, who flicked loosely off his hip from the third ball of the innings and steered a long-hop down the throat of Tim Bresnan at fine leg. If that was fortuitous, it opened the floodgates, as Mahela Jayawardene was pinned lbw for 5 by an inswinger, before Kumar Sangakkara chipped a return catch back to the bowler three balls later.
In between whiles, Sanath Jayasuriya's 445th and final ODI appearance came to a tame end, as Bresnan marked his comeback from a calf strain with a fourth-ball breakthrough. Jayasuriya lined up a trademark cut, but slapped a stinging shot straight to Eoin Morgan in the gully to depart to a standing ovation, for a four-ball 2.
From the depths of 15 for 4, Angelo Mathews and Thilina Kandamby attempted a fightback, but Dernbach's introduction ended a fifth-wicket stand of 25. After serving up a tricky diet of slower balls, Mathews climbed into a rare short ball, but Anderson leapt athletically to his right to cling on with both hands.
32 overs England 229 for 8 (Kieswetter 61, Morgan 45) v Sri Lanka
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Alastair Cook's first innings as England's full-time ODI captain lasted just three deliveries, but his team-mates nevertheless bounced back from Saturday's pummelling in the one-off Twenty20 to post a competitive 229 for 8 in a rain-affected innings at The Oval.
England regrouped strongly after a three-hour delay had led to the loss of 18 overs from their allocation of 50, meaning Sri Lanka will need a Duckworth-Lewis adjusted target of 232, although the discipline of their bowlers once denied England the 250-plus total that might have been in prospect while Craig Kieswetter and Eoin Morgan were going strong.
Kieswetter was England's top-scorer with a disciplined innings of 61 from 56 balls, his highest international score for more than a year, while Morgan continued in the same fluent vein he had shown at Bristol to make 45 from 35. From 142 for 3 after 20 overs, England stuttered to 194 for 6 after 29, before a late volley of boundaries from Tim Bresnan allowed them to finish with a flourish. Bresnan was unluckily adjudged lbw for 23 in Lasith Malinga's final over of the innings, having snaffled four fours from consecutive legitimate deliveries, punctuated by five wides from an erratic Suranga Lakmal.
After the loss of some 369 overs in the Test series, it was only fitting that the ODIs should get underway with a similar intervention from the heavens. England's innings began with the threat of a thunderstorm looming from the West, and sure enough, the rains arrived with the score on 35 for 1 after seven overs. Cook, looking to prove his credentials in his first ODI appearance for 15 months, had flicked a single and a four from his first two balls, but then turned his third -again from Malinga - into Kumar Sangakkara's gloves.
Jonathan Trott, England's unsung hero from an erratic World Cup campaign, continued in his unflappable vein, picking off five fours with scarcely a shot in anger to reach a run-a-ball 23. He was then pinned lbw by a toe-crusher from Lakmal, but Kieswetter by this stage was finding his range. He had been criticised for his rash approach in his brief stay at Bristol, but this time had nudged along to 15 from 26 balls before a swipe for six over long-on off Lakmal signalled his change of approach.
Alongside him was Kevin Pietersen, who has looked in supreme touch since his 85 in the Rose Bowl Test match. The pair added 56 in seven overs, with Pietersen racking up 26 from 23 balls, and Kieswetter reaching his half-century from 45 with a handsome lofted drive off Suraj Randiv. The introduction of the legspinner Jeevan Mendis paid instant dividends as Pietersen mowed a first-ball long-hop to midwicket, but Morgan smacked two fours from his next five balls to keep England's momentum intact.
Morgan's inventive repertoire was once again on show as he picked off a total of six fours in his stay, before one lofted drive too many resulted in a simple catch for Thilina Kandamby at long-off. By this stage, Kieswetter had already fallen to a top-edged slog-sweep off Randiv, and when the in-form Ian Bell was suckered by a slow turner from Sanath Jayasuriya and trapped lbw for 11, England were in some trouble at 179 for 6. Bresnan averted the immediate danger of a collapse, but their bowlers will need more incisiveness than they showed at Bristol.
England 1 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 2 Alastair Cook (capt), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Tim Bresnan, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 James Anderson, 11 Jade Dernbach.
Sri Lanka 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt) 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Nuwan Kulasekera, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Suraj Randiv, 11 Lasith Malinga
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