SUNIL JAYASIRI 
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Sri Lanka beat England in T20
Sri Lanka made light work of a misfiring England side to cruise to a comprehensive nine wicket victory over the defending t20 World Cup champions in a once sided game at the County Ground in Bristol.
Faced with a run chase of only 137, the Sri Lankan’s cruised to victory thanks to Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara who easily saw off England’s inexperienced bowling attack.
England produced a disappointing display with the bat and ball as Stuart Broad’s captaincy got under way with a performance which will raise question’s about team selection after Ian Bell was over looked.
Jayawardene (72) led the way with an impressive half century as Sri Lanka cantered to victory despite the lose of Sanath Jayasuriya (8) at the start of the 5th over after he became Jade Dernbach’s first international victim.
Sangakkara (43) played the perfect supporting role during his 2nd wicket stand of 97 with Jayawardene as the pair saw off an England team which put in their worst performance of the summer so far.
With the exception of Eoin Morgan (47) and Kevin Pietersen (41) who shared a 3rd wicket stand of 83, England struggled with the bat and questions will be asked as to why Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright were both selected ahead of in form batsman Ian Bell.
Morgan led the way, scoring an impressive 47 after England had been rocked early on by Sri Lanka who reduced the hosts to just 12-2 after the early dismissals of Michael Lumb and Craig Kieswetter.
Morgan and Pietersen led England’s fight back but once the pair had been dismissed in the space of nine deliveries the defending t20 World Cup champion’s innings fell apart after some impressive bowling from Sanith Jayasuriya (18-2) and Lasith Malinga (15-2)
Having reached 95-2, England collapsed to a total of just 136-9 after their middle order failed to fire after a lacklustre display from Bopara (19), Samit Patel (0) and Wright (9) as the Sri Lankan’s took control of the game.
Having been put into bat England got off to a poor start which saw them lose Lumb and Kieswetter inside the opening three overs as the pair struggle on their return to international t20 cricket.
Lumb (2) was the first to go after he top edged a delivery from Suranga Lakmal which was easily caught by Lasith Malinga at mid off in the second over.
Kieswetter fared no better as he followed Lumb back to the dug out seven deliveries later when he was dismissed by Nuwan Kulasekara after he looped an easy catch in the air to Thilan Kandamby at mid to leave England 12-2 after just 2.4 overs.
Despite the setback Pietersen and Morgan lead the England recovery thanks to a 3rd wicket stand of 83 which put the home side in control before the Sri Lankan’s fought their way back onto the game.
(cricket20)
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