The Hindu : Jayasuriya makes merry

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 03, 2002

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Jayasuriya makes merry

By G. Viswanath

Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya, who regained his touch, pulls Andrew Flintoff of England to the fence in Leeds in the NatWest tri-series match on Tuesday. — Photo: N. Sridharan

Leeds July 2 England defeated Sri Lanka in a thrilling fashion by three wickets with four balls to spare in the NatWest Trophy III Triseries here on Tuesday. England's second win in the competition was scripted by Marcus Trescothick.

Man of the Match Sanath Jayasuriya's pyrotechnics in the Sri Lankan innings went in vain. The openers' counter attack paved the way for England to make a successful dash to the winning post in 31.2 overs at the Headingley Cricket Ground.

The in form Trescothick made a top notch 82, but after his exit at 171 in the first ball of the 22nd over England had still some way to go before reaching the target. But Alec Stewart and Paul Collingwood took the challenge and made a rousing partnership of 66 runs off 54 balls for the seventh wicket. Their stand shattered all Sri Lankan hopes.

Earlier Jayasuriya single-handedly led his side to a total of 240. The irony of it all was that the Sri Lankan skipper's one-man show came after many hours of play was lost to erratic weather conditions and the two teams faced the grim prospect of the match being abandoned. In the process he also corrected a glaring blot in his record book. He did not have a century against England in 15 one-day internationals.

Spectacular in its execution, his 87-ball 112, also marked his return to form. That he was not in good nick for a long time was evident in the fact that his first three-figure knock against England was his first in 26 months.

England showed courage to bring back Darren Gough into the attack, but Jayasuriya did not show any discrimination in picking and choosing the bowlers. He was lucky though when on 28 he edged Gough into the hands of Andrew Flintoff at second slip, but there was no joy for England because umpire Steve Bucknor had stretched his hand out to declare a no ball.

The other Yorkshire seamer Matthew Hoggard was not spared. He was smashed around for 28 runs in two overs. James Kirtley replaced him and Jayasuriya promptly despatched him for three 6s. Flintoff bowled seven intelligent overs in a row, conceded 18 runs and took two wickets. Almost every Sri Lankan batsman appeared to be leaving the run making job to his captain. Hoggard dismissed the Sri Lankan captain in the 28th over, but by then Sri Lanka was on its way to reach a big total. Jayasuriyas century had a come off 78 balls. He went on to make 112 off 87 deliveries with five 6s and nine 4s as Sri Lanka pushed for a big score. When action began after an inordinately long delay owing to damp weather conditions, Jayasuriya did not disappoint anyone.

It could not have been a normal game of cricket anyway with the fourth match of the tournament reduced to 32 overs a side.

Defeats in the first two matches was difficult to swallow for him. He was keen to get on with the game.

An inspired Jaysuriya took the responsibility of taking the challenge after being inserted by Nasser Hussain who won the toss for the third time in a row. England began its attack with Hoggard and Gough, the latter coming in for Ashley Giles. The temptation to include Gough and not to leave out Hoggard at his home ground was too strong.

It was the first match Gough was turning out for England this summer after he had returned home damaging his right knee in New Zealand. But to the Sri Lankans, and to Jayasuriya in particular, it did not matter who opened the attack for England.

The left-hander was straightaway firing on all cylinders. He lost his partners Romesh Kaluwitharana, Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene and Avishka Gunawardene, but carried on to finish the task in earnest. But still at the end of the day it was Trescothick's 80 that won the match for England.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA

S. Jayasuriya c Kirtley

b Hoggard 112

(87b, 9x4, 5x6)

R. Kaluwitharana c Hussain

b Gough 7

(6b, 1x4)

M. Atapattu c Stewart b Flintoff 18

(36b, 2x4)

M. Jayawardene b Flintoff 4

(11b)

A. Gunawardene (run out) 20

(21b, 3x4)

U. Chandana lbw b Gough
(13b, 4x4, 1x6)
30

R. Arnold (not out) 17

(14b, 1x4)

C. Vaas b Gough 4

(6b)

K. Sangakkara (not out) 1

(1b)

Extras (lb-11, nb-3, w-13) 27

— —

Total (for seven wkts.
in 32 overs)
240

— —

Fall of wickets: 1-26 (Kaluwitharana), 2-118 (Atapattu), 3-132 (Jayawardene), 4-171 (Gunawardene), 5-201 (Jayasuriya), 6-225 (Chandana), 7-233 (Vaas).

England bowling: Gough 7-0-45-3, Hoggard 4-0-53-1, Kirtley 6-1-37-0, Flintoff 7-0-18-2, Collingwood 5-0-49-0, Irani 3-0-27-0.

ENGLAND

M. Trescothick c Vaas

b Jayasuriya 82

(60b, 11x4)

N. Knight c & b Vaas 0

(3b)

R. Irani c Jayawardene b Vaas 27

(28b, 5x4)

A. Flintoff c Jayawardene
b Arnold
20

(13b, 2x4, 1x6)

N. Hussain c Gunawardene
b D. Fernando
0

(2b)

G. Thorpe (run out) 15

(13b, 2x4)

P. Collingwood b D. Fernando 38

(36b, 2x4)

A. Stewart (not out) 38

(31b, 5x4, 1x6)

D. Gough (not out) 3

(5b)

Extras (lb-3, w-10, nb-5) 18

— —

Total (for seven wkts.
in 31.2 overs)
241

— —

Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Knight), 2-69 (Irani), 3-97 (Flintoff), 4-98 (Hussain), 5-126 (Thorpe), 6-171 (Trescothick), 7-237 (Collingwood).