Sri Lanka vs. England, 7th ODI: Highlights, Scorecard and Report

England’s tour of Sri Lanka ended on a low note, as they were comprehensively brushed aside in the seventh game of the series in Colombo.

Having seen their chances of winning the series disappear at the weekend, England went in search of a confidence-boosting win ahead of the World Cup.

It did not happen. Sri Lanka amassed 302 for six from their 50 overs, and England never looked like chasing it down at any stage.

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Minutes	Balls	Strike Rate
AN Cook*	c Jayawardene b Lakmal	32	47	49	65.30
MM Ali	b Dilshan	0	3	1	0.00
AD Hales	c Prasanna b Dilshan	7	17	15	46.66
JE Root	lbw b Prasanna	80		99	80.80
JWA Taylor	c †Sangakkara b Lakmal	2	8	4	50.00
EJG Morgan	lbw b Dilshan	4	25	14	28.57
JC Buttler	c Chandimal b Prasanna	23	30	23	100.00
CR Woakes	b MDK Perera	34	48	37	91.89
CJ Jordan	lbw Prasanna	0		1	0.00
JC Tredwell	st †Sangakkara b Jayawardene	17		21	80.95
HF Gurney	not out	6		11	54.54
Extras	(b 4, lb 3, w 3)	10
Total	(10 wickets; 45.5 overs)	215
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Economy
MDK Perera	9	0	53	1	5.88
TM Dilshan	10	0	37	3	3.70
RAS Lakmal	8	1	25	2	3.12
NLTC Perera	3	0	22	0	7.33
AD Mathews	2	0	3	0	1.50
S Prasanna	8	0	35	3	4.37
BMAJ Mendis	4	0	28	0	7.00
DPMD Jayawardene	1.5	0	5	1	2.72

Under-pressure England skipper Alastair Cook once again missed out with the bat, but he was not alone in disappointing, as Sri Lanka proved far superior on the day.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat, and Mahela Jayawardene set off like a rocket, dispatching some wayward bowling from Harry Gurney to the fence.

Gurney was wayward in line and length, but Jayawardene slapped a short ball straight down the throat of Chris Woakes at deep backward square leg.

Eranga Jayawardena/Associated Press

The look of bewilderment on Jayawardene's face as he trudged off summed up exactly how bad a ball it was that claimed his wicket.

Kumar Sangakkara—like Jayawardene, almost certainly playing in his last ODI on home soil—looked in prime touch. He seemed intent on signing off on a high, but having cruised to 33, he clipped a full toss from Moeen Ali straight to James Tredwell at midwicket.

The dismissal of Sangakkara summed up England’s bowling: a mixed bag sent down from both ends.

"

#SLvENG This bowling attack reminds me of my village team, wide, full toss, long hop, good ball all they need is the moon ball for the set.

— toby white (@Tobermoree) December 16, 2014"

That was reinforced with the dismissal of Angelo Mathews. A ball from Moeen drifted onto the pads, and the Sri Lanka captain went for the lap sweep, but he failed to make contact and lost his leg pole.

With Jayawardene, Sangakkara and Mathews getting starts but not going on, the pressure was on Tillakaratne Dilshan in his 300th ODI game.

He stepped up in no uncertain terms, taking the attack to the England bowlers from the off. Dilshan reined in the scoring as wickets fell, but he kept the scoreboard ticking along.

He brought up a superb century in the 44th over, having passed a notable milestone earlier in the innings:

"

Tillakaratne Dilshan is the 5th Sri Lankan to 9000 ODI runs, 2nd quickest from SL after Sanga (270 inns). Dilshan took 275 inns. #SLvENG

— Cricket Record (@cricinfo_record) December 16, 2014"

One ball later, though, he left the field to a standing ovation after slapping another full toss, this time off Chris Jordan, straight to Moeen on the fence at midwicket.

The game looked well balanced with six overs remaining, but Sri Lanka feasted on some truly awful bowling from England.

"

This is quite bad from England. Coldplay collaboration with Justin Bieber levels of bad. #SLvENG

— Alt Cricket (@AltCricket) December 16, 2014"

Short balls, wide balls and full tosses prevented Cook from setting consistent fields and also allowed Dinesh Chandimal and Thisara Perera to lift Sri Lanka over 300.

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Minutes	Balls	Strike Rate
DPMD Jayawardene	c Woakes b Gurney	28	31	22	127.27
TM Dilshan	c Ali b Jordan	101	167	124	81.45
KC Sangakkara†	c Tredwell b Ali	33	51	50	66.00
AD Mathews*	b Ali	20	29	27	74.07
LD Chandimal	not out	55	89	50	110.00
NLTC Perera	c & b Jordan	54	31	26	207.69
S Prasanna	run out (Jordan)	0		0
BMAJ Mendis	not out	1	2	1	100.00
Extras	(lb 5, w 5)	10
Total	(6 wickets; 50 overs)	302
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Economy
CR Woakes	9	0	71	0	7.88
HF Gurney	9	0	60	1	6.66
JC Tredwell	7	0	50	0	7.14
JE Root	5	0	22	0	4.40
CJ Jordan	10	0	55	2	5.50
MM Ali	10	0	39	2	3.90

Cook strode to the crease with huge pressure on his shoulders, with many calling for him to vacate his place in the team. He survived a close lbw shout first ball and saw Jayawardene put down a devilishly difficult chance at first slip off Dilshan.

Cook saw Moeen Ali and Alex Hales depart, and he received a third life on 21 when an outside edge bisected keeper and first slip.

Cats, so the saying goes, are possessors of nine lives. Cook is not, as he departed for 32 when chasing a ball slanted across him from Suranga Lakmal and edging to Jayawardene at slip.

Cook stood his ground, suggesting the ball had not carried. The umpires called for television replays, and Cook was promptly sent on his way.

"

Think that sums up cooks tour. crap shot and not wanting to walk off when he was caught #cookedcook

— Riki Wessels (@RikiWessels) December 16, 2014"

Joe Root has been one of the few success stories for England with the bat in this series. He once again looked in good touch with the bat despite being restricted by a hip complaint, but he did not receive enough support.

Dilshan followed up his superb century with three for 37 from his 10 overs. It felt somewhat appropriate that Jayawardene was handed a rare bowl, and he took the final wicket, James Tredwell stumped, to help secure a crushing 5-2 series victory for his side.

In the near future, Sri Lanka will have to contemplate life without Sangakkara and Jayawardene. The duo will be around for a World Cup quest; on this form, they will be confident of signing off on an extreme high.