Tuesday 16 December 2014 18:46, UK
Tillakaratne Dilshan upstaged his departing team-mates with a hundred and three wickets on his 300th ODI appearance as Sri Lanka beat England by 87 runs in Colombo.
Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara – playing their final ODI on home soil – scored just 28 and 33 respectively but both had a say in England’s final wicket with Sangakkara stumping Tredwell (17) off Jayawardene.
It was Dilshan though who stole the show – hitting 101 in Sri Lanka’s total of 302-6, with England being bowled out for 215 in response. The knock took Dilshan past 9,000 ODI runs and moved him onto 357 runs in the series, at an average of 51.
Sri Lanka had already wrapped up overall victory in the seven-match series but the result on Tuesday means the series ended 5-2 in the hosts' favour.
Not content with his day’s work with the bat, Dilshan picked up the wicket of Moeen Ali in the second over of England’s chase – bowling the opener with a quicker delivery that skidded off the surface, beating him for pace.
He also accounted for the returning Alex Hales (7), caught in the deep, and Eoin Morgan (4) lbw, to finish with figures of 3-37 from his 10 overs.
The 38-year-old had earlier used his feet to great effect when batting, particularly early on in his innings as Sri Lanka, who won the toss and elected to bat, got off to a flyer, scoring 53 runs from the first seven overs.
He went to three figures in the 44th over – supported brilliantly by Dinesh Chandimal (55no) after England’s spinners had dragged things back well – falling two balls later to a rank full toss from Chris Jordan which he swatted straight to Moeen at midwicket.
It was the third time England benefited from a slice of luck with their mode of dismissal – Jayawardene pulling a short one from Harry Gurney to Chris Woakes at long leg and Sangakkara too falling in anti-climactic fashion, middling a Moeen full toss to James Tredwell at midwicket.
Some lusty blows from Thisara Perera (54) late on gave England a challenging target to chase and it always looked out of reach.
All eyes were on captain Alastair Cook – and while he stuck around longer than his opening partner and Hales, he never looked comfortable during his 49-ball stay at the crease for 32 runs.
Joe Root batted well for 80 but lost partners at regular intervals, and eventually fell himself to the impressive Seekkuge Prasanna, who took 3-35.
But even Root’s bright spark of an innings, and series, may be doused by the fact he seemed troubled with an injury throughout the day – leaving the field several times and taking on painkillers while batting.
As he limped along, so did England, eventually succumbing to another heavy defeat.
