COLOMBO: Sri Lanka overcame a brilliant century by Moeen Ali and a late cameo from Ravi Bopara to defeat England by 25 runs in the first One-day International here at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday.

Opener Ali smashed 119 off 87 balls with 11 boundaries and five sixes as the tourists made a spirited chase of Sri Lanka’s 317-6 before being bowled out for 292 in the day-night match.

The left-hander’s maiden ODI hundred was followed by Bopara’s 65 off 62 balls in the end overs that left England on the doorstep of victory in the first match of the seven-game series.

But Bopara was last man out off the first ball of the 48th over, caught in the deep off seamer Thisara Perera, who finished with three wickets.

England captain Alastair Cook made only 10 despite being reprieved twice off successive balls in the first over by the TV umpire after being declared leg-before to Angelo Mathews.

Ali put on 51 for the first wicket with Cook and 56 for the second with Ian Bell to lift England to 107-1 in the 16th over.

But three wickets crashed for 17 runs as Thisara Perera dismissed Bell (35) and Joe Root (two) and Ajantha Mendis bowled Eoin Morgan.

Ali was sixth out in the 31st over with the total at 203, offering a tame return catch to spinner Jeevan Mendis.

Sri Lanka’s total after being sent in to bat was built around half-centuries from Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Kusal Perera.

Dilshan top-scored with 88, Jayawardene hit a fluent 55 and Kusal Perera made 59 as the hosts took advantage of England’s wayward and indisciplined attack that produced 17 wides. The start of the match was delayed by an hour due to bad weather, but the umpires decided to play a full 50-overs-a-side game.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA:

T. Dilshan c and b Woakes88

K. Perera run out 59

K. Sangakkara lbw b Ali 2

M. Jayawardene c Buttler b Tredwell 55

A. Mathews c Stokes b Tredwell 33

T. Perera c Cook b Woakes 4

L. Thirimanne not out 27

J. Mendis not out 30

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-17) 19

TOTAL (for six wkts, 50 overs) 317

FALL OF WKTS: 1-120, 2-128, 3-204, 4-253, 5-253, 6-263.

BOWLING: Woakes 10-0-68-2 (4w); Gurney 10-0-66-0 (w6); Tredwell 10-0-52-2; Stokes

4-0-36-0 (4w); Ali 10-0-66-1 (2w); Root 2-0-12-0; Bopara 4-0-15-0 (1w).

ENGLAND:

A. Cook lbw b Dilshan 10

Moeen Ali c and b J. Mendis 119

I. Bell c Jayawardene b T. Perera 35

J. Root c Sangakkara b T. Perera 2

E. Morgan b A. Mendis 1

J. Buttler b Prasad 21

R. Bopara c K. Perera b T. Perera 65

B. Stokes st Sangakkara b Herath 16

C. Woakes st Sangakkara b Herath 7

J. Tredwell b A. Mendis 6

H. Gurney not out 1

EXTRAS (W-8, NB-1) 9

TOTAL (all out, 47.1 overs) 292

FALL OF WKTS: 1-51, 2-107, 3-121, 4-124, 5-159, 6-203, 7-243, 8-259, 9-286.

BOWLING: Mathews 3-1-17-0; Prasad 5-0-51-1 (1w); Dilshan 6-0-33-1 (1w), A. Mendis 9-0-55-2 (2w); Herath 9-0-58-2; T. Perera 9.1-1-44-3 (4w, 1nb), J. Mendis 6-0-34-1.

RESULT: Sri Lanka won by 25 runs,

SERIES: Sri Lanka lead 1-0 in seven-match series.

UMPIRES: Simon Fry (Australia), Ruchira Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka).

TV UMPIRE: Steve Davis (Australia).

MATCH REFEREE: David Boon (Australia).

Published in Dawn, November 27th , 2014