LONDON, June 18: Sri Lanka, boosted by a fine century from opener Upul Tharanga, beat England by 20 runs in the first One-day International at Lord's on Saturday (partly reported in Sunday’s edition).

England, set 258 to win after Tharanga's 120 took Sri Lanka to 257-9, rarely threatened once they slumped to 66-4.

They ended on 237-9 after pacemen Dilhara Fernando and Lasith Malinga took three wickets each.

England's batsmen began solidly and their openers took 15 runs off Chaminda Vaas's fourth over with Marcus Trescothick striking two of the three boundaries in the over.

But Fernando replaced Vaas and struck with his first ball when stand-in skipper Andrew Strauss on 12 bottom-edged a pull shot to the wicket-keeper.

Fernando struck again in his next over when he bowled Ian Bell for seven.

With big-hitters at the crease in Trescothick and Kevin Pietersen, Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene gambled by taking his third and final ‘power play’ in the 15th over.

The England batsmen, behind the run rate, tried to take advantage of the gaps in the field but Pietersen clipped a Malinga delivery to midwicket where Jayawardene took an athletic one-handed catch above his head to remove the danger man for 12.

Paul Collingwood fell lbw without scoring to Fernando in the next over to give Fernando figures of three for 22 at that stage.

The eventual fall of Trescothick, bowled around his legs for 67 by spinner Tillekeratne Dilshan, dented England's victory hopes though all-rounder Jamie Dalrymple, in his second international match, fought impressively for his 67 in 87 balls.

The next game in the five-match series is on Tuesday. The teams drew the Test series 1-1.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA:

W.U. Tharanga c D’mple b Mahmood 120

S.T. Jayasuriya c Jones b Harmison 11

M. Jayawardene c Strauss b C’gwood 24

K.C. Sangakkara run out 15

T.M. Dilshan c C’gwood b Harmison 13

R.P. Arnold c Jones b C’gwood 8

C.K. Kapugedera c Pietersen b Plunkett 1

W.P.U.J.C. Vaas c Strauss b Harmison 10

S.L. Malinga b Bresnan 3

C.R.D. Fernando not out 10

M. Muralitharan not out 0

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-13, W-23, NB-4) 42

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 257

FALL OF WKTS: 1-25, 2-124, 3-153, 4-187, 5-204, 6-207, 7-227, 8-236, 9-248.

BOWLING: Harmison 10-0-52-3 (8w); Plunkett 7-0-32-1 (6w); Bresnan 9-1-44-1 (1nb, 5w); Mahmood 9-0-57-1 (3nb, 2w); Collingwood 10-1-29-2; Dalrymple 5-0-28-0 (1w)

ENGLAND:

M.E. Trescothick b Dilshan 67

A.J. Strauss c Sangakkara b Fernando 12

I.R. Bell b Fernando 7

K.P. Pietersen c J’dene b Malinga 10

P.D. Collingwood lbw b Fernando 0

J.W.M. Dalrymple b Muralitharan 67

G.O. Jones c Kapugedera b Jayasuriya 19

T.T. Bresnan b Malinga 16

S.I. Mahmood b Malinga 8

L.E. Plunkett not out 14

S.J. Harmison not out 5

EXTRAS (LB-7, W-3, NB-2) 12

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 237

FALL OF WKTS: 1-31, 2-44, 3-65, 4-66, 5-138, 6-172, 7-208, 8-214, 9-220.

BOWLING: Vaas 8-0-37-0; Malinga 9-2-26-3 (2nb, 2w); Fernando 8-0-51-3 (2nb, 2w); Muralitharan 10-0-47-1; Dilshan 6-0-23-1; Jayasuriya 9-0-46-1;

RESULT: Sri Lanka won by 20 runs

UMPIRES: N.J. Llong (England) and D.B. Hair (Australia).

TV UMPIRE: I.J. Gould (England).

MATCH REFEREE: C.H. Lloyd (West Indies).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Upul Tharanga.

NEXT MATCH: At The Oval on Tuesday.—Agencies