HAMBANTOTA: Kumar Sangakkara became only the fourth batsman in history to surpass 13,000 One-day International runs as Sri Lanka scored 242-8 off 35 overs in a rain-curtailed third ODI against England here on Wednesday.

The 37-year-old left-hander reached the landmark when he took a single off Chris Woakes to move to 13 and celebrated by top-scoring with 63 in the innings.

Lahiru Thirimanne hit an unbeaten 62 off 47 balls in a match that was reduced to 35-overs-a-side when heavy rain stopped the game after just two overs had been bowled.

The hosts, who won the toss and elected to bat, were reduced to 31-3 by the sixth over before Sangakkara and skipper Angelo Mathews (37) retrieved the situation by adding 87 for the fourth wicket.

Sri Lanka plundered 62 runs in the last five overs to set England a tough target.

The hosts lead 2-0 in the seven-match series.

Sangakkara now lies behind three retired batsmen in the all-time list led by Sachin Tendulkar of India, who made 18,426 runs in 463 ODI matches.

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has 13,704 runs in 375 ODI matches and Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka has 13,430 runs in 445 games.

Sangakkara, who made his international debut in 2000, is also just 12 runs short of completing 12,000 Test runs. He has made 11,988 runs in 128 Tests.

England made three changes. Ian Bell, Harry Gurney and James Tredwell were dropped and replaced with Alex Hales, Ben Stokes and Chris Jordan.

Sri Lanka were without senior batsman Mahela Jayawardene, who is not playing due to personal reasons. He was replaced by Thilina Kandamby.

Players wore black arm-bands to mourn Australian batsman Phil Hughes, whose funeral took place earlier in the day.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA:

T. Dilshan c Buttler b Finn 23

K. Perera c Morgan b Woakes 0

K. Sangakkara c Ali b Jordan 63

T. Kandamby c Jordan b Woakes 0

A. Mathews c Buttler b Jordan 37

L. Thirimanne not out 62

J. Mendis c Finn b Root 12

T. Perera c Ali b Woakes 8

D. Prasad st Buttler b Bopara 21

R. Herath not out 2

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-10) 14

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 35 overs) 242

FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-30, 3-31, 4-118, 5-150, 6-175, 7-202, 8-233.

BOWLING: Finn 7-0-42-1; Woakes 7-0-41-3 (1w); Ali

7-0-36-0 (3w); Jordan 7-0-46-2 (2w); Bopara 3-0-24-1 (2w); Stokes 2-0-28-0 (1w); Root 2-0-21-1 (w1).

UMPIRES: Simon Fry (Australia) and Ruchira Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka)

TV UMPIRE: Steve Davis (Australia)

MATCH REFEREE: David Boon (Australia).

Published in Dawn December 4th , 2014