England’s 1st series of the summer was some what dampened as rain continued to fall all throughout the test match. England’s hopes were held high and would have hop to have won by 2 or 3-0 but the rain also prevented a promising Sri Lankan side get back into the match. The final test match was the first ever test match at the rose bowl and if not for the rain it would have been perfect. England won the toss and chose to field. Anderson returned to the side after injury and bowled well with swing and accuracy. The star of the show in the 1st innings was Tremlett who bowled over Sri Lanka with a tremendous 6 wicket haul. Sri Lanka could only score 184 and wicket keeper Jayawardene was the only batsmen who could put together any kind of innings, scoring 43. England’s bowling was solid all throughout the 1st innings and have been all summer so far. England’s batting has also been brilliant this summer and with Pietersen returning to form, and India will need to be aware of both England’s batting and bowling. England’s 1st innings entertained a brilliant century from Bell and the good form continued for Morgan, Cook and returning to form Pietersen who all got 50’s. England looked as though they could really emphasise the development they have made so far by winning the third and final test but rain stopped them in they're tracks. Throughout the match rain inconsistently affected play and the players were on and off the field with no real rhythm being built by either side. In total England scored 377 for 8 declared, which gave them a 1st innings lead of 193. Lakmal took the most of Sri Lanka’s hard fought wickets with a 3fer but England still looked strong. Huge downpours of rain only allowed 5 wickets to fall in Sri Lanka’s 2nd innings before the test was announced as a draw mid way through the final day. However the rain should not take away anything from a mouth watering century from Sangakkara, his first in England. He smacked the ball all over the debut test match ground and truly deserved his ton. Samaraweera also will be pleased with his 87*, but I’m sure both batsmen would have preferred to have hit form earlier in the series.
So a very much rain affected test to end very much rain affected series. England’s new ODI and T20 captain were in charge now and having won 1 trophy, England would have hoped to have won the one T20 international as well. Starting with the one and only T20, England’s new captain made some very bold changes to the side. Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott, England’s 2 in form batsmen, both scoring runs but not in the side, in stead the return of Lumb and Kieswetter. They both opened the batting and together could only manage 6, trying to hit the ball far too hard they both got caught. England looked good whilst Morgan and KP scored fluent 40’s but then the only thing left to come was a little cameo from Bopara. England finished on 136 for 9 off they’re 20 overs. Sri Lanka’s reply was dominant and assured, and without Dilshan it was even more impressive. Jayawardene got 72 and Sangakkara got 43 as the Sri Lankan’s cruised to a 9 wicket win. Not a very good start to his T20 captaincy career, but hopefully Broad can bounce back. The 2 Odi’s to have gone so far have been completely opposite, one comfortably won by England and the other by Sri Lanka. The first ODI was at the Oval and with yet another rain affected match, D/L was used meaning England won by 110 runs. Kieswetter scored 61 and Morgan fell 5 short of his half century, Contributing to an England a total of 229. This game also saw the return of Tim Bresnan who returned from injury and took a wicket as well as scoring a useful 23. James Anderson the top bowler, he got 4 wickets and Graeme swann got 3 which comfortably saw England home. No-one really got going with the bat for Sri Lanka, someone needed a 50 if they were to have any chance of winning. The second ODI was easily won by Sri Lanka with a margin of 69 runs. England could only limit Sri Lanka to 309 for 5, Jayawardene batted absolutely magnificently for 144 of just 150 balls. Sangakkara scored 69 and they both looked a class above England. In reply England put themselves in with a chance with a good 40 for captain cook and a nice 50 for Morgan. Bell and Trott both got 30’s but no-one could put the pieces together and get a hundred. Sri Lanka bowled England out for 240 including 3fers for Lakmal and Randiv.
If England are going to win this series then someone needs to push on and get a big score, too many batsmen getting in and getting out.
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