Mahela's century overpowers England - Nice Balance Start for the series with 1-1 !

Sri Lanka 309 for 5 (Jayawardene 144, Sangakkara 69, Mathews 46*, Swann 2-42) beat England 240 (Morgan 52, Randiv 3-43, Lakmal 3-43 ) by 69 runs

Mahela Jayawardene produced a beautifully crafted 144 from 150 balls, the highest of his 15 ODI centuries and his fifth against England, as Sri Lanka put the memories of their soggy defeat at The Oval to one side with an imposing 69-run victory in the second one-day international at Headingley. Faced with a stiff target of 310, England threatened for a while, particularly while Eoin Morgan was compiling a 37-ball half-century, but eventually succumbed to 240 all out.

With the sun on their backs and little on offer in the pitch, Sri Lanka's morale seemed transformed in the space of three days, and once Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara had overcome the setback of two careless run-outs at the top of the innings, there was little that England could do to contain them. The pair added in 159 for the third wicket in 29.1 overs - a record for Sri Lanka against England, beating the mark of 140 that the same two men set at Durham during the 5-0 whitewash in 2006.

Though Sangakkara was eventually dragged out of his crease by Graeme Swann and stumped for 69, that wicket was the only one that any of England's bowlers managed in the first 45 overs of the innings. Jayawardene eventually followed in the same fashion seven overs later, but at 271 for 4 with 29 balls of the innings remaining, the stage was set for Angelo Mathews, who biffed 41 from 27, before Nuwan Kulasekera and Jeevan Mendis carried the score past 300 in the final over of the innings.

In reply, England's openers did begin with some confidence. With criticism of his role still being voiced in the media, Alastair Cook knew he needed to make his presence felt, especially after opting to chase on a good batting wicket. He and Craig Kieswetter pushed along to 52 without loss in the 10-over Powerplay, with Cook demonstrating his improvisatory side with a scoop for four over the wicketkeeper's head off Kulasekara.

However, the weight of Sri Lanka's runs told on England's batsmen in the end. Kieswetter pulled a Lakmal bouncer to deep square leg for 25, before Kevin Pietersen was superbly caught on the long-on boundary by a diving Lasith Malinga. Cook's own stay ended when he drove Suraj Randiv down the throat of wide long-on for a 52-ball 48, while Jonathan Trott - who had once again been batting to his own tempo - had no answer to a superb inswinging yorker from Lakmal that crashed into his middle stump, and sent him on his way for 39 from 54 balls.

At 144 for 4 in the 28th over, the prospects of victory were bleak, but Morgan injected some genuine life into the innings with another superb display of calculated aggression. He signalled the charge with back-to-back sixes off the legspin of Jeevan Mendis, but with 109 still needed from the final 13 overs, Randiv tweaked an offspinner past his outside edge and Sangakkara, after a struggle to get the ball under control, whipped off the bails. It was all the invitation that Sri Lanka needed to go for the kill, as victory was wrapped up with 25 balls to spare.

Despite a few glimpses from England's batsmen, they lacked a player such as Jayawardene who could combine excellence with endurance. Despite his rough patch of form in the Test series, in which he failed to reach even a half-century in six attempts, this was Jayawardene's second ODI hundred in three innings, following his brilliant but futile performance in the World Cup final in Mumbai. In the absence of the retired Sanath Jayasuriya, he moved up the order to open alongside Dilshan, and responded just as he had done at Bristol in the Twenty20 last week, with a typically attractive and fluent performance.

With exquisite timing and placement through the off-side, and a voracious eye for an opportunity off the pads, Jayawardene racked up 14 fours in his stay, and picked his pace up as the innings progressed. After weathering a testing new-ball spell from James Anderson and Tim Bresnan, he reached his first fifty from 68 balls, his second from 50, and his final 44 came from 32.

At The Oval on Tuesday, both Jayawardene and Sangakkara had been among the early casualties as England reduced Sri Lanka to 15 for 4 in damp seaming conditions. That performance was no doubt a factor for Cook when he turned down the chance to have first use of a flat surface, and when Anderson followed up his Oval performance with seven probing overs for 20, runs did seem hard to come by.

Frustration was certainly a factor in both of England's early breakthroughs. Dilshan was sent on his way for a run-a-ball 9, as Stuart Broad swooped and dived in one motion from mid-on after a crass call for a single, and five overs later, Dinesh Chandimal fell in a carbon-copy fashion, as Anderson this time did the honours from Broad's first ball of the innings.



But the key moment of the innings came in Bresnan's third over, when Jayawardene attempted a glide over the slip cordon on 7, where Graeme Swann couldn't cling on with a fingertipped stretch. Three balls later, Jayawardene edged inches short of Swann again, and then compounded a frustrating over for Bresnan by stroking a drive through the covers for four.

England's fielding, which had been so tigerish in the early stages, began to get a bit ragged as the innings progressed. Cook at short cover dropped a tough diving effort with Jayawardene on 119, while another off-colour day for Broad was compounded when Kulasekara picked out Swann at short third man, who grassed his second clear-cut opportunity.

Sri Lanka innings (50 overs maximum)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	DPMD Jayawardene	st †Kieswetter b Swann	144	196	150	14	0	96.00
	45.1 gone! Swann removes Jayawardene with an arm ball that rushes straight on, the batsman running past it to be easily stumped by Kieswetter. What a fantastic knock it was from him, he set a new personal best of 144 and has guided his team into a great position after they had been looking decidedly wobbly 271/4
	TM Dilshan*	run out (Broad)	9	17	9	2	0	100.00
	4.3 from Anderson, Tip and run from Dilshan, and that's going to be out! Crazy run, straight to Broad at mid-on, who steadies himself and under-arms a diving shy onto the non-striker's stumps 15/1
	LD Chandimal	run out (Anderson)	5	18	7	0	0	71.42
	9.1 from Broad, ridiculous! That is an absolute carbon-copy of the Dilshan dismissal! Only this time, Anderson is the fielder off Broad's bowling, rather than the other way round, and Billy Bowden didn't need the benefit of a replay to give it. Tucked to mid-on, a crazy call, a good pick-up, a diving shy 45/2
	KC Sangakkara†	st †Kieswetter b Swann	69	119	85	5	0	81.17
	38.2 gone this time! Swann strikes and it's wonderful bowling. Tossed up, bit of drift, beating Sangakkara in the flight as he advanced before spinning past the edge to allow Kieswetter to whip the bails off 204/3
	AD Mathews	not out	46	58	30	7	0	153.33
	KMDN Kulasekara	c Pietersen b Bresnan	13	14	15	1	0	86.66
	48.5 126.9 kph, well, the short ball had been troubling Kulasekara and now it's dismissed him: a top-edged pull loops out to Pietersen, running in from the midwicket boundary, and Sri Lanka lose their fifth wicket 296/5
	BMAJ Mendis	not out	7	4	4	0	1	175.00
	Extras	(lb 5, w 11)	16
	Total	(5 wickets; 50 overs)	309	(6.18 runs per over)

Did not bat SHT Kandamby, RAS Lakmal, S Randiv, SL Malinga

Fall of wickets1-15 (Dilshan, 4.3 ov), 2-45 (Chandimal, 9.1 ov), 3-204 (Sangakkara, 38.2 ov), 4-271 (Jayawardene, 45.1 ov), 5-296 (Kulasekara, 48.5 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	JM Anderson	10	0	44	0	4.40	(3w)
	TT Bresnan	9	0	70	1	7.77
	48.5 to Kulasekara, 126.9 kph, well, the short ball had been troubling Kulasekara and now it's dismissed him: a top-edged pull loops out to Pietersen, running in from the midwicket boundary, and Sri Lanka lose their fifth wicket 296/5
	SCJ Broad	10	0	70	0	7.00	(2w)
	JW Dernbach	9	0	63	0	7.00	(4w)
	GP Swann	10	0	42	2	4.20
	38.2 to Sangakkara, gone this time! Swann strikes and it's wonderful bowling. Tossed up, bit of drift, beating Sangakkara in the flight as he advanced before spinning past the edge to allow Kieswetter to whip the bails off 204/3 45.1 to Jayawardene, gone! Swann removes Jayawardene with an arm ball that rushes straight on, the batsman running past it to be easily stumped by Kieswetter. What a fantastic knock it was from him, he set a new personal best of 144 and has guided his team into a great position after they had been looking decidedly wobbly 271/4
	KP Pietersen	2	0	15	0	7.50	(1w)

	England innings (target: 310 runs from 50 overs)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	AN Cook*	c Mathews b Randiv	48	79	52	5	0	92.30
	17.4 gone! Cook skips out of his crease and aims an inside-out drive over extra cover, but only gets as far as Mathews, jogging in from the cover boundary. He was scoring quite freely, but the steadily rising required rate has tempted him into an injudiciously aggressive shot 85/2
	C Kieswetter†	c Kulasekara b Lakmal	25	46	30	2	1	83.33
	10.2 gone! Kieswetter can't believe it but Sri Lanka are thrilled! Short ball was pulled hard and flat but straight to fine leg who came in nicely and took a low catch 53/1
	IJL Trott	b Lakmal	39	68	54	3	0	72.22
	27.5 132.8 kph, forget Malinga, Lakmal steams to the crease and fires in an absolutely perfect inswinging yorker at high pace! Trott was in, but there's nothing he could do about this, he jammed the bat down but the ball was already through him. Great follow-up after the bouncer from the previous delivery 144/4
	KP Pietersen	c Malinga b Mendis	13	16	16	0	1	81.25
	22.6 brilliant catch! Pietersen came down the track and lifted the ball towards wide long-on, Malinga sprinted to his right and dived, sliding along the turf but managing to keep both hands on the ball. That wicket will really lift Sri Lanka, Pietersen was starting to look really dangerous 113/3
	EJG Morgan	st †Sangakkara b Randiv	52	54	40	3	2	130.00
	36.3 Randiv strikes and that could seal the match! Another player out stumped but Morgan could have got back. It was a top delivery, turning and bouncing past Morgan's attempted drive as he leapt down the track, Sangakkara almost fluffed the take as it reared up towards his neck, Morgan had given up though and Sangakkara had time to steady the take and take off the bails 201/5
	IR Bell	c Lakmal b Kulasekara	35	68	47	2	0	74.46
	43.5 a slower ball is lapped straight to Lakmal at short fine leg, and that is probably the end for England. It was a slower ball from Kulasekara, and Bell went right across to off to get himself in a good position, but there was no pace to work with and the connection was only good enough to send the ball down the fielder's throat. He accepted the gift with a smile, and Sri Lanka are very close to drawing level in the series 232/8
	TT Bresnan	c Chandimal b Randiv	2	5	12	0	0	16.66
	38.3 well that was coming! Bresnan tries to break the shackles with an almighty swipe, top-edges and it flies out to deep midwicket who holds a good catch on the boundary edge 204/6
	SCJ Broad	st †Sangakkara b Mendis	1	2	3	0	0	33.33
	39.2 this is all ending quickly! Another googly that Broad stretches, gropes at, misses, overbalances and ends up stumped. Top bowling and it ends a pretty unhappy game for Broad 206/7
	GP Swann	not out	13	30	12	1	0	108.33
	JM Anderson	b Malinga	0	2	2	0	0	0.00
	44.2 unplayable! Anderson must surely have been expecting the yorker, but there's not much he could do about this. Leg stump is pegged back, and England are nine down now 233/9
	JW Dernbach	c Kulasekara b Lakmal	5	5	7	1	0	71.42
	45.5 length ball on off stump, Dernbach clears the left leg and smears it straight to long-off, that's the game! 240/10
	Extras	(lb 1, w 6)	7
	Total	(all out; 45.5 overs)	240	(5.23 runs per over)