England Secure Series Win

Old Trafford was the setting for the fifth and final one day game between England and Sri Lanka. With the scores poised beautifully at 2-2, the day was set up to bring and exciting climax to the Sri-Lankan tour of England. England make the surprise decision to leave out Stuart Broad from the team and brought in Samit Patel of Nottinghamshire to replace him. The Sri Lankans also made one change, with Prasad replacing Lakmal in the seam bowling department.
Once again Alistair Cook won the toss for England and decided to bat first on an Old Trafford wicket that was more akin to Colombo than Manchester, this would be a true test for England's fledgling captain in the most crucial game of the series. Cook continued his good form with the bat, and along with Kieswetter, built an opening stand of 85 from just under 13 overs. Cook was then beaten by the spin delivery from Randiv, and presented Sangakkara with a stumping opportunity he was not going to pass up.
The taking of Cook's wicket sparked a mini collapse from England with both Kieswetter and Pietersen falling quickly to leave England at 95-3. It was left to the ever reliable Jonathan Trott to rebuild the innings, and along with the big hitting Morgan, the pair took the game by the scruff of the neck as England motored along to 213 with still more than 14 overs left in the game. Morgan was to fall soon after though, being deceived in the flight by a delivery from the Sri Lankan captain, and Sangakkara holding the ball firmly in his wicket keeping gloves. From this point on, the England innings stumbled along with wickets falling in rapid succession. The England total after 50 overs ended at 269, a little under par according to many at the ground. The pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers was Randiv, who finished with the excellent figures of 5-42.
The key to the Sri Lankan reply would be their experienced top order of Dilshan, Jayawardene and Sangakkara all firing. Unfortunately for them, Anderson and Bresnan had other ideas and some great bowling from the opening pair left the Sri Lankans struggling with the score of 29-3. It was left to Kumar Sangakkara to steady the ship, and along with Chandimal, they managed to do so keeping the Sri-Lankans well in the hunt.
The partnership was eventually broken by Swann in the 26th over, and soon afterwards Bresnan also picked up the key wicket of the Sri-Lankan wicket keeper Sangakkara. At this stage, England were firm favourites to go on and seal the series win. However, Matthews and Mendis had other thoughts on their mind and with a superb partnership of 132 brought the Sri-Lankans within touching distance of victory. But then Mendis holed out to Pietersen from the bowling of Patel for 48.
A thrilling climax was still on the cards as Matthews was well set at the crease and seeing the ball like a football with the help of his cricket equipment. The problem was, his partners were running out as the pressure built up, and both Randiv and Kulasekara fell cheaply. When Matthews was eventually bamboozled by a wonderful slower delivery by Dernbach the game was a good as over with Sri Lanka needing 17 runs from 11 deliveries. Malinga followed with the very next ball to seal a dramatic England victory, and a 3-2 first series win to remember for England's captain, Alistair Cook.

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