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Elmo Rodrigopulle reporting from Australia....

Sri Lanka kissed goodbye their chances of entering the finals of the Victoria Bitter one-day series when a horrendous mix up between Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara saw Jayasuriya run out to lose the match by 19 runs to England at the Adelaide Oval.

Up to that time Jayasuriya was jet-propelling the scoreboard with some Jessopian hitting not seen for a long time in Adelaide.He simply butchered the attack with beefy cuts and pulls and the manner in which he was going, had his innings not been tragically cut short,he would have taken his side to a famous victory and a place in the finals.

Jayasuriya pushed a ball that would have brought up his century.Sangakkara instead of making it to the non-striker's end kept watching the ball and collided with Jayasuriya and a direct hit found Jayasuriya well short of his ground.

What a batting treat Jayasuriya provided.Non of the England bowlers could subdue him,nor could Hussain set a field to stop the flood of runs that was flowing from his bat.With his run out for 99 with 2 sixes and 9 fours in just 83 balls,the game turned England's way although Sangakkara and Arnold tried hard to bring them victory.

Sangakkara and Arnold added 93 valuable runs for the sixth wicket and seemed to be taking Sri Lanka to victory.But a sudden rush of blood saw Sangakkara mistiming a pull and holdng out to Blackwell off Caddick for 56 in 66 balls.

England skipper in desperation turned to his trusted and reliable bowler Andrew Caddick who did not disappoint.After removing Sangakkara he induced Arnold to slog and Blackwell took the match winning catch at mid wicket.Arnold made 35 in 56 deliveries.It is not worth writing about the rest of the batting as they crumbled like a pack of cards.

Sri Lanka lost a match that they could have with some indisciplined batting and wayward bowling where they conceded 23 extras.Dilhara Fernando was again guilty of bowling no balls.

Skipper Hussain handled a depleted attack well and saw to it that his men did not lose their cool to win the game and make certain of a place in the best of three finals o be played later this month Andrew Caddick who turned the game in England's favour was rightly adjudged the Player of the match.

Sri Lanka who had to win this game to enter the final, brought in medium pacer Chamila Gamage for the injured Muttiah Muralitheram, while England gave prolific Test run scorer Michael Vaughan his first game in the series.

Sanath Jasyasuriya lost the toss and Nasser Hussain decided to bat. The wicket had a tinge of grass, but there was not much bounce as anticipated with the ball creeping at times, as when opener Trescothick was bowled by Gamage.

Openers Marcus Trescothick and Nick Knight both steady left-handers gave their side another excellent start putting on 56 for the first weicket. Previously they had put on three century partnerships in the series. Gamage made the breakthrough when he bowled Trescothick who was late in his attempt to pull. They put the first 50 in 51 balls. At the end of the 15th over they were 90 for one. Trescothick made 39 in 42 balls.

The Lankan bowlers were bit awry pitching short or too full and the England batsmen were quick to pounce and keep the board moving. Knight reached his 50 in 68 balls with 2 fours.

Michael Vaughan went for 28 in 35 balls at 114 and Hussain joined Knight. They too kept up the good scoring rate before Hussain who made 18 in 36 balls was bowled off his pads by Jayasuriya.That was an important wicket and England were 154 for 3.

Knight who was threatening to cut loose was caught behind off Vaas who was bowling splendidly. Knight made 88 in 110 balls off 110 balls. Next ball Vaas had Ian Blackwell plumb in front for a duck and in the last ball of that over and was on a hat-trick.

Alec Stewart who made a breezy 51 with three fours off 59 balls prevented the hat-trick. Stewart threw caution to the winds and bashed the bowling all over the park to take England to an imposing total. With some beefy hits he made the bowling look ordinary before being bowled by.

Collingwood and Irani hit for runs scoring 18 and 13 no. England finally ended on 279 for 7. It was a formidable score considering that the Lankans will have to chase maintaining a certain run rate. Gamage had 2 for 42 and Vaas 2 for 54. Dilhara Fernando who bent his back a little too much was once again guilty of bowling no balls much to the disgust of his skipper Jayasuriya who was always urging him to watch and not go over the front crease. The Lankans conceded 23 extras which is too much in limited over cricket.

ENGLAND

M. Trescothick 	b Gamage			 39
N. Knight 	c Sangakkara b Vaas		 88
M. Vaughan 	c Vaas b D. Fernando		 28
N. Hussain 	b Jayasuriya			 18
A. Stewart 	b Gamage			 51
I. Blackwell 	lbw b Vaas			  0
P. Collingwood 	c Tillakaratne b D. Fernando	 18
R. Irani 	not out				 13
A. Caddick 	not out				  1

Extras 	(LB-11, NB-8, W-4)			 23

TOTAL 	(for seven wkts, 50 overs)		279

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-56, 2-114, 3-155, 4-206,
                 5-206, 6-260, 7-272.

DID NOT BAT: J. Anderson, S. Harmison.

BOWLING:Vaas10-0-54-2(nb-1,w-2),B.Fernando4-0-27-0(nb-2,w-1)
        Gamage 9-0-42-2, De Silva 8-0-45-0,
        D.Fernando9-0-52-2(nb-5, w-1),Jayasuriya 10-0-48-1.

SRI LANKA

M. Atapattu 	b Caddick			 12
S. Jayasuriya 	run out				 99
H. Tillakaratne c Stewart b Caddick		  9
A. De Silva 	c Stewart b Collingwood		 15
M. Jayawardene 	c Vaughan b Irani		 13
K. Sangakkara 	c Blackwell b Caddick		 56
R. Arnold 	c Blackwell b Caddick		 35
C. Vaas 	c Collingwood b Vaughan		  1
C. Gamage 	c Trescothick b Anderson	  4
B. Fernando 	not out				  1
D. Fernando 	b Anderson			  0

Extras 	(B-2, LB-4, NB-1, W-8)			 15

TOTAL 	(all out, 49.2 overs)			260

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-19 2-53 3-119 4-150 5-158 6-251 7-254
8-257 9-260.

BOWLING: Caddick 10-0-35-4 (w-1), Anderson 7.2-0-54-2 (w-4),
         Harmison 2-0-27-0 (w-3 nb-1), Irani 10-0-36-1,
         Collingwood3-0-23-1, Blackwell 10-0-44-0,
         Vaughan 7-0-35-1.

Man-of-the-Match: Andy Caddick.

Next match: January 19, Australia v England, Adelaide.

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