Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews praised opener Tillekeratne Dilshan after Sri Lanka leveled the five match ODI series against England by winning the second game by 157 runs at Chester-le-Street on Sunday.
England were bowled out for 99 runs, their fifth lowest in ODI cricket with only two players managing double figures.
Dilshan’s 88 was the only half-century in the game and he was named Man of the Match.
“It was an exceptional performance by Dilshan,” Mathews said.
“He was a doubt before the game, but the physio and masseur worked really hard with him and it paid off. He’s very aggressive and when he gets a start, the team is sitting pretty. He and Kumar Sangakkara set the platform.”
“We were not really sure if 256 was good enough because the track was pretty challenging, but we had an unbelievable start,” Mathews added.
Mathews disclosed that Kumar Sangakkara had played an important role in the build-up to the game.
The batsman briefly played for Durham in the County Championship earlier this season, including a four-day match at Chester-le-Street.
“We got a lot of information from him because he knows the conditions quite well,” said Mathews.
“The wicket was under covers for three or four days and he thought it would be sporty – and it was sporty. It didn’t seam a lot, but it was hard to score.”
Sangakkara also made a contribution on the pitch as he scored 40, but even he was overshadowed by Tillakaratne Dilshan as they put on 96 for the second wicket.
Nuwan Kulasekara made the early breakthroughs as England’s top order collapsed, then Sachithra Senanayake captured 4-13 in seven overs – his best ODI performance.
“All our bowlers bowled pretty well, but Senanayake was unplayable. In those conditions, he’s a nightmare for batsmen. He came as our only spinner and was brilliant here. He bowled with a lot of confidence.”
Eoin Morgan, England’s captain in place of the injured Alastair Cook, was left bemused by the scale of their defeat. At one stage, England were in danger of failing to beat their worst-ever innings of 86 against Australia in 2001, but Morgan’s defiant 40 avoided that humiliation.
“It’s just about as bad as we can play – and certainly as bad as we can bat,” said Morgan. “It was one of the worst performances I’ve been a part of in an England shirt.
“I can’t really explain why we played that badly. The pitch was a little bit tacky and the ball nipped around a bit, but we’re good enough to negotiate those sort of skills.”
“We would have been happy with the score they got, but we lacked partnerships throughout the whole innings and never seemed to get going. We just haven’t played well.”
