Helm takes five wickets as Lions win final match

TOM HELM took five wickets as England Lions won the final match of their one-day series against Sri Lanka A in Colombo.

After the home side had been dismissed for 192, England reached 124 for five in their run-chase before bad weather brought play to a premature end.

With no more action possible, England’s target was revised to 113 under the Duckworth-Lewis method, handing them a second win in succession.

However, Sri Lanka had already won the series after taking the first three matches.

After winning the toss and opting to bat, the home side made a solid start before Helm took two wickets in two balls in his first over, removing Ron Chandraguptha for 10 and Sadeera Samarawickrama for a golden duck.

Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, although opener Danushka Gunathilaka did at least make 51 from 58 balls before being bowled by Graeme White.

Helm returned to the attack to claim three more wickets and finish with figures of five for 33 as Sri Lanka were bowled out in 46.1 overs.

England seemed to be cruising to a comfortable victory when openers Keaton Jennings and Ben Duckett put on 54 inside nine overs.

However Duckett’s dismissal led to a wobble as the tourists were reduced to 90 for four.

Jennings was fourth out for 38 from 46 balls but Ben Foakes kept the Lions narrowly ahead on D-L calculations until the umpires stopped play for safety reasons as thunder and lightning surrounded the ground.

RANGANA HERATH became the most successful left-arm spinner in test cricket as Sri Lanka secured a comfortable victory over Bangladesh in Galle.

Herath took six for 59 as the home side won by 259 runs on the final day of the first Test, with Bangladesh dismissed for 197 in their second innings.

Herath has now taken 366 wickets in 79 Tests, surpassing Daniel Vettori’s tally of 362 in 113.

“I would say (it’s) kind of a big achievement,” Herath was reported as saying.

“But I must thank every single person who has supported me – the support staff, my family – I want to say thank you to all of them.

“Everybody chipped in and I must congratulate everyone because it is a team effort.”