Perera’s day at Oval
London, May 21: Thisara Perera starred with both bat and ball as Sri Lanka gained revenge for their World Twenty20 defeat by England with a nine- run win at the Oval on Tuesday. Man of the match Perera made a rapid 49 in World Twenty20 champions Sri Lanka’s 183/ 7 and then captured the important wicket of England captain Eoin Morgan under the floodlights in this day- night clash.
On their way to winning this year’s World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka suffered a sixwicket loss to England in the group stage in March.
That match saw Alex Hales become the first England batsman to score a Twenty20 international hundred. But in this floodlit Twenty20 his 66, albeit off 41 balls with seven fours and two sixes, was not enough to take England to victory.
Dropped catches cost England dear in an innings where Sri Lanka, led by Perera, smashed 75 off the last six overs.
“I am pleased with my batting performance,” Perera said at the presentation ceremony.
“It was a good batting track and we gave ourselves a good target to bowl at. It was good to get Eoin Morgan out, everyone knows he can hit every ball to the boundary so I’m really happy with that wicket.”
Morgan, leading the side in the absence of the injured Stuart Broad, bemoaned his side’s fielding lapses while paying tribute to Sri Lanka captain Lasith Malinga, who justified his reputation as the world’s leading Twenty20 bowler with 3/ 28.
England saw opener Michael Carberry, making his Twenty20 interna- tional debut, Ian Bell, playing his first match at this level for three years, Joe Root and Morgan all fall cheaply.
The big- hitting opener kept going until he was clean bowled by ‘ slingshot’ seamer Malinga, hitting across the line, England were then 139 for six in the 17th over. And a target of 24 off the last over, bowled by Suranga Lakmal, proved too much for Ravi Bopara, who finished on 28 not out.