Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene's seventh one-day international hundred saw his side to an eight-wicket win over an outclassed England at the Riverside here Saturday, as the tourists went an unbeatable 3-0 up in the five-match NatWest Series.
(Partly reported in Sunday issue).
Jayawardene made 126 not out as Sri Lanka, set 262 for victory, finished on 265 for two to inflict what was England's 13th defeat in 17 one-day internationals.
The series continued at Old Trafford on Wednesday and concludes at Headingley a week on Saturday.
Together with wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara (58 not out), Jayawardene shared an unroken third-wicket stand of 140 in 155 balls as Sri Lanka won with nearly eight overs to spare. England stand-in captain Andrew Strauss had said before the start of the series that if his team scored five individual hundreds they'd be successful.
ENGLAND:

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M. Trescothick b Vaas                  36
A. Strauss lbw b Vaas                  32
I. Bell run out                        77
K. Pietersen c Sangakkara b Malinga     6
P. Collingwood c Dilshan b Bandara     33
J. Dalrymple b Malinga                 35
G. Jones not out                       22
A. Loudon run out                       0
L. Plunkett not out                     6
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EXTRAS: (LB-5, W-6, NB-3)              14
TOTAL: (7 wkts, 50 overs)             261
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FALL OF WICKETS: 1-62, 2-75, 3-92, 4-145, 5-208, 6-252, 7-253
DID NOT BAT: S Mahmood, S Harmison.
BOWLING: Vaas 9-0-38-2; Malinga 10-0-50-2 (2w); Fernando 10-0-68-0 (2nb, 1w); Maharoof 8-0-38-0 (1nb, 2w); Bandara 8-0-35-1 (1w); Jayasuriya 5-0-27-0.
SRI LANKA:

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U. Tharanga c Strauss b Dalrymple      41
S. Jayasuriya run out                  23
M. Jayawardene not out                126
K. Sangakkara not out                  58
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EXTRAS: (B-1, LB-6, W-5, NB-5)         17
TOTAL: (for 2 wkts, 42.2 overs)       265
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FALL OF WICKETS: 1-28, 2-125.
DID NOT BAT: T Dilshan, R Arnold, F Maharoof, D Fernando, C Vaas, L Malinga, M Bandara.
BOWLING: Harmison 10-0-55-0 (2nb); Plunkett 5.2-0-46-0 (1w); Mahmood 5-0-36-0 (3nb, 1w); Collingwood 6-0-33-0; Bell 1-0-12-0; Dalrymple 9-1-40-1 (2w); Loudon 6-0-36-0 (1w).
UMPIRES: Billy Doctrove (WI), Mark Benson (ENG).
TV UMPIRE: Nigel Llong (ENG).
MATCH REFEREE: Clive Lloyd (WI).
RESULT: Sri Lanka won by 8 wkts.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Mahela Jayawardene (SL).
SERIES: Sri Lanka lead five-match NatWest Series 3-0
PREVIOUS RESULTS:
June 17, Lord's: Sri Lanka won by 20 runs.
June 20, The Oval: Sri Lanka won by 46 runs.
REMAINING FIXTURES
June 28: Old Trafford
July 01: Headingley.