England beat Sri Lanka comfortably by six wickets in their first game of Champions Trophy to wide open the Group B. Eoin Morgan steered England to a morale-boosting win against Sri Lanka by playing one of his best knock of his career of 62 runs of just 83 balls.
England achieved a 213-runs target on a lively track with five overs to spare in the day-night match, thanks to E.Morgan (62 not out of 83 balls), man-of-the-match Paul Collingwood (46 runs of 51 balls), Owais Shah (44 runs of 74 balls) and M.Prior (28 not out of 27 balls).
After loosing the ODI series by 1-6 at home against Australia, it was a much needed win for England and this may be the turning point of their fortunes in the game to come. Now three teams (SA, SL and ENG) in Group B are sitting in the table with 2 points each so the next game on Sunday between New Zealand and Sri Lanka & South Africa against England will decide the likely Semifinalist from this group.
Chasing a modest total of 213 runs for victory England didn’t started well on a wicket which was providing ample movement for the fast bowlers. They have lost both their openers Strauss (9 runs of 25 balls) and J.Denly (5 runs of 11 balls) for just 19 runs on the board. But former captain Paul Collingwood instead of playing defensively in such critical situation he has taken other root and smashed three huge sixes and five fours to bring England right back on track. When he was looking all set to get to his fifty he was bowled by L.Malinga to give some hope to Sri Lanka.
In the end it was E.Morgan and M.Prior who guided England home at the end of 45th over.
Earlier England captain after winning the toss put Sri Lanka into bat on a lively track at Johannesburg. His decision was amazing when England opening bowlers G.Onions and J.Anderson send four of the Sri Lankan top orders (Jayasurya, Sangakara, Dilshan and Jayawardne) back in the dressing room with just 17 runs on the board.
But T.Kandanmy (53 runs of 82 balls) and A.Mathews (52 runs of 73 balls) hit impressive half-centuries under pressure as Sri Lanka recovered from a horror start to post a competitive total on the board.
A.Mathews who was declared run-out by on fields umpire on 51 runs was called back to the field by England captain A.Strauss which showed a rare sporting gesture. However he was not able to take advantage of this opportunity and got out after adding another run to his tally.
Paul Collingwood was declared Player of the Match for his timely knock of 46 runs of 51 balls.
