Feature

Cook's gift to Dilshan

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from the second ODI in Colombo

Dhammika Prasad kept his hold over Jos Buttler  •  AFP

Dhammika Prasad kept his hold over Jos Buttler  •  AFP

The gift
Tillakaratne Dilshan opened with his offspin from one end, against two left-handers, and Sri Lanka's plan could hardly have worked better. Moeen Ali was dismissed trying to charge Dilshan in the second over, but Alastair Cook might fairly attract more scrutiny for getting out on 22. England had just lost Ian Bell, and the score was 37 for 2, yet, Cook sought to slog sweep Dilshan against the turn on a slow track, and put the ball perfectly in the lap of the deep square leg fielder.
The Buttler served... again
Perhaps Angelo Mathews remembered Jos Buttler's dismissal from the first match, probably it was just coincidence but when Dhammika Prasad was brought into the attack in the 32nd over, he repeated the trick. The success of the spinners meant Prasad had to wait his turn but he took only four balls to make a mark. Having drawn Buttler into uncertain waters with a scrambled-seam delivery outside off, Prasad then hit and tighter line at full pace, bringing the ball back off the pitch appreciably. Once again, there was a gap between the bat and Buttler; once again, there was the crash of ash.
The ricochet
Ravi Bopara had just reached his 50 when he took another single off Rangana Herath, which was almost negated by a bizarre run-out. The ball rolled wide of Herath, who jockeyed James Tredwell before tumbling to the floor. Ajantha Mendis zipped in to field from mid-on, with Tredwell lumbering into gear to get to the striker's end, but his throw was errant - only for the ball to cannon off Tredwell's heel and hit the stumps. Luckily, in time it took for the rebound to spin on to the wicket, Tredwell had grounded his bat.
The crowd fifty
Kumar Sangakkara has barely celebrated his centuries in the past two years, but a playful crowd needed little excuse to raise a raucous cheer for a Khettarama favourite. Sangakkara hit his 29th run off Ravi Bopara in the 25th over, and as soon as he crossed ends, looked toward the dressing room and pointed to his bat, asking for another to be brought to the field from his kit bag. Having failed to get his team-mates' attention first time, Sangakkara raised his bat higher and higher, until he was unintentionally mimicking the gesture batsmen usually make upon reaching milestones. The crowd knew his score of course, but were quickly playing along with the gag, rising to their feet in to voice celebratory cheers, while vuvuzelas reached a new squawking pitch.

Alan Gardner is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick; Andrew Fidel Fernando is Sri Lanka correspondent