England v Sri Lanka in England, 2011

A second one-day international century for Cook, four years after his first, was overshadowed by an insipid display from too many of his team-mates and a bizarre conclusion as Sri Lanka engineered a hundred for the 21-year-old Chandimal. Cook described as "strange" a passage of play in which Mathews blocked 17 dot balls to allow his partner time to complete a one-day century (also his second), before adding: "The cricketing gods may look at it in a bit of disgust." Earlier, Cook had provided the main plank of England's total, but - apart from Pietersen, who hit Lakmal for three successive fours before top-edging a slog-sweep to deep midwicket - the batting again lacked punch. Bell failed to score a boundary in 46 balls, while Cook, who faced 143 deliveries, tried in vain to locate fifth gear. Chasing a total that felt about 30 below par on a firm pitch, Sri Lanka shrugged off the early loss of Dilshan as Jayawardene - who faced only 77 balls - and Chandimal added 112. After Chandimal repelled a barrage of short deliveries from Bresnan and Broad, his focus shifted towards a Lord's hundred. He was 87, with Sri Lanka needing 17, when Mathews arrived to play the perfect gentleman, allowing his partner sufficient strike to reach three figures, which he did with a jubilant six over long-on off Bresnan. Amid England's displeasure, it was easy to forget Sri Lanka now led 2-1.