Revenge at hand
England's Ealham destroys Sri Lanka with 5-32
Posted: Friday January 29, 1999 12:27 PM
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England will need Ealham (above) to continue his stellar play with Fairbrother out for at least a week AP |
PERTH, Australia (AP) -- England, bolstered by a brilliant
unbeaten 81 by Neil Fairbrother and a career-best 5-32 by Mark
Ealham, beat Sri Lanka by 128 runs in a day-night limited-overs
cricket match Friday at the WACA.
After Fairbrother's innings had rescued England to 227 for
seven, medium paceman Ealham tore through the Sri Lankan batting as
the islanders were dismissed for 99 in 33.3 overs.
It was a sweet revenge by England after Sri Lanka had
successfully chased 302 runs in an incident-marred game in Adelaide
last week.
But England's victory was soured by an injury to Fairbrother,
who strained his left hamstring and is expected to be out of action
at least for a week.
The disconcerting bounce in Perth was Sri Lanka's worst enemy as
they perished to catches close to the wicket as Ealham surprised
them with his deceptive pace.
Sri Lanka, sitting pretty on 65 for one thanks to Sanath
Jayasuriya's 58-ball 40 runs, lost its way to Ealham, who took 5-17
in 41 balls.
Man-of-the-match Ealham's scalps included Aravinda de Silva, who
returned to the side for the first time in the series, having
recovered from an injured hamstring.
Sri Lanka, faced with a must-win situation to stay in contention
for the finals series, lost its last nine wickets for 34 runs in 16
overs.
The win puts England at the top of the series table with five
wins from eight matches. Australia has four wins from seven and Sri
Lanka two wins from seven.
Sri Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, booed throughout his
hour-long presence for 11 runs, was Ealham's fifth victim as Nick
Knight completed an outstanding catch at gully.
Ranatunga was fined 75 percent of his match fee and copped a
six-match suspension suspended over a 12-month period for violating
the International Cricket Council's Code of Conduct following the
Muttiah Muralitharan no-ball controversy last Saturday in Adelaide.
Ealham was well supported by two other seamers -- Darren Gough
and Alan Mullally -- who grabbed two wickets apiece.
Fairbrother anchored England's match-winning total after rookie
left-arm fast bowler Ruchira Perera took three wickets in his
initial burst.
Sent in to bat, England was struggling on 38 for four before
some steady middle- and lower-order batting helped Fairbrother
resurrect the innings.
Adam Hollioake, who took two outstanding catches to begin the
Sri Lankan slide, hammered 46 runs in a 89-run stand for the fifth
wicket.
While Fairbrother dropped anchor for 119 balls, Ealham (16) and
then Robert Croft, 32 from 38 balls, gave the bowlers a total to
defend.
Perera, 21, finished with 3-55 while his new ball partner
Chaminda Vaas claimed 2-38 in 10 overs.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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