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Article Source : Cricinfo.com
Bopara tees off after England Trott
June 13, 2013
Innings break England 293 for 7 (Trott 76, Root 68, Cook 59) v Sri Lanka
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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Matches: England v Sri Lanka at The Oval
Series/Tournaments: ICC Champions Trophy
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For a while, Sri Lanka came back into the match at The Oval, but then came Ravi Bopara. He struck 28 from the last over, from Shaminda Eranga, including three sixes and two fours, leaving Angelo Mathews mentally rewriting his close-of-innings speech in the Sri Lanka huddle as Bopara left the ground to rousing cheers.
England would have regarded their 293 for 7 with contentment at halfway. Victory would take them into the semi-finals; Sri Lanka need to conjure up a win just to keep their hopes alive. There were few doubts which side was the happier.
Three England wickets fell in six balls at the death, including Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler, the latter second ball for 0 - the batsmen they look to for the final flourish both silenced. But Bopara tore into Eranga, depositing him for sixes over long-on, extra cover and long-on again. He even took two runs off the only ball that Eranga managed to get into the blockhole.
That was the excitement; the rest belonged to Jonathan Trott. Trott's uncanny ability to turn a one-day international innings into an algorithm might not thrill cricket crowds around the world, but once again he underlined his worth.
Trott's 76 from 87 balls concreted the base - and indeed he must be admired as you admire some decent concreting, recognising the smoothness and stability, grateful for the decent foundations, but liable to attract suspicious looks if you become overly excited by it.
He worked the ball repeatedly through the leg side, invited to do so by Mathews' defensive captaincy in stationing a long-on throughout most of his stay, and by the time he fell lbw, sweeping at Rangana Herath's left-arm spin, his time had been served.
There was a blip: he ran one short on one occasion and a replacement microchip will be inserted in the morning. His one-day record is proven, his method brings victory more often than not, and many of those who rail against his methodical ways are railing, in part, about the fact that he is limiting the spectacle.
Alongside Trott, Joe Root provided the perkiest of half-centuries, built on an appreciation of quick ones and twos and occasional inventiveness such as when he scooped a low full toss from Eranga over fine leg for four. If Root was shaken by his altercation with David Warner in the Walkabout bar in Birmingham on Sunday, he did not show it for a moment.
Root fell to a slower offcutter from Malinga and left with a wink. Perhaps we will be surprised to learn one day that he winked at Warner, in his green and gold wig, and rued the consequences? His 68 from 55 balls, an innings of only five boundaries was a refreshing contribution.
Bopara rounded off a frustrating afternoon for Sri Lanka. They dropped four catches in all, the most embarrassing from the wicketkeeper, Kumar Sangakkara, who claimed Root's skier to midwicket, on 56, loudly enough, but who feared Mathews was about to collide with him and half pulled out of the catch, fumbling the ball in the process.
Tillakaratne Dilshan also had the sort of afternoon that befalls this celebrated fielder so rarely. He dropped three catches in all, reprieving Cook twice, the first a tough diving chance to his right at backward point and the second an easier return catch when again he dived to his right but the ball eluded him.
His third mishap came with Root on 33, a devilishly difficult catch, dashing back from backward point on a gusty day and failing to locate the ball. Add a glimmer of a chance of a run-out at backward point, when Cook sent back Trott but Dilshan failed to hit direct, and it was a disagreeable experience
At least the rain had stayed off, but it was a cold, miserable day and The Oval crowd hunched forward to watch ODI batting England style, a safety-first policy that involves stripping as much risk out of the game as possible, setting up an appropriate base and then staking much on havoc at the end.
The pitches have also justified England's methodical approach: two new balls and a prolonged period of below-average temperatures have inhibited even grass growth and made it hard for groundsmen to get hardness and pace into the wickets. Caution for the first 30 overs and then a T20 game with wickets in hand has become the policy.
England have not quite stripped all irregularities from their play. If they had, Ian Bell would not keep chipping the ball to short midwicket. But this frailty again brought about his dismissal in the 12th over as he worked a poor delivery from Eranga, this time in front of square, where Kusal Perera held an easy catch.
England's ability to see off Malinga's new-ball spell left them in a sound position by halfway. Bell drove and pulled him off the back foot in his second over, but a challenging next over to Cook convinced England that they had to proceed cautiously against him. They again cut their cloth wisely against him when the Powerplay was taken after 34 overs - this was the bowler, after all, who had finally wrecked their ambitions under the Pallakele floodlights at the World Twenty20 last year.
Cook fell for 59 from 85 balls, sweeping Herath and unsuccessfully reviewing the decision, presumably in the forlorn hope that he was outside the line. Morgan, who got a flawed decision from umpire Billy Bowden later, could have done with that review. But once Bopara had had his say, few were talking about that any longer.
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