Sri Lanka managed a thrilling last over win to level the series - England, Sri Lanka One Day International series of five matches has till date seen one sided matches. The home team led the series by 2 matches to 1 and the fourth ODI could have sealed the series for them. The fourth ODI was played in the famous stadium of Lord’s. It was again England who won the toss and elected to field first. Batting first Sri Lankans lost the wicket of Kusal Perera in the start of the 6th over. It was then a show of some marvellous batting by Tilakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara as both the batsmen stitched together a partnership of 172 runs. the former lost his wicket after scoring 71 runs. Mahela Jayawardene yet again failed to score runs for the team and thus at the end of 40 overs the Lankans were well placed at 217/3. Sangakkara completed his century in style but failed to use up the start and lost his wicket in the 43rd over leaving his team to a score of 233. It was Angelo Mathews and the tail Enders who took the team total to 300. Harry Gurney was the key bowler for the home side as he took 4 wickets to ensure that the visitors didn’t ran away with the match.
Chasing a big score the home side didn’t have a good start as they lost both their openers at a score of 10 runs. It was the partnership between Joe Root and Gary Ballance that revived the hopes for the home side. Ballance lost his wicket to Ajantha Mendis after scoring 42 runs while Root scores 43 runs. aLater a good batting display from Ravi Bopara ensured that the English team is still in the race. The hopes for the win were revived by Jos Buttler as he scored 121 runs in just 102 balls. The win for England was inevitable but it was Latish Malinga who played a deciding factor in the game as he with an excellent last over managed a win for his team. England finished at a score of 293. Malinga managed to take 3 wickets for the win as Lanka draw the series 2-2. Buttler won the man of the match award for his excellent batting display.