Cricket World Cup:England produced their best bowling display of the World Cup so far to limit Sri Lanka's freescoring batsmen to a respectable total in today's crucial Super Eight match in Antigua.
Having won the toss and decided to bowl first, England captain Michael Vaughan would have been fearing the worst with Sri Lanka progressing to 160 for two with over 15 overs of their innings remaining.
But instead of powering on to a commanding total, Sri Lanka were successfully restricted by England's attack and were dismissed for 235 in their 50 overs.
Vaughan sprang a major shock by deciding to bowl first and was soon given cause to perhaps regret it with Sanath Jayasuriya, who became the most capped one-day international player in history today with his 385th appearance, setting off in his customary attacking style.
Jayasuriya hit Sajid Mahmood's first ball of the day for four down to third man and followed by hitting two more boundaries off one over from James Anderson.
He also pulled Mahmood for six during a quickfire 25 off 26 balls, but the Lancashire seamer claimed his revenge in the eighth over by inducing an inside edge onto his stumps.
Mahmood also claimed the key wicket of Kumar Sangakkara 10 overs later when an attempted slower ball resulted in a full toss outside off stump which Sri Lanka's wicketkeeper-batsman chipped straight to point instead of hitting the expected boundary.
At 69 for two, Sri Lanka were prevented from playing their customary freescoring game and were forced to rebuild through captain Mahela Jayawardene and opener Upul Tharanga.
Their 91-run partnership spanning 17 overs included very few boundaries with Tharanga failing to pierce England's field until the 30th over of the innings when he cut Monty Panesar for four from his 79th ball.
Jayawardene also found difficulty scoring boundaries on a slow outfield but the pair made up for the absence of big shots by successfully milking the strike and keeping the scoreboard ticking over with well-judged singles.
They appeared to have laid the platform for a major assault during the final overs, only for Sri Lanka to suffer a mid-innings collapse which undermined their hopes of reaching a more challenging target.
Tharanga had battled for nearly 35 overs and maintained his patience until all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was recalled to the attack and struck with his fifth delivery.
Having finally lost his patience, Tharanga attempted to pull a short delivery, but mistimed the stroke and the ball looped to Kevin Pietersen at mid-on.
Four overs later Jayawardene, who had hit a superb 56 off 61 balls, drove at a wide delivery from Paul Collingwood and picked out Ed Joyce at midwicket.
Tillekeratne Dilshan, one of the contenders for all-rounder of the tournament, fell just three overs later following a brilliant piece of fielding from Ian Bell at mid off.
Warwickshire batsman Bell had been guilty of several misfields earlier in the innings, but made amends by brilliantly diving to stop Dilshan's front-foot drive off Anderson and then threw down the stumps at the non-striker's end to leave him several feet short of the crease.
Sri Lanka were still hopeful of reaching a competitive total with over 10 overs remaining, but two wickets in one over from Flintoff effectively ended that objective.
Chamara Silva had progressed to a quickfire 23 when his innings was brought to an abrupt halt by a superb Flintoff yorker and five balls later Chaminda Vaas was superbly caught by Collingwood at point driving on the up.
Flintoff finished with three for 35 from his 10 overs and with Mahmood claiming two wickets in the final over to claim four for 50, Sri Lanka were restricted to a modest 52 from the final 10 overs of the innings.