Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath claimed a match haul of 12 wickets as Sri Lanka condemned top-ranked England to their fourth consecutive Test defeat on Thursday in the series opener. The 34-year-old grabbed six wickets in each innings as the tourists, attempting what would have been their highest successful fourth-innings chase of 340, were bowled out for 264 soon after tea on the fourth day. Off-spinner Suraj Randiv lent admirable support with six wickets in the match as Sri Lanka went 1-0 ahead in the two-match series with an impressive 75-run win.
England captain Andrew Strauss was furious at another Test defeat — despite a dogged century by Jonathan Trott — after his team were whitewashed 3-0 by Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year. “We’re bitterly disappointed,” he said. “In truth we made too many mistakes. If you make them, you’ve got be lucky to get away with them and this game we were not. We all fell a bit too softly.” Strauss, however, said there was still a lot to play for when the second and final Test starts at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo on April 3. “All credit to Sri Lanka,” he said. “They put us under pressure, outplayed us and deserved the victory. However, we’ve got one more game to show we can play better cricket in this part of the world.” Trott kept the tourists afloat with a defiant 112 before the last five wickets fell for just 12 runs in front of 8,000 bitterly disappointed English fans in the southern coastal town. It was only the second win in 18 Tests for Sri Lanka since the retirement of world bowling record holder Muttiah Muralitharan in 2010. They lost six while the rest were drawn. England’s highest successful fourth-innings chase had come way back in 1928 when they made 332-7 to defeat Australia in Melbourne.
