Sri Lanka could've been forgiven for just going through the motions at the SCG, with all hope of reaching the finals gone, but led by the cagey captain, Arjuna Ranatunga, they defended a medium-sized score brilliantly. After scraping together a handy total thanks to the skill of Aravinda De Silva, Ranatunga used spin as his main weapon to keep England at bay.

The game was reduced by rain to 44 overs per side and both Sri Lanka and England took the opportunity to give some bit part players a run. Sri Lanka were minus Sanath Jayasuriya who has had a plate inserted in his injured arm, but Romesh Kaluwitharana took up some of the slack with a typically aggressive innings. He took a little while to come to terms with a two-paced pitch, but eventually the pull shots and drives started to flow, but just after he reached the half-century he holed out in the deep. This was a disappointing end to a good innings and itseemed to set the pattern for the rest of the Sri Lankan batsmen as the slow pitch tended to frustrate them into making mistakes.

The one exception was de Silva who played in his usual calm manner, a style that Mahela Jayawardene would do well to imitate.

He opted to try and loft Mark Alleyne into the outfield and Ben Hollioake took a good running catch. This was Alleyne's second wicket and he then picked up Marvan Attapatu to finish with his best bowling figures in an international.

Finally de Silva found a partner with some patience as Hashan Tillekeratne, demoted to number nine, assisted the vice-captain to boost the total to a competitive level. Tillekeratne, like de Silva, mostly relied on deflections but the right-hander finished the innings in fine style with a six over long on to bring up his half-century. Aravinda showed his class as he was the only batsman in the match to score at a run a ball on a difficult pitch and then he highlighted his versatility by opening the bowling with hisunderrated off-spin.

Once again Nick Knight played well and for the first time in the series he went on to reach the half-century mark. The start with makeshift opener Vince Wells was a solid but slow one and like so many before him he became frustrated and was bowled by Thilan Samaraweera with his head in the air. Samaraweera, who hadn't spun the ball much then delivered the big blow when he got one to turn a long way and beat Graeme Hick's attempted forcing shot. This made England's job of keeping up with the required rate a difficult one. Ranatunga added to England's difficulties by keeping an extra man inside the circle and making singles hard to come by. It was a clinical performance by Sri Lanka under conditions with which they are very familiar and it showed that while the tour has gone awry for Ranatunga he still has pride in his team's performance.

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka: Gunawardene st Crawley b Giles 24, Kaluwitharana c Gough b Alleyne 54, Vaas run out 14, de Silva not out 52, Ranatungac Hussain b Gough 0, Jayawardene c B Hollioake b Alleyne 2, Atapattu lbw Alleyne 4, Chandana c Giles b Wells 0, Tillakeratne not out 13. Extras: (lb4, w12, nb2) 18. Total:(7 wkts, 44 overs) 181

Fall of wickets: 1-71, 2-99, 3-109, 4-111, 5-122, 6-133, 7-134

Bowling: Gough 9-2-35-1, B Hollioake 4-0-25-0, Ealham 9-2-30-0, Giles 5-0-31-1, Alleyne 9-1-27-3, Wells 8-1-29-1

England: Knight b Chandana 58, Wells b Samaraweera 26, Hick b Samaraweera 0, Hussain st Kaluwitharana b Tillakaratne 9, Crawley c Ranatunga b Samaraweera 13, Ealham c sub (Mahanama) b Jayawardene 0, Alleyne c Jayawardene b Chandana 18, A.Hollioake st Kaluwitharana b Chandana 13, B Hollioake run out 4, A Giles not out 10, Gough not out 1. Extras: (b1, lb5, w11, nb1) 18. Total: (9 wkts, 44 overs) 170

Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-53, 3-74, 4-118, 5-119, 6-122, 7-150, 8-155, 9-162

Bowling: Vaas 6-0-24-0, de Silva 9-0-25-0, Samaraweera 9-0-34-3, Chandana 9-0-35-3, Tillakeratne 5-0-22-1, Jayawardene 6-0-24-1.