Sangakkara fifty keeps Lanka in hunt against England

Chasing 294 for a victory, Sri Lanka were 172 for two from 33 overs in their must-win Champions Trophy Group A match against England here today.
Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene were at the crease on 80 and 37 respectively with Sri Lanka needing 122 more runs from the remaining 17 overs with eight wickets in hand at the Oval.
Openers Kushal Perera (6) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (44) were Sri Lankan batsmen dismissed so far by James Anderson and Graeme Swann respectively.
After Perera's dismissal in the third over, Dilshan and Sangakkara put their side on track with a solid 92-run stand for the second wicket from 18.3 overs.

Earlier, three England top-order batsmen hit half centuries before a late flourish by Ravi Bopara (33 not out from 13 balls) as they post a challenging 293 for seven.
Sent into bat, captain Alastair Cook (59) and Jonathan Trott (76) laid a solid foundation by sharing 83 runs for the second wicket from 17 overs after Ian Bell (20) was out early to set the tone for Joe Root (68) to accelerate the innings.

The initial advantage seemed to have frittered away somewhat for England before Ravi Bopara's cameo took the score near 300 mark. He struck 28 runs with the help of three sixes and two fours from the last over bowled by pacer Shaminda Eranga. England scored 92 runs from the last 10 overs.

Cook and Trott played calculative innings by scoring runs in ones and twos. They cut off the risk and employed a safety-first approach as their partnership had just three boundaries.
Cook consumed 85-balls and hit just three fours while Trott found the boundary ropes five times in his 87-ball innings. The cautious approach was apparent from the very beginning with prolong periods without boundaries.
However, England somehow got the runs and kept the scoreboard ticking. Their ability to negotiate fast bowler Lasith Malinga (2/58), whose first spell of four overs yielded just 10 runs, without any damage saw them in a sound position by the halfway mark when the home side were 124 for one.