Three England top-order batsmen hit half centuries before a late flourish by Ravi Bopara as the home side post a challenging 293 for seven in their second Group A Champions Trophy match against Sri Lanka here today.
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 under overcast conditions at the Oval.
The initial advantage seemed to have frittered away somewhat for England before Ravi Bopara played a cameo of 13-ball 33 not out to take 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.
Cook was also dropped twice in his 'strokeless' innings -- on 23 and 56 -- both by Tillakaratne Dilshan.
The England captain finally fell in the 29th over of the bowling of left-arm spinner Rangana Herath as he was trapped LBW while attempting a sweep shot playing across the line. Cook called for review which went against him.
