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ScorecardWill Smith, Durham’s captain, celebrates their back-to-back Championships•PA Photos

Durham set the seal on their retention of the County Championship with an overwhelming victory by an innings and 52 runs over their nearest challengers, Nottinghamshire. They had another fine day in the field, although the visitors deserve great credit for fighting on to a bitter end, like the boxer who is seriously outclassed in the ring, but nevertheless manages to stay on his feet until almost the final round. It was a good team effort, but deservedly the dying moments of the match belonged to the England pacemen Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett. For the losers, a gallant fighting innings of 78 by Alex Hales brought a glimmer of light in the gloom.Nottinghamshire, following on, began the day on 52 for 3, a draw being possible for them but an immense task against the newly crowned county champions. Without a run added, they lost their nightwatchman Darren Pattinson, totally beaten and bowled leg stump by a good delivery from Plunkett. Samit Patel, who replaced him, lived a rather dangerous life and did not give the impression of being prepared to put his head down and fight it out; he was soon caught on the long-leg boundary hooking a short ball from Harmison.Nottinghamshire had slumped to 61 for 4, and it looked, with Harmison and Plunkett bowling superbly, as if they would collapse and send the family crowd of around 5000 home early. But now Hales and Bilal Shafayat provided some real fight as they stood up to the fire and brimstone with determination. They saw off the two most dangerous bowlers, and Hales reached his 50 off 112 balls with a fine pull for four off Mark Davies. It came to a disappointing end, however, as Hales called his partner for a suicidal single to Shiv Chanderpaul in the covers, leaving him quite unable to get home. Shafayat had made 32 and the pair had added 58, almost doubling the score.Ali Brown, another like Ian Blackwell to have forsaken the carefree hitting of his youth, provided strong support to Hales, whose innings finally ended at 78, as he nudged a ball from Blackwell to short leg. The young player, who scored mainly with cuts, pulls, dabs and nudges rather than drives, will have learned a lot during this match against such a fine attack and played a most creditable innings, with his application to the task being admirable.Plunkett returned with a vengeance, bowling Brown for 28 and then bringing a ball back to trap Chris Read lbw for 24. Nottinghamshire’s slim hopes of a draw were now virtually gone, but they did hang on until the tea interval, with eight wickets down. But afterwards the end soon came. Luke Fletcher slashed at the second delivery after the break, from Harmison, and was caught in the slips. One wicket was left, with Harmison and Plunkett both vying for it. It would have given Plunkett his tenth in the match, and Harmison said afterwards he would rather the other had taken it, but it was the brooding figure of Harmison, who had bowled so well with little luck until now in this match, who finally bowled Mark Ealham for 18 to give his team its eighth victory of the season.After the match, there was a ceremony in front of a huge, jubilant home crowd as Durham were officially presented with the championship trophy. Geoff Cook said how personally exciting it was for him to see his team win a second successive championship, especially given that they had come together so well under the new leadership of Will Smith, Dale Benkenstein’s successor. For the club, Cook felt, two championships in succession presented a really strong statement about themselves and the solid unit that represented them on the field.Harmison, who had put the personal seal on Durham’s maiden championship at Canterbury last season, said: “For me to take the final wicket that gave us the championship two years in a row was just incredible. It means a hell of a lot to all the players. I’m especially pleased for Will Smith, a 25-year-old captaining a side with so many international players. There was more pressure on us this year – yes, that made this year even better than the last.”Brian Hunt, Durham’s scorer for 34 years now, said of Durham’s two successive championship wins: “It means absolutely everything. Last year it was special to win the first one, worth more than winning the Friends Provident, our first big win, but this year was extra special.”I think it is harder to come back and retain it, and to do so in the manner and style we have done seems to mean that little bit more,” said Hunt. “On our playing staff we have 15 or 16 locals, and that augurs well for the future as well. This really is the stuff of dreams; it’s a bit surreal it has happened so early in the season. It’s a fantastic reward for all the people who have put so much into Durham cricket for so many years.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Mahela Jayawardene fell just four runs short of what would have been his 10th century at the SSC•AFP

New Zealand began their last innings of this series needing 494 to win or, more realistically, over four-and-a-half sessions to bat out a draw. They were again three down for less than 100, on a track whose bounce and spin suited Sri Lanka’s spinners, and failed to forge partnerships. Sri Lanka remained the superior team, batting and bowling with far more skill. If Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene frustrated New Zealand in the morning, then Rangana Herath’s wiles left them haemorrhaging in the evening.Thrown the new ball after one over of spin from Tharanga Paranavitana, Dammika Prasad’s first six overs went for just 16 and he knocked back Tim McIntosh’s off stump after a fatal decision to shoulder arms. Delayed until the 15th over, Herath came over the stumps and with his first delivery got Martin Guptill to edge. Ross Taylor counter-attacked briefly, sweeping and slogging, before Herath lured him into another nick with a classical left-armer’s turn and bounce.Daniel Flynn, who had struggled to buy a run so far on tour, handled the spinners well for a period and played with an ease the openers struggled for. He mixed caution with opportunism, not shying away from using his feet to drive and cut. Yet his too was an aborted innings. Having raised his first fifty of the series in 110 minutes, Flynn became Herath’s third victim, playing back when he should have gone forward. Herath was outstanding today, outdoing Muttiah Muralitharan for accuracy and turn.Brendon McCullum’s temperament has been questionable all tour and he was very nearly out third ball, top-edging a slog to deep midwicket where Thilan Thushara, covering a lot of ground, dived bravely but in vain. It didn’t hurt much, as McCullum swung at Murali and edged onto his stumps. Jesse Ryder, uncharacteristically dropped by Prasanna Jayawardene down the leg side on 7, batted with assured footwork. He seemed up to the task of batting for time, and sensibly too, for the most part, eschewing the showy strokes he is prone to indulge in. But he was out lbw to Herath for 38, attempting to sweep.New Zealand’s almost hopeless position owed significantly to another morning of remorseless accumulation, when Sangakkara and Jayawardene further deflated their spirits. Sangakkara put in his first century of the series, and sixth at the SSC, extending his stand for the third wicket with his good mate to 173. Sangakkara’s lack of runs in Galle had hardly told on Sri Lanka so far, but rarely does a home series roll by when he doesn’t score a century. Having done the hard work yesterday, he reached his goal today.It was an innings that sported an array of strokes – a full-throttle swivel-pull off Daniel Vettori; three scorching drives off Ryder, completing his follow-through while on his knees; and a straight drive off Iain O’Brien. Typically, the drives off the front foot were methodical. In fact, that flowing bent-knee drive past cover has become as customary for Sangakkara as the nudge off the hips for one. Sangakkara was cheered though the nineties by local fans and when he forced Jeetan Patel off the back foot to deep cover, after roughly three-and-a-half hours at the crease, he punched the air as the crowd clapped in delight.

There was another large innings panning out at the other end as well. Jayawardene was again in his element on a pitch and against an attack which would have reminded him of his Indian Premier League days. He skipped down and lofted Patel for six on the third ball of the day and repeated the shot off Vettori for four, then settled as he eased past fifty. Though he hit a number of trademark drives off the seam bowlers, front foot right to the pitch and head low as he caressed the ball through the covers, Jayawardene was overall cautious.Sangakkara advanced and edged Patel to slip for 109 – with Sri Lanka’s lead on 444 – to bring Thilan Samaraweera to the middle. Sri Lanka had pushed back the declaration before lunch to allow Jayawardene reach his tenth Test ton at the SSC but it wasn’t to be. After the break, O’Brien, for the second time in the match, dismissed Jayawardene in the nineties. The new ball was taken shortly after lunch and Vettori swiftly dismissed Samaraweera lbw for 25, then looked on as Taylor spilled a catch off Chamara Kapugedera. A few moments Taylor redeemed himself by holding onto a poke from Jayawardene.From here, Sri Lanka continued to confound New Zealand, ensuring nothing bar rain would come in the way of a 2-0 series win and a prolonged stay at second place in the ICC Test rankings.

ScorecardTim McIntosh made up for his failure in the first innings with a steady 43•AFP

New Zealand’s batsmen managed to get their eye in on the final day of the tour game, which ended in a draw as expected. All of them barring Craig Cumming got starts though only Ross Taylor – who impressed yet again, after making 75 in the first innings – scored a half-century.SLC Development XI resumed on 324 for 9 and lasted just 15 deliveries. Their bowlers then made consistent inroads into the tourists’ innings, preventing any major partnership from taking root; the 58-run stand for the fourth wicket between Taylor and Tim McIntosh was the highest. McIntosh, the opener, scored a sedate 43 to make up for his duck in the first innings while the others got their runs at a fair clip, earning a good percentage of their runs in boundaries. Seekkuge Prasanna, the legspinner, took 2 for 52 to finish with five in the match, and was supported by offspinner Suraj Randiv, who also captured a brace.After being bowled out for 297, and relying a lot on the lower order to get them there, New Zealand put in a better display with the bat this time. But their inexperience against Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath could present them a serious challenge in the first Test in Galle, which begins on August 18.

West Indies managed to salvage a consolation win, their first of the tour, beating Bangladesh by five wickets in the only Twenty20 international in St Kitts. The hosts had been beaten soundly in the Test and the ODI series and Floyd Reifer, the West Indies captain, said that success in today’s game should help the inexperienced team to get into winning ways. “I told the guys to look forward to the future and see the bigger picture,” he said at the end of the game. “We’ve got to keep improving and play hard when playing for West Indies. It’s just one win that we needed to start our winning ways.”West Indies managed to restrict Bangladesh to 118, causing four run-outs, and Reifer credited their excellent fielding display as a major factor in the victory. “In the team meetings we had discussed that we needed to be sharp in the field because Twenty20 is a fast-paced game,” he said.Bangladesh inflicted an early blow in West Indies’ chase, getting rid of Dale Richards first ball, but Travis Dowlin – who scored a century in the second ODI – and Devon Smith both scored 37 to steady proceedings and help their team win comfortably in the end. “Travis had a really good season, and so did Roach [Kemar], David Bernard and Sammy [Darren],” Reifer said. “So we have a lot of positives to take away from this series going into the future.”Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh captain, admitted that the failure of the top order – Bangladesh lost four wickets in the first six overs – was to blame for the loss. “The top-order batsmen, including me, didn’t play smart cricket,” he said. “We didn’t execute our game-plan well.”But the defeat was a minor blemish on a hugely successful tour for Bangladesh, who won their first Test series overseas and sealed a 3-0 whitewash in the ODIs. “We’ve played very good cricket for the last one month, and one game doesn’t make it bad,” Shakib said. “We’ll be heading for Zimbabwe soon, it’s a very important series for us and we’re looking for a win.”

Andrew Flintoff hit a welcome half-century, but he couldn’t prevent Lancashire slumping to their second Championship defeat on the bounce as Hampshire sped to a 10-wicket victory at Liverpool with Imran Tahir proving the match-winner. Flintoff reached his fifty from 79 balls and was looking increasingly confident until he was given out caught off a top edge, a decision he didn’t seemed pleased with as a trudged off. That blow opened the door for Hampshire as Tahir spun through the order having Steven Croft and Francois du Plessis caught at short leg. Lancashire didn’t help themselves when VVS Laxman was run out trying for a second to square leg with the last eight wickets falling for 78. A target of 118 provided few problems for the visitors as Michael Carberry hit 62 off 73 balls.

Gloucestershire maintained their lead at the top of Division Two with a thumping nine-wicket win over Middlesex at Bristol, securing victory inside three days. The visitors resumed on a precarious 129 for 5 but soon lost Neil Dexter for 43. Shaun Udal cracked 27 while David Nash attempted to patch things together with 38, but in spite of the lower-order resistance – Chris Silverwood cracked four fours in his 26 – Middlesex were rolled for 233. This left Gloucestershire a facile target of 45 which they achieved in under 10 overs, for the loss of just William Porterfield, as Hamish Marshall flayed 28 from 16 balls to inflict yet another defeat on Middlesex, who sit forlornly second-from-bottom of the table.

North Division

Durham suffered a major scare against Nottinghamshire before finally edging over the line by one wicket off the final ball at Trent Bridge. It needed Mitchell Claydon to swing the last delivery through midwicket to settle the match. Ian Blackwell clubbed 59 off 33 balls and added 103 in 10 overs with former captain Dale Benkenstein (53 off 33), including 22 off one Darren Pattinson over, after the top order collapsed to 27 for 4. However, with the target in sight the batting faltered again as five wickets fell for 33. The scores were tied at the start of the final over, but Gordon Muchall was bowled by Mark Ealham and Graham Onions run out as a tie started to loom. Nottinghamshire’s top order also folded quickly and it needed a career-best 75 from Will Jefferson, who added 103 with Chris Read, to set a competitive total.Ajmal Shahzad came to the rescue of Yorkshire after they appeared to be throwing victory away against Leicestershire at Headingley. With two overs remaining 22 were needed when Shahzad took Jim Allenby for 16, including a six that was palmed over the ropes by James Taylor. Then, in the final over bowled by Wayne White, he scampered the winning run with a ball to spare. Michael Vaughan earlier top-scored with 35 off 30 balls but was part of a collapse that brought 5 for 15. Leicestershire struggled with the bat and after eight overs had just 38 on the board, but HD Ackerman held the innings together with 66 off 56 balls. Rana Naved was given permission to play shortly before the match after receiving his termination agreement from the ICL and Headingley’s outfield also stood up to the test.

Mid/West/Wales Division

Ian Harvey marked his return to the Twenty20 arena with 4 for 18 to help his latest county Northamptonshire to a 17-run victory against Warwickshire at Wantage Road. Harvey showed he’s lost none of his skill even though he was used as the seventh option by his captain Nicky Boje. He remove Ian Westwood to begin with, but most crucially ended Jim Troughton’s half century as he was guiding Warwickshire’s chase. The middle order struggled to keep up the asking rate and Harvey grabbed two more at the death. It had been a less successful return with the bat as Harvey fell for 12, but a trio of aggressive forties from Rob White, Niall O’Brien and Boje set up the home side for a useful total. White’s 40 came from just 15 balls as he launched the innings a blaze of boundaries.Worcestershire responded to the harsh words from coach Steven Rhodes and bounced back from their shock defeat to Ireland last week with a hard-fought 22-run victory against Gloucestershire at New Road. Ball dominated throughout the match and the home side’s attack successfully defended a modest 145. Will Porterfield and Hamish Marshall began the chase well, but Ashley Noffke changed the momentum when he took a good catch, running back, at mid-on to remove Marshall. The spinners, Gareth Batty and Ian Fisher, took five wickets between them as the visitors’ batting faded away. Worcestershire had to battle to reach 145, thanks to Noffke and Daryl Mitchell, with Gemaal Hussain taking two wickets on an impressive debut.Glamorgan snatched a defeat from the jaws of victory against Somerset as a late collapse left then with a one-run lossat Cardiff. In a low-scoring game, Ben Wright and Mark Wallace added 63 after a top-order collapse but with the winning line in sight the home side imploded. Max Waller, the 21-year-old legspinner making his debut, impressed with 3 for 17. Wallace was caught on the boundary and four more wickets tumbled to leave No. 11 Garnett Kruger needing three off the last ball but he could only manage a single. Somerset had been indebted to Zander de Bruyn’s 70 to lift them into three figures after they slumped to 67 for 6 following early failures for Marcus Trescothick and James Hildreth.

South Division

Hampshire launched their Twenty20 season in convincing style as they cruised to a nine-wicket win against Sussex at The Rose Bowl. Hamza Riazuddin did the early damage with 3 for 15 to set the visitors back including the scalp of Luke Wright first ball. Only Dwayne Smith, the former West Indies allrounder, made much of an impression with 63 off 46 balls, but Dominic Cork’s late wickets ensured there was no real recovery. A target of 135 meant Hampshire could ease along and Jimmy Adams guided the chase with a confident 68 off 49 balls.Kent, last year’s runners-up, and Essex had to settle for a share of the points after the weather closed in at Canterbury. The home side had reached 16 without loss in the fourth over chasing a demanding 188, but with Rob Key and Joe Denly at the crease an exciting game was in prospect. Alastair Cook had tried to shed his stodgy image with a first Twenty20 half century as his 80 off 56 deliveries proved the cornerstone of Essex’s total. The lower order didn’t quite make the most of the platform, but the weather had the final say.For a full report from Middlesex against Surrey at Lord’s click here.

South Division

Kent’s third win of the campaign, by five wickets over Sussex at Canterbury with three overs to spare, was overshadowed by a freak injury to Sussex’s Chris Nash which left him with a suspected broken leg. The incident happened when Nash and Dwayne Smith collided when trying to catch a top edge from Geraint Jones. There was a 15-minute delay as paramedics treated Nash and he was taken to hospital by ambulance. Sussex’s total of 133 never looked enough, and Jones smacked a 39-ball 56 before edging to the keeper with the scores level.Mark Ramprakash’s 73 off 47 balls was not enough to prevent Surrey going down to an 18-run defeat by Hampshire at the Rose Bowl. Hampshire made 191 for 6 in glorious sunshine, with Michael Lumb and James Adams getting the innings off to a flier with an opening stand of 92 in nine overs. Ramprakash just about kept Surrey in with an outside chance, but when he fell with 41 needed from three overs, the game was up.

North Division

Lancashire remained top of the division with their fourth straight win, easily beating Leicestershire by seven wickets at Grace Road with almost four overs in hand. James Allenby provided the backbone of the Leicestershire innings with 71, and briefly that appeared as if it might be enough as Lancashire slipped to 47 for 3. But Francois du Plessis hammered an unbeaten 78, including 13 fours and two sixes, in an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 104 with Ashwell Prince.A tight last over from seamer Mitch Claydon helped Durham to an eight-run win over Nottinghamshire in front of around 5000 spectators at Chester-le-Street. With ten needed and two wickets remaining, Claydon bowled Luke Fletcher with the second ball and Mark Ealham with the fourth – he finished with 5 for 26. Earlier in the week in the reverse fixture at Trent Bridge, Claydon hit the winning runs off the last ball.Nottinghamshire did well to take the game to the last over, as they were 132 for 7 chasing 178 with three overs remaining. Some destructive hitting from Andre Adams and Mark Ealham put them back in the game before Claydon’s late show. Durham’s innings was built on 55 from Michael Di Venuto and a whirlwind 48 not out from Dale Benkenstein, which included five sixes.A bumper crowd at Chesterfield had little to cheer as Yorkshire cruised to an eight-wicket victory over Derbyshire with 23 balls to spare. On a slow pitch, Derbyshire’s batsmen never looked at ease, and only a fourth-wicket stand of 56 in six overs between Wavell Hinds and Stuart Law helped them to 131 for 6. Andrew Gale had no such problem at the top of the Yorkshire order, smashing eight fours and three sixes in a 58-ball 79 not out.Overall, it was a day to cheer for both the ECB and country treasurers. Crowds at the five matches were all good, no doubt boosted by the glorious weather across the country.

Midlands/Wales/West Division

North Division

South Division

ScorecardThere could be an exciting finish on the final day at Trent Bridge with Nottinghamshire and Somerset neck and neck, and a result assured unless the weather unexpectedly intervenes. The home county, set 261 to win, finished the day on 112 for 3 and two fine batsmen, Samit Patel and Adam Voges, occupation.Nottinghamshire were required to equal their first-innings total to win the match. Shafayat and Alex Hales put them on their way very well with an opening partnership of 51. Hales was the more aggressive, playing a couple of superb cover drives with all the time in the world. At 27 he was dropped low at first slip by Justin Langer off David Stiff, but he only added one more run when he unwisely tried to pull a ball outside his off stump and sent up a huge catch, which Langer himself claimed.Stiff in fact looked much better bowling from the pavilion end than he had in the first innings from the Radcliffe Road end, and produced some testing deliveries, although he never eliminated wild balls. He also removed Bilal Shafayat for 32, fencing at a ball moving away outside off stump to be caught by the keeper, while Charl Willoughby returned to trap Mark Wagh lbw for 14. It was a mistake to give him the final over back at Radcliffe Road, as he again found his Sat-Nav in error and produced four leg-side wides. But he may have a big part to play in tomorrow’s much anticipated climax.Somerset began the day at 137 for 3 in their second innings, 14 runs ahead and, it seemed, very reliant on their overnight pair of Marcus Trescothick and Langer if they were to set Nottinghamshire a challenging target. Langer did not last long; after a fluent start he tried too late to withdraw his bat from a delivery from Ealham just outside his off stump and was caught at the wicket for 35. This appeared to be a major blow to the visitors.Runs came slowly, as Zander de Bruyn showed little of the form of his first innings, but nevertheless hung in and fought hard for his team. There followed about an hour of virtually strokeless play, punctuated by an occasional thumping four from Trescothick. It was not a dominant innings and he made little effort to keep the board ticking over with ones and twos, but he looked like recording a century until, on 98, he reached for a ball from Luke Fletcher uncharacteristically wide of the off stump and swatted it into the hands of point. This was the only piece of luck Fletcher enjoyed before the lunch interval, although he had several frustrating near misses. De Bruyn at the break was still there, with a scratchy but valuable 25 off 70 balls.The batsmen were more positive after the break, especially Craig Kieswetter, who went after the bowling. He overtook de Bruyn in the thirties, and went on to reach his half-century off 53 balls – celebrating with an extravagant swipe against Ealham and giving the keeper a catch off the bottom edge. His innings was perhaps the one that gave Somerset hope that they still had a chance in this match, but de Bruyn’s anchor role did a lot to make it possible. The South African reached his second 50 of the match off 111 balls, still out of touch, before he finally yielded, driving at a ball from Fletcher that removed his off stump for 54.Somerset at this stage were 304 for 7, 181 ahead. More runs were needed if they were to have more than an outside chance of victory. Peter Trego will still wonder how he came to shoulder arms to a ball from Fletcher that came back only slightly to bowl him comprehensively for 23, but Ben Phillips was the man for the task. He began his assault with a step down the pitch and a big six over midwicket off Ryan Sidebottom, and found good support from Stiff, who made 21 before being stumped.Somerset may yet consider their jolly stand of 48 for the ninth wicket the turning point of the match; certainly it gave the home team a challenging target. It would have been greater still had Shafayat on the fine-leg boundary not taken a brilliant running and diving catch to remove Phillips, last man out, for 39, with the total 383. The most successful bowlers were Fletcher and Ealham, with three wickets each, but those lower-order runs may yet be the difference.

Ben Laughlin is still struggling to work out how he has ended up in the Australia team in South Africa after spending nine years working as a carpenter. Laughlin, 26, made his Twenty20 international debut in Centurion on Sunday and returned the promising figures of 1 for 32 from his four overs.Now Laughlin is hoping to force his way into the ODI side for the five-match series that begins in Durban on Friday. It would complete a remarkable journey for Laughlin, who has only held a full-time Queensland contract for one season and began 2008-09 without a state one-day game to his name.”I had a decent grade summer [in 2007-08] and I didn’t really feel like I was getting anywhere,” Laughlin told . “I had pretty much had enough of cricket and then I was lucky enough to get called in for the last Shield game.”I went all right in that and then got a Bulls contract this year and I was pretty stoked to get that. Then I got picked in the first one-day game which was probably even more of a shock and then played them all year long and ended up here. It’s bizarre.”Laughlin is the son of the allrounder Trevor Laughlin, who played three Tests for Australia in 1978 and also appeared in six one-day internationals. Laughlin is hoping to emulate his father and make his 50-over debut in South Africa but if the opportunity doesn’t arive, he has already enjoyed a rapid rise.”Hopefully I’ll get a game along the way somewhere,” Laughlin said. “Even if I don’t play, I’m still having a pretty good time. I’m living the dream.”

Scorecard
India ensured that they did not have to depend on net run-rates to qualify for the Super Six by beating Sri Lanka by 35 runs at the Bankstown Oval in Sydney. It was India’s second victory in the group stage while Sri Lanka finished without a win from three games.India’s victory was far from convincing. They once again relied on Mithali Raj for most of their runs and would have been left with a paltry total if not for her contribution. She made 59 out of 169 against England and today she scored an unbeaten 75 out of a total of 137 for 7.Raj began her innings with India in early trouble at 11 for 2, a position which deteriorated rapidly with wickets falling regularly with hardly any addition to the score. Six of the top eight batsmen failed to score more than five but Raj remained steady through the innings. Even so, India were struggling at 78 for 7 in the 40th over before they were lifted by a quick 24 from their captain Jhulan Goswami.Raj hit only one four in her 120-ball innings and added 59 for the seventh wicket with Goswami. Their partnership lifted India to 137, which was less than what they had managed against England. Udeshika Prabodhani, Chamari Polgampola and Suwini de Alwis picked up two wickets each for Sri Lanka.Raj was happy that her performance came at a vital moment. “It came at the right time. We did struggle in those initial overs when we were four down for 38 runs. So there was a lot of pressure,” she said. “I think our only concern would be our batting. It has really let us down against England and even today where we collapsed quite early.”Faced with a small target, Sri Lanka’s openers began slowly but steadily. Dedunu Silva and Polgampola added 37 but they fell in quick succession, leaving Sri Lanka on 41 for 2. These wickets triggered a collapse and the chase never got back on track. Apart from Eshani Kaushalya who made 20, none of the others made significant contributions . Sri Lanka were dismissed in the 45th over, 35 runs short of the target. Amita Sharma played a big hand in India’s win, taking three top and middle order wickets to finish with 3 for 19 in ten overs.