Nottingham: Kumar Sangakkara rallied Sri Lanka from an early collapse on Wednesday, hitting a gritty 75 to guide his team to 174 all out in the fourth one-day international against a dominant England.
After rain held up the start of the fourth match by 40 minutes, James Anderson took three wickets in a devastating opening spell of swing bowling to put England in a strong position to level the five-match series at 2-2.
But Sangakkara put on 37 for the fifth wicket alongside the promoted Suraj Randiv and 72 with Angelo Mathews, who fell to a full-length diving catch by Tim Bresnan off his own bowling.
Sangakkara was eventually the last man out, falling when Eoin Morgan took a running catch off Jade Dernbach at gully. Anderson finished with 3-24, while Dernbach finished with 3-38.
Bresnan and Stuart Broad took with two wickets each. Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan failed with the bat, departing without scoring when he edged the fifth ball of the innings to wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter.
But his gamble of sending in Randiv at No. 6 instead of No. 10 at least helped give his bowlers a target to work with.
Without the temptation to lash out with risky strokeplay, the limited Randiv managed to block the rampant pace attack long enough for Sri Lanka to gain a foothold.
He eventually fell for a spirited 18, Broad grabbing his first wicket of the series to make it 5-57. With Sangakkara now more settled, Sri Lanka added another 72 in relative comfort before Bresnan dismissed Mathews. (AP)