England win final ODI

Manchester, July 10 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) ? A patient 72 from Jonathan Trott helped England to a 16-run win over Sri Lanka in the final one-dayer at Old Trafford on Saturday, giving the hosts a 3-2 series win which allowed them to gain some revenge for their 10-wicket World Cup quarter-final humiliation.

A century sixth-wicket partnership between Angelo Mathews (62) and Jeevan Mendis (48), which rescued Sri Lanka from 131-5, threatened to upset England but some assured catches at the end and fine bowling put paid to the tourists' chances.

Young paceman Jade Dernbach finished with two wickets off the final two balls, while James Anderson also picked up two victims and Tim Bresnan was the pick of the attack with 3-49.

Earlier the rocksteady Trott notched up 72 off 87 deliveries to guide England to 268-9 off their 50 overs, the hosts having started strongly with captain Alastair Cook (31) and Craig Kieswetter (43).

Eoin Morgan (57) combined with Trott while Anderson struck a crucial late 12 runs, Suraj Randiv leading the Sri Lankan attack taking 5-42.

England dropped Twenty20 captain Stuart Broad before the match, while Cook, who replaced Andrew Strauss as one-day skipper following the World Cup, led from the front to steer his team to a series victory.

He smashed an unbeaten 95 in the fourth match to hand England a 10-wicket win, and finished with 298 runs at an average of 74.50.

Cook was not in the World Cup squad, where England were demolished by eventual runners-up Sri Lanka.

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