On this day in 2012: England win in Colombo with Pietersen and Swann’s heroics
On this day (7th April) in 2012, England registered one of their finest Test wins in Asia when they beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets in Colombo with Kevin Pietersen and Graeme Swann playing starring roles. Pietersen played a sublime 151-run knock in the first innings before scoring a quickfire 42* in the second while Swann picked up his then career-best 10-wicket match haul as England drew level in the two-match series.
Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and decided to bat first. His decision was proved wrong immediately by James Anderson as the England pace spearhead wreaked havoc with the new ball. Anderson dismissed Sri Lanka’s top three in no time to leave the visitors reeling at 30 for 3. Jayawardene then bailed his team out of trouble with a fine century.
He scored 105 and was ably supported by Thilan Samaraweera (54) and Angelo Mathews (57). Sri Lanka’s lower-order, however, could not contribute much as the Islanders were all out for 275 from 258 for 6. Swann picked up 4 wickets in the innings while Anderson finished with 3. In reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 275, England scored 460 to put themselves in the driver’s seat.
England’s top three- Andrew Strauss (61), Alastair Cook (94) and Jonathon Trott (64) – gave the visitors a solid start. But the innings that completely blew Sri Lanka away came from Pietersen. The former England captain slammed 151 off just 165 deliveries with the help of 16 fours and 6 sixes. At one stage, England were looking set to cross the 500-run mark with ease.
Often asked my best innings – THIS ONE!
Only cos I thought there was NO WAY I could bat for longer than an hour or 2 at most in the heat in SL!Therefore – a Test swing fest! ? https://t.co/n41vTSzTxL
— Kevin Pietersen? (@KP24) April 5, 2020
However, when Pietersen became the sixth English wicket to fall with 411 runs on the board, the visitors’ innings derailed. They lost wickets at regular intervals and were all out for 460. In the second innings, Swann starred with the ball, taking 6 for 133 to help England bowl out Sri Lanka for 278. Jayawardene (64) once again top-scores for the hosts, scoring 64 while Samaraweera and Mathews missed their second fifties of the match by three and four runs respectively.
Set 94 runs to win in over two sessions, England started their innings poorly. Strauss was bowled in the first over of the run chase and Trott also fell cheaply to leave England reeling at 31 for 2. But before the hosts could make more inroads in the game, Cook and Pietersen steered their team to victory without further loss.
Pietersen continued his aggressive batting from his 151 in the first innings to score 41 runs from 28 balls to hasten the victory. His knock was studded with four boundaries and two sixes. On the other hand, Cook hit six boundaries for his 49 runs that came off 69 balls as England chased down the total inside 20 overs.
