Toss: England. Sri Lanka won their fifth multilateral one-day tournament since their World Cup triumph, after England's middle and late order collapsed in the most spectacular fashion yet. Knight and Atherton delighted Lord's with an opening stand of 132 in the first 25 overs; in the second 25 England lost eight for 124. This represented the first triumph in England for Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan off-spinner who would achieve even greater success just over a week later. He took five for 34, which beat the best figures in a one -day international at Lord's. Muralitharan first stifled the openers' scoring-rate, then worked through the innings, turning and flighting the ball far more than most slow bowlers dare in one-day cricket. The Sri Lankan batsmen had few problems. Gough, to a huge roar, followed two wides by bowling Jayasuriya for a duck with his second legitimate ball. But Attapattu was in devestating form. It was England's turn to look ragged in the field; their morale was not helped by bowling which Gough aside, looked wholly innocous.

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