Sri Lanka's first tour after 2011 Cricket World cup was their tour to England. Kumar Sangakkara stepped down from the captaincy after that painful defeat in the World Cup final against India. TM Dilshan became the New captain of Sri Lankan Cricket team. They toured to England to play 3 Tests, 5 ODIs & a T20I. The first Test of the tour played in Cardiff between 26th to 30th May 2011.

TM Dilshan won his first toss as a captain and decided to bat first. Thisara Perera made his test debut for Sri Lanka. The match was started after a short delay of Rain. Dilshan & Tharanga Paranawithana opened the innings for Sri Lanka. They build up a partnership of 93 runs for the first wicket. Dilshan Scored 50 runs & Paranawithana scored 66 runs. Wicket Keeper batsman Prasanna Jayawardene scored his 3rd Test hundred. He led the Sri Lanka's score to 400. Jayawardene spent 252 minutes in the crease & scored 112 runs. Jimmy Anderson & Graham Swann picked 3 wickets each.

The game was continued under several delays due to the rain & Bad light. England started their first innings in day 2, but they had to play it until the 5th day. Andrew Strauss & Night watchmen Jimmy Anderson got out early, England score was 47/2 at one stage. But Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott build a massive 251 run partnership for the 3rd wicket. Cook's innings was ended against Farveez Maharoof, after scoring 133 runs.

Jonathan Trott reached his second double century. His innings had 17 fours. Ian bell became the 3rd centurion in that innings. England had decided to declare their first innings for 496/5 in the later part of the second session of Day 5. Just around 40 overs left to finish the Test match. It was on the way to a drawn Test match.

Sri Lanka started their 2nd innings with 96 runs behind than England's total. Tharanga Paranawithana caught in the slip against Chris Tremlet in the 2nd over. Tremlet took the Wicket of Skipper Dilshan as well. However, Kumar Sangakkara & Mahela Jayawardene survived until the tea of day 5. Sri Lanka's score was 33/2 in 12 overs. Just a one session remained in the Test match. Only England had a chance to win the match, if they can bowl out Sri Lanka before reaching 96 run mark. But it was a too much task for England Bowlers.

After soon as play resumed, Chris Tremlet picked up the wicket of Mahela Jayawardene. Sri Lanka's hopes were vanished with the spin of Graham Swann. Swann removed the Sri Lankan middle order within just two overs. Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera & Farveez Maharoof were trapped against Swann. After 19.1 overs, scorecard was 52/8, meant that Sri Lanka lost six wickets after the tea break. But debutant Perera was on the crease as the only hope for the visitors. He and Ajantha Mendis tried to play out the remaining overs. But their Partnership of 30 runs was ended, thanks to the beautiful bowling of Stuart Board. Board again removed Lakmal as the last wicket. Sri Lanka all out for 82 & England won by an innings and 14 runs. Tremlet & Swann took 4 wickets each to earn that historical victory.

Sri Lanka's batsmen couldn't survive the last session. Their sloppy 2nd innings was ended within 25 overs. It was a nightmare for any team to lose a test match like that.

England won the series 1-0, after next two games ended up in a draw.

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