Kandy, Wednesday December 5, 05:05 PM: Sri Lanka beat England by 88 runs on the fifth and final day of the first Test on Wednesday.Ian Bell top-scored with 74, as England chasing 350 to win were bowled out for 261.England fell to an agonising defeat as Sri Lanka secured an 88-run victory with only 25 minutes of play left in a dramatic first Test in Kandy.Both Prior and Bell played exceptionally well. Prior's 63, off 147 balls, was certainly one of his finest innings in an England shirt. He appeared accomplished and at ease throughout, defending well and occasionally striding out to strike a cover drive. Struck on the head by a bouncer from Dilhara Fernando, he batted on seemingly unflustered. Tellingly when he reached his fifty his runs had been divided equally between the leg- and off- sides.And then everything changed. Muralitharan took the new ball off Malinga and produced a spell of 5-2-5-3. Having been held at bay throughout the day, this was the true mark of one of history's greatest bowlers, able to produce a match-winning spell at the crucial moment, turning the new ball like a top on an unhelpful surface.Prior was undone by a doosra that spun past his bat and clipped off stump. Bell was bowled in the next over by an off-spinner, and Ryan Sidebottom fell in the over after that, unluckily given out lbw despite a palpable inside edge. From 248 for six, England were now 253 for nine and the game was over.England looked to have lost the match much earlier than that, defeat never seeming more imminent than when Paul Collingwood slapped a catch off Fernando to Kumar Sangakkara at short extra cover. That left England 90 for five in just the 20th over of the day.
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