Sam Billings fielding: Billings nails direct-hit to brilliantly run out Praveen Jayawickrama at Riverside Ground

Sam Billings nails direct-hit: The English batsman once again proved his worth as an outfielder at the Riverside Ground.

During the first ODI of the ongoing Sri Lanka’s tour of England in Chester-le-Street, England batsman Sam Billings’ exceptional fielding skills as an outfielder played a titular role in them bundling out Sri Lanka for 185 in 42.3 overs.

England dismissed Sri Lanka’s No. 11 in debutant Praveen Jayawickrama (4) after he was short of his crease at the non-striker’s end in a bid to complete a couple of runs alongside Chamika Karunaratne (19*).

Karunaratne, who was keen to retain strike, guided a Sam Curran delivery on the leg-side and expressed interest in running two runs. While the duo had successfully ran two through a similar shot on the previous delivery, a major difference on this particular occasion was that the ball had gone more towards Billings (deep mid-wicket) than Moeen Ali (long on).

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Running in from the boundary, Billings’ brilliance saw him nailing a direct-hit to surprise Jayawickrama.

Barring a 99-run stand for the fourth wicket between Sri Lanka captain Kusal Perera (73) and all-rounder Wanidu Hasaranga (54), no other Sri Lankan pair put on display a stable partnership resulting in them collapsing from 145/3 to 185/10.

England all-rounder Chris Woakes, who opened the bowling for them, emerged as the pick of their bowlers with disciplined bowling figures of 10-5-18-4. Apart from Woakes, the likes of David Willey and Ali picked three and one wicket respectively.

Sam Billings nails direct-hit to run out Praveen Jayawickrama in first ODI

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