A dominant all-round performance from England helped them seal the ODI series against Sri Lanka 2-1 as they secured a commanding 223-run win at The Oval. Tom Banton’s maiden ODI hundred was complemented by 70s from Harry Brook and Jordan Cox as England posted a mammoth 355 for 7 after opting to bat. In reply, Sri Lanka could only muster 132, with Kusal Mendis’s 35 being the highest score, as Liam Dawson and Gus Atkinson shared five wickets to expedite England’s comprehensive win, which gave them their fifth consecutive bilateral ODI series win over Sri Lanka.
Ben Duckett fell for a five-ball duck in the second over, bowled by Dilshan Madushanka. Joe Root joined Banton and the pair steadied the innings, taking England to 50 for 1 after 10 overs. Banton provided most of the momentum, striking boundaries on either side of the wicket. Root, meanwhile, had a lucky break in the ninth over when Pathum Nissanka spilled a thick outside edge at slip, and he struggled to get going as he faced 12 dots in a row. Banton, at the other end, was scoring freely and struck his first six by upper-cutting Madushanka in the 14th over.
The second wicket pair added 62 before Root fell for 18 off 37, trapped leg-before by Janith Liyanage with Sri Lanka using the review successfully. Banton brought up his second successive fifty-plus score while Brook, much like Root, struggled for fluency and was fortunate in the 21st over when he edged Dunith Wellalage’s delivery and keeper’ Kusal Mendis could not hold on to the chance. Sri Lanka also opted against reviewing an lbw appeal against Brook later in the innings, with UltraEdge indicating there was some glove involved. They also lost a review when Sachindu Colombage thought he had Banton out lbw but a faint outside edge came to the batter’s rescue.
Brook, who was on 17 off 32, finally found some momentum as he struck two fours and a six off Liyanage in the 26th over, followed by a boundary off Eshan Malinga and a maximum off Colombage en route to a 49-ball 50. Banton hit sixes off Malinga and Colombage as he moved into the 90s, and the third wicket pair raised a century stand. The opener then reached a 95-ball 100 with a four off Wellalage in the 33rd over, with the bowler also getting hit for two more fours by Brook in the same over. Madushanka went for runs too, conceding 22 in the 34th over, as Banton dispatched him for two sixes – with the first maximum helping England past 200.
Banton and Brook added 150 before their partnership ended when the England captain was dismissed by Asitha Fernando in the 35th over. Banton fell three overs later, caught at long on after he struck two successive fours off Colombage. England were 251 for 4 after 40 overs and they went into top gear in the final 10 overs thanks to Jordan Cox’s brisk fifty and quick-fire 20s from Will Jacks and Jamie Overton. Jacks struck two fours and a six off Wellalage before Colombage ended his stay. Cox then brought up a 42-ball fifty and added to his boundaries tally before Fernando struck off the last two balls of the innings. It was a good finish, though, for England as they got 104 in the last 10 overs, with 57 coming in the last five.
Sri Lanka had an early setback in the chase as Nissanka got out for 1, edging Sonny Baker behind to give the bowler his maiden ODI wicket. Kamindu Mendis scored a couple of boundaries while Kusal hit two sixes off Gus Atkinson. But the partnership was short-lived as Atkinson accounted for the wicket of Kamindu. Kusal, who hit a six and a four off Baker, followed by a boundary off Atkinson, ended up top-edging one to midwicket to depart for 35 off 26 as Atkinson picked up his second wicket. Jofra Archer came on to bowl only in the 10th over and he was hit for two fours by Pavan Rathnayake as Sri Lanka moved to 63 for 3.
Rathnayake and Charith Asalanka built a watchful partnership, with the latter finding it difficult to rotate strike. The pressure led to the run-out of Rathnayake but there was some confusion as Cox had disturbed the bails before Archer’s direct hit uprooted the stump, with the third umpire eventually ruling in favour of the bowling team. Asalanka departed in the next over, for a 19-ball 7, as he miscued a pull off Root. Sri Lanka’s troubles continued with Liam Dawson bagging the wicket of Wellalage, whose attempted slog-sweep caused his downfall, reducing the visitors to 82 for 6 in the 17th over.
Liyanage tried to counterattack, hitting a four and a six off Root, but Sri Lanka continued to lose wickets as Colombage was out stumped in Dawson’s over. It became 106 for 8 when Liyanage top-edged a pull off Overton to depart for 19. Dawson sent Fernando back for 6 to pick up his third wicket of the innings. Malinga struck a couple of boundaries off Dawson before falling to Jacks, with Root taking a stunning catch at leg-slip as England wrapped up Sri Lanka’s innings in the 30th over to complete a facile win.
Brief scores: England 355/7 in 50 overs (Tom Banton 126, Harry Brook 77, Jordan Cox 76; Asitha Fernando 3-64) beat Sri Lanka 134 in 29.1 overs (Kusal Mendis 35; Liam Dawson 3-26, Gus Atkinson 2-26) by 223 runs.
Leave a Reply