England won’t have to fly back home without any wins as they got over the line against Sri Lanka, with 55 runs to spare. This win, though, does not mean anything in the dynamics of this series, with Pakistan and Sri Lanka already in the final, but would raise England’s spirits as they gear up to face Australia in the format next month.
Sri Lanka’s streak of winning tosses on this tour has been unbroken, and remained so when Kusal Mendis called it right at the toss. Batting first, England took ten balls to get off the mark, with a couple of boundaries off Duckett’s bat opening their account. Duckett, along with Tom Banton, would form a 163-run partnership, which was the longest any openers survived in this ODI Tri-series across all three teams.
Despite England’s issues, their openers have been pretty decent throughout the series, scoring at an average of 66.37 compared to Sri Lanka’s 42 and Pakistan’s 7.5. Duckett managed his second ton of the series, this time his career-best 167, and Banton, who was the first of the two to depart, managed a 74.
Instead of Joe Root, captain Harry Brook was the next man in, batting at the first drop for the first time in ODIs. Along with Duckett, Brook ensured the run rate didn’t take a dip after the fall of a wicket. The two batters put up a 107-run stand off just 75 balls while striking at a rate of 142.6.
England post 386 despite losing wickets late
Will Jacks, Jordan Cox and Sam Curran capped the innings with quick runs in the final ten overs, despite England losing three wickets. They ended the innings with 386 on board, but England, stung by the same opposition in Rawalpindi after scoring 429 runs, would still have wondered if this total was safe enough.
Sri Lanka could not replicate the sort of strong start England had had. Kamindu Mendis made his way back in the fourth over. This meant Kusal Mendis, who has had tough luck this series, came in early. The Sri Lankan captain took a few overs to settle, then announced his presence by sending Sonny Baker for 17 runs in an over. Mendis would stitch two partnerships of over 80 runs with Avishka Fernando and Pavan Rathnayake.
Halfway through the innings, Sri Lanka were sailing smoothly at 170/2, though they remained a few runs behind England at the same stage. It looked as though they were once again on their way to gunning down a high target set by England.
Liam Dawson turns the game around
This time, however, their late middle order failed to rise to the occasion. This began with Kusal Mendis getting bamboozled by Joe Root in the 27th over, followed soon after by Dasun Shanaka returning to the pavilion, which came as a big blow to the chase.
Pavan Rathnayake and Janith Liyanage tried to make up for Shanaka’s early return and managed to put on 72 runs off just 38 balls. Sri Lanka reached 300 as the 40th over began.
It would have been easy sailing for them from then on, with two set batters, Rathnayake and Sahan Arachchige, but it was not to be. Arachchige began getting a tad fidgety, which soon resulted in his dismissal off a Henry Crocombe delivery. This was followed by a senseless run-out in the next over, with both Dunith Wellalage and Pavan Rathnayake at one end. One good thing for Sri Lanka in this farce was that Rathnayake stayed on.
But the happiness was short-lived because the next over was when England struck the final blow. Liam Dawson bagged two wickets in an over, including Rathnayake for 118. With Sri Lanka still more than 50 runs away, with one wicket and five overs in hand, the chase seemed entirely over. Eshan Malinga’s stay ended at the hands of Sam Curran on the first ball of the 46th over, giving England their first and only win of the series.
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