ri Lanka produced a fabulous all-round performance in the fifth and final ODI to earn a comprehensive 219-run DLS method win over a much-changed England side.
England fell well short of their 367-run target and were 132/9 after 26.1 overs before rain brought the inevitable forward. Led by Jos Buttler in the absence of Eoin Morgan, who rested himself to give others an opportunity, England suffered their record ODI defeat.
From the moment Dinesh Chandimal won the toss and chose to bat on a superb surface in Colombo everything went to plan for the home side. Openers Niroshan Dickwella and Sadeera Samarawickrama gave their team the strong start they’ve been lacking, putting on 137 in just over 19 overs after getting off to a flyer against the new-look new-ball pairing of Mark Wood and Sam Curran.
With the series secure at 3-0, England had made a number of changes and the rustiness of Wood (0/55 off 8), Sam Curran (0/46 off 6) and Liam Plunkett (1/44 off 5) was evident. The Sri Lankan batsmen took full advantage and applied pressure throughout. When Dickwella, the second wicket of the innings and second for Moeen Ali (2/57 off 8) fell just five runs short of a magnificent century, Sri Lanka had the perfect platform at 168/2 in the 26th over.
Skipper Chandimal was in fine form and marshalled the innings expertly at No.3, batting all the way through to the 46th over for a 73-ball 80 that ensured his side took full advantage of their excellent start. He and Kusal Mendis, who returned to the side at No.4, put on an excellent 102-run partnership that got Sri Lanka to 270 in the 39th over when Mendis fell for 56. Smart batting in the last 10 overs from Dhananjaya de Silva (19) and Akila Dananjaya (18) helped the team to 366 from their full 50, with de Silva belting a six off Tom Curran last ball.
The tourists are no strangers to scoring big totals in recent times but chasing 367 to win – even on a good surface – was always going to be a challenge. They got off to the worst possible start with Sri Lanka fired up.
A terrific opening over from Kasun Rajita ended with Jason Roy’s off-stump comprehensively disturbed. Having been beaten all ends up past his outside edge first ball, Roy managed a single boundary off his legs before being bowled off the final delivery in an eventful first over of the chase. Sri Lanka seemed intent to make the most of any momentum carried forward from their batting effort.
And two balls later Alex Hales joined Roy in the hutch. The right-hander, who was looking to capitalise on Jonny Bairstow’s absence through injury, offered a tame shot to an outswinger from Dushmantha Chameera and was brilliantly caught by Mendis, diving to his left from a wide slip position to collect the edge. England were 4/2 after eight deliveries.
Having suffered a lack of batting opportunity during the rain-affected series, Buttler was afforded rather more of an opportunity than even he might have liked having been promoted to No.4. Particularly after captaining the side in hot conditions from behind the stumps. He fell second ball, caught behind off the outswing of Chameera. England looked shattered at 4/3; Sri Lanka were buzzing.
Before long, Joe Root (10) pushed hard at a ball from Chameera (3/20 off 6) that wasn’t quite there and was well caught low down at point by Samarawickrama to put England in further trouble at 28/4 in the eighth.
There followed the only meaningful partnership of the innings, with Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali keeping England at least vaguely in the contest for a time. Stokes batting superbly, but was severely hampered by a blow just above the right knee which had him limping singles.
Moeen skied an attempted hack off Akila Dananjaya over mid-wicket and skied to Chandimal, Sam Curran lasted just eight balls for his 2 and then, with his injury worsening and England’s hopes already gone, Stokes followed in similar fashion to Moeen, his 60-ball 67 by far England’s standout performance with the bat. Dananjaya (4/19 off 6.1) took the wicket of Plunkett lbw before the rain wrapped things up to secure Sri Lanka’s consolation victory.
Having made their changes, England had been sloppy in the field, ill-disciplined with the ball and disastrous with the bat. Sri Lanka meanwhile, though they lost the series 3-1, finally have some positive feeling to take into the rest of the tour.
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