England ended a one-day frenzy of international records with a five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka, taking the three-match ODI series to the final in Colombo.
Harry Brooke’s side bounced back admirably from a 19-run loss in Thursday’s series opener (their 12th defeat in 16 ODIs), bowling out the hosts for 219 in 49.3 overs after losing first to a toss-and-field.
England fielded eight bowlers and played 41 overs of spin on another slow wicket, with Charice Asaranka (45) and Dhananjaya de Silva (40) top-scoring for Sri Lanka with a 66-run fourth-wicket stand, but they failed to get off to an encouraging start.
England’s Jamie Overton celebrates with teammates after taking first of two wickets in victory
Craig Overton (2-21) and Adil Rashid (2-34) impressed in the Tourists’ attack, with Rehan Ahmed, Liam Dawson and Will Jacks picking up one wicket each, and Root (2-13) taking two wickets in the final over as England top-scored and chased away.
Root hit 75 from 90 deliveries and had a key stand with Ben Duckett (39) and Brook (42), but Root and Brook were trapped with lbw in quick succession by Dhananjaya (2-37) and Geoffrey VanDersie (2-45), leaving England five down and a nervy finish.
England’s Ben Duckett and Root bump fists during impressive 68-run second-wicket stand
However, Jos Buttler accelerated to 33 off 21 deliveries and remained unbeaten against Jacks (8 innings not out). England hit the winning target with 22 balls to spare to level the series ahead of Tuesday’s decider at the same venue.
How England set up series decider in Colombo
Sri Lanka started Thursday’s ODI on a positive note after winning the toss and electing to bat, but could not follow that up as Kamil Mishara (5) scored a jack at cover for Overton at the R. Premadasa Stadium.
Pathum Nissanka did a good job of chipping Rashid to Jax in the deep for 26 points, while Kusal Mendis, who was the top scorer with 93 points in Sri Lanka’s win on Thursday, popped himself up for the same score to help the hosts finish 68-3.
Adil Rashid also picked up three wickets in the series opener on Thursday.
Dhananjaya and Asaranka’s patient partnership came to an end when the former was caught by Root from Dawson, and Janice Liyanage (12) showed positive intent until Overton removed him with a nice low catch from Rashid.
Sri Lanka’s woes worsened when Asaranka swung Rashid down to Duckett in the deep, Pavan Rathnayake likewise fell off the jacks, Pramod Madhushan (8 runs) stumbled off Ahmed and Danis Wellaledge (20 runs) and Asitha Fernando (0 runs) fell at Root in the final over.
England surprisingly named Ahmed as their first opener in international cricket and the 21-year-old looked confident in his opening over before being bowled by Dhananjaya for 13.
Duckett, who was dismissed without a score before a successful review, started slow but improved as the innings progressed, scoring 68 runs before being bowled by Van Dersee in the 17th over.
Sri Lanka’s hopes were further heightened when Jacob Bethel (six) scored Asaranka at cover off Dhananjaya, leaving England at 97-3. Only Root – who survived the Pound test at the age of 12 – pushed towards his 45th international half-century in 52 matches.
Root and Harry Brook formed a key partnership in England’s victory
His 79-run partnership with Brook came to an end when he was pinned by an Asisa yorker and trapped LBW, after which Brook failed to convert into a sweep and dropped two overs, dropping England to 189-5.
Sri Lanka’s enthusiasm was quickly quelled by Buttler’s quick knock, hitting three quads and a six as England’s former one-day captain led the tourists to their first away win in 50-over cricket since November 2024.
Root: We learned from our mistakes
Player of the Match Joe Root (75 off 90 balls): “I love coming to Sri Lanka. I always feel very welcome and I enjoy playing here. It was good to get the win on a difficult surface.”
“To be brutally honest, I don’t think it was a great wicket for ODI cricket. But we found a way and learned from our mistakes with bat and ball in the first game. I tried to get the ball as late as possible.”
“I have played a lot of cricket in the subcontinent and I draw on that experience. I understand the difference in the nature of the bounce and the way it spins, but we need to get our footwork accurate early on.”
England captain Harry Brook: “It was good to get a win away from home on a tough surface. It was probably the worst pitch I’ve ever played on so we had to adapt as quickly as possible and try to avoid a strike.”
England captain Harry Brook was delighted to end his losing streak in away ODIs at 11 games
“I thought our bowlers did a great job of beating Sri Lanka as a team that is used to these kinds of conditions.”
Sri Lanka captain Charice Asaranka: “We were at least 30 points short, so there are some areas we need to improve on. In this heat, sometimes it’s difficult to score two points and we need to conserve energy, so we didn’t notice (the lack of intent).”
“England had a good midfield batting line-up. We tried everything.”
England in Sri Lanka – Match results and fixtures
always UK and Ireland
1st ODI (Colombo, January 22) – Sri Lanka won by 19 runs 2nd ODI (Saturday, January 24) – England won by 5 wickets 3rd ODI (Tuesday, January 27) – Colombo (9am) 1st T20 (Friday, January 30) – Palekele (1.30pm) 2nd T20 (Sunday, February 1) – Palekele (1:30pm) 3rd T20 (Tuesday, February 3) – Palekele (1:30pm)
