England are one win away from winning the one-day international series away from home.
They have not lifted the 50-over trophy on the road since their 2-1 win in Bangladesh in March 2023, and since then they have gone on a losing streak with four series defeats, were defeated in India in their ODI World Cup title defense and were eliminated in the first round, and again failed to make it out of their group in the 2025 Champions Trophy.
In a tough bilateral series, they lost 2-1 in the West Indies and won 3-0 in India and New Zealand.
After Harry Brook’s side lost by 19 points in the opening game of the series against Sri Lanka, chasing 272 points, fans would have been worried that their losing record would inevitably extend to five points. In a crushing 5-36 defeat against Colombo, Brook stumbled with a six-point deficit.
England captain Harry Brook was stumped by six runs as his team suffered their first ODI loss against Sri Lanka last week.
But then Brook and Joe Root played key roles in the second ODI as England ended their 11-game losing streak with a five-wicket win in a 50-over match away, reaching their target of 220 with 15 balls to spare on a pitch that had been heavily criticized.
Pitching to watch as England and Sri Lanka face off in the series decider
Brook, who hit 42 off 75 balls, described the slow surface as “the worst I’ve ever played on”, while Player of the Match Root, who top-scored 75 off 90 deliveries, added: “To be brutally honest, it wasn’t a great wicket for ODI cricket.”
However, it was a great result for England. It was Brooke’s first win since he was found attacked by a nightclub bouncer on the eve of an ODI in New Zealand in November. It was Australia’s first win since the Ashes match, where they lost 4-1 due to a series of mistakes.
This takes some pressure off head coach Brendon McCullum and securing a series win on Tuesday (9am UK) would be another step in the right direction ahead of the T20 World Cup, to be held in India and Sri Lanka from February 7. McCullum will likely need to get the tournament going if he is to keep his job amid the post-Ashes ECB review.
England head coach Brendon McCullum is under pressure after the 4-1 Ashes defeat in Australia.
So what will the pitch look like in the series deciding game?
Sri Lanka captain Charice Asaranka is hoping for a similar surface to the first match, but hinted that he doesn’t think the deck for the second match will be as bad as Brook said.
“That was his opinion. Mine may be a little different. If he says this is the worst pitching he’s ever seen, that’s how he feels. But between the two teams, we hit 440 points,” Asaranka told reporters.
Dawson focused on T20 World Cup, not Test recall
Liam Dawson has been named in England’s T20 World Cup squad, with the tournament starting on February 7th.
Left-arm spinner Liam Dawson is on the verge of making his first T20 World Cup appearance after not playing in the 2016 version and then being in the traveling reserves twice, in 2021 and a year later.
The Hampshire player, who took a wicket in each of the first two ODIs in Sri Lanka, said:
“I’m 35 years old and it’s great to be involved again. Of course, if I get selected for the World Cup it would be a really great opportunity and I’m really looking forward to it.”
“It’s exciting to go to the World Cup and play there. We hope to win (the third ODI) and build momentum in the T20 against Sri Lanka so we can go into the World Cup with confidence.”
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Watch Dawson take his first Test wicket in eight years against India in Manchester last summer.
Dawson played his first Test match in eight years at home against India last summer, appearing in the fourth match of the series in Manchester, but was left out of the squad for the final match at Kia Oval and was not selected in the subsequent Ashes squad.
But with England’s first-choice red-ball spinner Shoaib Bashir not playing any Tests in Australia this winter, and part-timer Will Jacks appearing in four matches primarily for batting, is Dawson eyeing another Test recall?
He added: “I’m not thinking too much about it. Obviously I’m going to focus on the T20 World Cup first and then England domestic cricket, so we’ll see how that goes and where we end up in the end.”
“It was fun playing Test cricket again, but sometimes you can’t control the choices you make.”
Watch live text coverage of the third and final ODI between England and Sri Lanka on the Sky Sports app from 8.30am (9am first pitch) on Tuesday.
England in Sri Lanka – Match results and fixtures
always UK and Ireland
1st ODI (Colombo) – Sri Lanka won by 19 runs 2nd ODI (Colombo) – England won by 5 wickets 3rd ODI (Tuesday 27th January) – Colombo (9am) 1st T20 (Friday 30th January) – Palekele (1.30pm) 2nd T20 (Sunday 1st February) – Palekele (1.30pm) 3rd T20 (Tuesday 3rd February) – Palekele (1.30pm)
