Joe Root overcome a long overnight wait to guide England home in their pursuit of Sri Lanka’s 239 in the fifth match of the ODI series. England’s chase was initially delayed by a mid game downpour as the game entered a second day; planned with the World Cup in mind and utilising the rarely used reserve day. When the teams returned, Root superbly guided his side to 240/5 and a win with five balls to spare. His 104* came from just 117 balls and is his third ODI century of the year. He was aptly supported by James Taylor, who backed up his last effort of 90 with a patient 68. That was after England had fallen to 35/2 when Alastair Cook and Moeen Ali were dismissed cheaply by the returning Senanayake. We thought the returning bowler might go alright on his return from international suspension and he delivered an economical spell of 2-35 from his ten overs.
Other than his impact however, the rest of the Sri Lankan attack struggled and the four pronged spin attack lacked the requisite threat to take regular wickets. With wickets in hand England were always favourites and Root’s six to bring up his century was the final nail in the coffin. Ravi Bopara (28) offered another useful contribution, sharing in a partnership of 86 with England’s match-winner.
Before the unusually long rain delay Sri Lanka had stuttered to a below par 239; suffering at the hands of Chris Woakes who returned his best internality cricket figures of 6-47. Sri Lanka got off to the worst possible start when the ‘duck-prone’ Kusal Perera nibbled one to slip third ball of the match. Perera’s last international scores read 0 4 0 59 9 0 31 0. Kumar Sangakkara scored well again, the classy left hander contributed 91 of the local’s total, but he lacked support from his fellow senior players. That may well be due to the fine bowling efforts of Woakes, Chris Jordan (2-56), and James Tredwell (1-35). The trio never allowed the run-rate to get away from them, illustrated by the fact that Sangakkara scored at a strike rate of only 73 and Matthews at only 52.
The win means England stay alive in the seven match series. Luxbet still have them as outsiders to win the series though. They are at $2.30 to pull off an unlikely series win.
England 240 for 5 (Root 104*, Taylor 68) beat Sri Lanka 239 (Sangakkara 91, Woakes 6-47) by five wickets
