Root century and woakes 6 haul leads England to fine victory

England 240 for 5 (Root 104*, Taylor 68) beat Sri Lanka 239 (Sangakkara 91, Woakes 6-47) by five wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Root takes England to victory

Joe Root's third ODI century of the year helped England to a five-wicket victory in Pallekele and maintained their hopes of winning the series against Sri Lanka. 

Root came to the crease after the loss of two early wickets and with his side facing a familiar nemesis: a trial by spin on a dry pitch. But he exuded calm and skill, provided deft touches and powerful blows, and ran like a whippet between the wickets. In partnership with the equally impressive James Taylor, he made light of a testing total and took England to victory with five balls to spare. It was the highest successful run-chase in an ODI on the ground.

Sri Lanka still lead 3-2 with two games to play but England will take great confidence from this side as they look towards the World Cup. Not only did they keep their nerve in spin-friendly conditions in which they have little pedigree, but the chase was built upon the performances of young players with many years in front of them.

Taylor, with his second half-century in succession, and Root, with an unbeaten 104, added 104 for the third-wicket. Whereas, in the past, England's crease-bound batsmen have become bogged down against spin, Taylor and Root were prepared to skip down the pitch and disrupt the bowlers' lengths, rotating the strike well and punishing the poor ball when appropriate.

Taylor led the way. Wonderfully fleet of foot and far more willing to come down that pitch than many of his England colleagues, his ability to find gaps and push for singles rendered it impossible for Sri Lanka to build pressure. And, given any fault in length or width, he showed the power and skill to punish the ball. Tillakaratne Dilshan was driven for six over long-on when the bowler offered flight and, when the inevitable quicker delivery came, Taylor scooped it down to fine-leg for four.

They may have kissed a few frogs on the way to finding a new ODI No. 3 - Taylor is the ninth man tried in the position since the departure of Jonathan Trott - but it seems England have finally found their prince.

Herath out of series Rangana Herath will play no further part in the ongoing ODI series against England after scans revealed a grade two hamstring tear in his left thigh. The injury was sustained at training on Tuesday, and it further clouds his participation in the first Test against New Zealand, which begins on Boxing Day. Though Herath had already been doubtful for that Test owing to personal reasons, he is not necessarily ruled out of the first Test yet. "The hamstring tear is expected to take two to three weeks to recover from, but there is a chance Herath could play in the first Test, because sometimes the recovery can be quick," team manager Michael de Zoysa said. Sri Lanka have plenty of spin cover in the ODI series, but Herath absence will be a significant blow for the Test team, who have relied on him for wickets and control, both home and away. Herath took 14 wickets in Sri Lanka's most recent Test, against Pakistan, and has been Sri Lanka's best bowler in series in Australia and South Africa, in recent years. Sri Lanka are scheduled to finish the fifth Test against England on Thursday afternoon, before playing to more games - one each in Pallekele and Colombo. The team leaves for the two-Test and seven-ODI tour of New Zealand on December 18.

Though his departure - pulling straight to deep backward square leg - provided some hope for Sri Lanka, a sensible and unhurried partnership of 86 in 18.5 overs between Root and Ravi Bopara all but ended the contest.

It is Root's calm that is most impressive. While other players might fret over scoreless periods - he scored only two from his first 13 balls - Root backs himself to accelerate once set and has a range of strokes that provide enough scoring options to give the scoreboard moving. While most of his boundaries came from his cuts, pulls or slog-sweeps - including the six he thumped to bring up his century from 115 balls - his ability to run the ball to third man or drive through cover off the back foot renders it hard for bowlers to control him.

The only cloud on the horizon was the continuing poor form of their captain, Alastair Cook. Reprieved on 8 - replays showed that, had Sri Lanka asked for a review, he would have been out leg before to Sachitra Senanayake - Cook, who came back into the side in place of Alex Hales having served a one-match suspension for England's slow over-rate in the third ODI, was unable to take advantage. Lunging at the ball, with his head falling away, he was never convincing and finally fell to an innocuous delivery that drifted on to his front pad. He has now made one half-century in his last 20 ODI innings and gone 43 innings and 30 months since he reached 80.

At that stage, England were 35 for 2. But, in the absence of Lasith Malinga and Rangana Herath, Sri Lanka lacked the bowlers to exploit England's nerves or the conditions and, with their fielding remaining shoddy, were unable to build any pressure.

Sri Lanka could take some comfort from the return of Senanayake. The offspinner was reported for a suspect action during Sri Lanka's tour of England and was suspended from bowling in July. But after remodelling his action and undergoing tests at the ICC-accredited facility in Chennai last month, was cleared for a return by the ICC on Tuesday and, barely 48 hours later, found himself back in the Sri Lanka side in place of Herath (who has a hamstring injury) and opening the bowling.

Here, with a markedly different action - conventional and beyond reproach - he did not gain much spin, but he did bowl with impressive control and dismiss the dangerous Moeen Ali early, missing with an ugly slog-sweep.

But this was not the most impressive display from Sri Lanka with the bat, the ball or in the field. They may reflect that they simply did not score enough runs. Although Kumar Sangakkara's calm innings provided respectability, he lacked support with Kusal Perera again falling early (he has now failed to reach double-figures in seven of his last 10 ODI innings and, in four of the last eight, he has been dismissed in the first over) and Angelo Mathews top-edging a pull.

Mahela Jayawardene, drawn into pushing at one outside off from Chris Woakes, edged to a well-positioned wide slip position - a nice piece of captaincy from Cook - and while Thisara Perera bashed 27 from 17 balls, Sri Lanka were bowled out with an over of their allocation left unused.

Woakes finished with 6 for 47 - the first five-for by an England bowler in an ODI in Sri Lanka and the best figures by an England bowler in ODIs against Sri Lanka - and took five wickets in his last 17 deliveries as Sri Lanka, heaving to the outfield and missing slogs, collapsed from 199 for 5 to 239 all out.

It was not a perfect performance by England. The 15 wides they delivered here took their total in the five match series to 56 so far and the Cook conundrum will continue to hang over them. But with younger players such as Root, Taylor and Woakes beginning to settle-in, they can look to the World Cup with just a little more confidence.