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
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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Root takes England to victory
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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 |
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.
