England finally tasted victory in a rain-affected 35-over game in Hambanthota when Jos Buttler and Joe Root fashioned a 84-run stand in 63 balls for the 6th wicket as the visitors recorded a 5-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the 3rd ODI played on Wednesday.
England chased down 236 runs in 33.4 overs thanks to a superb partnership by the two young Englishmen. Buttler smashed 55 in 37 balls while Root stroked a run-a-ball 48 after Sri Lanka posted a formidable 1st innings score of 242/8 in 35 overs thanks to half-centuries by Kumar Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne. The 7-match series now stands at 2-1 with the 4th match scheduled at Colombo on 7th of December.
Angelo Mathews won the toss of coin and elected to bat first on a dry surface. England made three changes. Ian Bell, Harry Gurney and James Tredwell were dropped and replaced with Alex Hales, Ben Stokes and Chris Jordan while Sri Lanka took the field without their senior batsman Mahela Jayawardene, who opted out of the match due to personal reasons and was replaced by Thilina Kandamby.
Opening batsman Kusal Janith Perera holed out to Eoin Morgan in the 2nd over off Chris Woakes and then the heavy rain interrupted the proceedings which saw a lengthy delay of two and half hours and the match officials reduced the playing overs to 35 per innings. TM Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara recommenced the innings but the right-handed Dilshan was dismissed for 23 after a flurry of boundaries yet he found the nick of his bat to give a regulation catch to Jos Buttler off Steven Finn. Thilina Kandamby playing his first ODI since 2011 failed to justify his selection when he pushed at a delivery outside off and gave a simple catch to Chris Jordan at slips for no score as Sri Lanka was restricted to 31 for 3.
Captain Marvel – Angelo Mathews and batting legend Kumar Sangakkara got together once again to resurrect the Lankan innings after the top order flopped. Sangakkara became only the fourth batsman in history to surpass 13,000-run mark in ODIs when he crossed 13 runs in his elegant knock of 63. Mathews batted sensibly to negotiate the English bowling during his valiant knock of 37 off 44 balls which came to an end when he nicked a Jordan delivery to the wicket-keeper as the 4th-wicket stand boosted the Lankan surge with 87 invaluable runs.
Lahiru Thirimanne back to his best form played a blinder of an innings after he walked out to the middle in the 21st over as he punished the visitors with elegant and crisp strokes to combine with Sangakkara to help Sri Lanka post an imposing total. The 37-year old batting champion’s exciting knock came to an end in the 26th over handing the 2nd wicket to Jordan when he picked out the mid-on fielder after a superb 62-ball 63. Thirimanne took up responsibility of guiding the tail as he was the main aggressor for the hosts with the islanders plucking out 62 runs from the final five overs as they tested the death bowling skills of the in-experienced English bowling attack.
All-rounders, Jeewan Mendis and Thisara Perera fell cheaply in search of quick runs. Cook’s strategy of using spinners in the final overs backfired when tailender Dhammika Prasad chopped 21 runs in just 8 balls while Thirimanne remained unbeaten on 62 in 47 deliveries with 7 fours after reaching his half-ton in 39 balls. Chris Woakes was the most impressive bowler picking up 3 scalps for 41 runs in his allocated 7 overs.
Chasing a revised target of 236 according to the D/L method, England got off to their best start of the series as out-of-form Alastair Cook picked the middle of his bat to score few elegant strokes while Moeen Ali once again stamped his authority as the go-to opener for the visitors in the forthcoming world cup when he thrashed the Lankan bowlers to all parts of the ground.
Sri Lanka’s ploy of opening the bowling with TM Dilshan flopped this time around as the part-time spinner was taken to the cleaners by Moeen Ali scoring two consecutive sixes off his 4th over and his opening spell produced 31 runs for England. As the visitors were gaining momentum in their chase with both left-handers striking well, Mathews brought Prasad to the attack and the right-arm seamer ran in strong and fashioned the breakthrough for Sri Lanka as Cook edged back to Sangakkara to end his promising knock of 34 as the decent 84-run opening stand set the platform superbly.
Moeen was taking the game away from Sri Lanka with some stupendous clean hitting as he made his half-century in just 29 balls but the chase was derailed when Alex Hales rejected a single to send back Moeen run out for 58. Joe Root and Hales’ stand of 41 runs ended when skipper Angelo brought himself on and caused a middle-order wobble as England lost 3 quick wickets in space of 9 balls. Sangakkara’s brilliant anticipatory move to the leg-side removed the dangerous Ravi Bopara while Mathews out-bounced Eoin Morgan for 1 after Hales played a rash shot to the host’s skipper in the previous over as England went into a hole at 155/5 from 144/2.
Joe Root and Jos Buttler paced their knocks with immense skills as they managed to score 30 runs in the 3-over batting power play while they got the game in the bag when they plundered 21 runs off Dhammika Prasad straight after the field restrictions as the wet ball proved costly for the Lankan bowling effort.
