England’s hopes of going 2-0 up with two to play in their ODI series against Sri Lanka were dashed by the rain in Bristol as the 3rd ODI ended without a result on Sunday.
After restricting Sri Lanka to only 248, their lowest score in the series so far, England were 16 for 1 when the heavens opened.
Earlier, skipper Eoin Morgan won the toss and put the visitors in to bat. The hosts got off to a brilliant start as Danushka Gunathilaka chopped on a delivery which he should have left off David Willey in the very first over.
The English bowlers were tight and they did not give anything away to the fiery top of order of Sri Lanka. Kusal Perera struggled to get going and after facing 25 deliveries for his 9 runs, he top edged trying to sweep across the line to a fuller length delivery by Liam Plunkett.
Kusal Mendis’ brilliant tour continued when he stroked his 2nd ODI in only his 5th game. He reached his half century in just 61 balls. He fell for a well-set short-ball trap by Plunkett when he pulled straight to deep square leg.
Skipper Angelo Mathews and his second-in-command, Dinesh Chandimal once again rescued Sri Lanka from a precarious position as they put on their 5th consecutive 50+ partnership. Mathews was the aggressor while Chandimal kept rotating the strike.
Chandimal picked out Chris Jordan, preferred in the England side to Moeen Ali – at third man as another collapse was triggered. Prasanna failed once again but that was acceptable given the fact that his role is to just go out there and hit some boundaries.
The visitors still had the chance to reach 270+ with Skipper Mathews and in form Upul Tharanga at the crease but Mathews lost his wicket in the 44th over when he top-edged a short ball from Chris Jordan.
Dasun Shanaka once again made a blunder in running while Farveez Maharoof tried to score fast but he too perished in search of quick runs. Tharanga once again proved his worth scoring a valuable 40 but the alarming fact was that there were only two boundaries scored in the last ten overs.
A shower initially delayed the start of England’s reply but Hales was soon back in the shed once it did begin, the opener caught first ball off Suranga Lakmal. However the rain returned and the players were taken off after only 4 overs in the field.
The weather did not improve and after two hours the umpires finally decided to call the game off. England will go into the next match with a 1-0 lead while the visitors will have to win both matches to win the series.
