England completed their home summer with a 2-1 ODI series win over Sri Lanka at the Oval and presented their white ball coach Brendon McCullum with a nice birthday present on his 45th birthday yesterday.
The target of 356 was always going to be a tough chase and Sri Lanka never got started with the bat. Pathum Nissanka fell early to a superb delivery from Sonny Baker found the outside edge, Kamindu Mendis got a big leading edge on the flick and Kusal Mendis then miscued a pull to mid-wicket. The damage was done with the new ball, and the middle-order caved in rather timidly. The only concern for England was the possibility of rain, but they brought in spin and ensured that a minimum of 20 overs were bowled.
None of the Sri Lankan batters showed any application or partnerships of note and they were eventually bundled out for a meagre 132, losing by a whopping margin of 223 runs. Liam Dawson collected three wickets – his best in this format and Gus Atkinson took two.
It was a comprehensive way to wrap things up and the win was England’s fifth biggest winning margin by runs and their eleventh victory out of 13 for Harry Brook’s white ball side this home season. It was also England’s fifth consecutive bilateral ODI series win over Sri Lanka.
Winning the toss and batting first England posted an imposing score of 355-7 on a pitch that had something in it for the bowlers. There was movement and some variable bounce early on, after which the spinners came into play as the innings progressed, with both Dunith Wellalage and Sachindu Colombage finding a fair amount of turn.
England were led by the big 150-run stand off 117 balls between Brook and Tom Banton. Replacing the injured Bethell at the top of the order in this series, Banton grabbed his opportunity with both hands in the series. 70-odd in the previous game, and yesterday a maiden ODI century – 126 off 105 balls (16 fours, 5 sixes). Brook got a good score as well after missing out in the previous game – 77 off 66 balls (9 fours, 2 sixes). Jordan Cox replacing the injured Jos Buttler provided the finishing touches to the innings with a quickfire 76 off 52 balls (6 fours, 2 sixes). Sri Lanka were taken apart in the final 10 overs which went for 104.
Banton was Player of the Match and Will Jacks the Player of the Series.