A tour to Dante’s Vestibule of Hell would have been less agonising for this Sri Lankan outfit than the one they have taken to England to play six limited-overs games. As things stand, the scoreline reads 5-0 against them after getting thrashed in the second ODI by eight wickets, on Thursday.
Sam Curran’s maiden ODI five-for set up the platform before Eoin Morgan and Joe Root saw off things with an unbroken 140-run stand. They chased down 242 runs with seven overs remaining.
Jason Roy survived an early scare after getting pinned on the leg by a nip-backer from Dushmantha Chameera. Missing the last two games to a stiff hamstring, Roy soon made his intent clear with two fours off Chameera’s next over. The next few overs were sprayed with audacious drives and well-timed flicks, all off Roy’s blade.
Jonny Bairstow, meanwhile, struggled to get into the groove, until he was helped by a juicy full toss from Asitha Fernando in the eighth over. Bairstow creamed it through the covers, and then followed it one more four and a six in that over.
Wanindu Hasaranga finally provided them with a breakthrough, inducing an inside edge off Bairstow that went on to hit the stumps. Things got quieter after that, and Roy adopted a more cautious approach, the next boundary coming only after some four overs.
But once Roy reached his fifty, he began to strike fiercely, hitting back-to-back four off Hasaranga. Dhananjaya de Silva then pulled off a blinder at mid wicket to send Roy back.
Roy’s dismissal sparked a glimmer of hope for the tourists but was dimmed down gradually by the third-wicket partnership between Joe Root and Eoin Morgan.
Morgan finally put an end to his batting woes with a half-century that was long overdue. His stroke-filled 75 comprised eight fours and a six. Root made his second consecutive half-century as England took an unassailable 2-0 lead.
The afternoon, however, was not as calm and orderly. But there was nothing new about that as Sri Lanka’s top-order, having spent more hours in pavilion than on the strip, crumbled once again.
All Curran did was to attack the stumps, and the batters perished one after another. He removed both Kusal Perera and Avishka Fernando in the second over, and then bowled Pathum Nissanka in his next over.
Sri Lanka found themselves reeling on 21/4 by the seventh over. Dhananjaya and Hasaranga then stitched a partnership for the fifth wicket. Dhananjaya was proactive even in the beginning, striking Curran for consecutive boundaries.
Hasaranga (26) became Curran’s fourth victim for the day. Dasun Shanaka (47) then joined Dhananjaya and made vital contribution. The tail wagged, in the end, to drag Sri Lanka’s total to 241/9 in 50 overs.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 241/9 in 50 overs (Dhananjaya de Silva 91; Sam Curran 5-48) lost to England 244/2 in 43 overs (Eoin Morgan 75*; Chamika Karunaratne 1-34) by 8 wickets with 42 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Sam Curran.