England celebrate after beating Sri Lanka 3-0
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There was to be no happy ending for Sri Lanka in the ODI series against England as Joe Root, Jos Buttler and James Vince all scored half-centuries to not only crush the tourists by 122 runs in the fifth and final ODI Cardiff, but also lead their side to a 3-0 series win.
While Root, Buttler and Vince all starred with the bat, David Willey deserves a lot of credit for the damage he did with the ball as he finished with four wickets.
Being put in to bat first, England got off to a fantastic start as Vince and Jason Roy amassed a 67-run partnership before Roy was dismissed by Suranga Lakmal for 34.
Vince went on to score 51 off 56 balls, which included five boundaries, before he was stumped by Dinesh Chandimal off the bowling of Danushka Gunathilaka.
Vince scored his maiden ODI half-century
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England captain Eoin Morgan could only make 20 before he became Gunathilaka’s second victim, while Jonny Bairstow was Gunathilaka’s third and final victim after making 22.
With England losing wickets at regular intervals, Root and Buttler put an end to that trend with a 109-run stand, during which Buttler brought up his half-century, before he was clean bowled by Chaminda Bandara for 70 off 45 deliveries, which included seven boundaries and a six.
Buttler was named Man of the Match for his entertaining innings of 70
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Root ended up making 93 off 106 balls, which included six boundaries, before he was cleaned up by Nuwan Pradeep.
Root made his 14th ODI fifty
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Liam Plunkett scored nine runs before he was run out by Pradeep, but a quickfire 17 not out from Chris Woakes guided England to 324/7 off their 50 overs.
Gunathilaka was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets, while Bandara, Pradeep and Lakmal chipped in with one wicket apiece.
Chasing 325 to win, Sri Lanka got off to a disappointing start as opening batsman Kusal Perera was trapped lbw off the bowling of Willey for six runs.
Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis made up for the early loss of Perera with a 57-run partnership before Mendis was run out by Buttler for 22.
Gunathilaka went on to score 48 before he was the second batsman Willey removed via lbw.
Following Gunathilaka’s dismissal, Sri Lanka began to collapse as their middle and lower order, with the exception of Chandimal, struggled to deal with England’s bowling attack.
Chandimal tried to keep his side afloat for as long as possible, but his efforts went in vain and he was ultimately sent packing for 53 off 66 balls, which included two boundaries and a six, after being clean bowled by Willey.
Chandimal scored a valiant 53
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After Chandimal was back in the pavilion, it didn’t take long before Sri Lanka were bowled out for 202.
Willey was the most successful bowler with four wickets, while Plunkett snapped up three and Adil Rashid claimed two.
Mathews was less than impressed with his side’s performance, and said: “We’ve been having the same problems, we needed a perfect game to beat the English boys, they outplayed us. It was not a 325 wicket, but unfortunately for us the batting didn’t click either. Our running was very poor in the past five games, we need to work as a team and day-by-day try to improve.”
Morgan was delighted to have secured a 3-0 series win, and said: “We adapted to [the] conditions a lot better. If I’d have known, I’d have gone in with two spinners, but our seamers held their lengths pretty well. A couple of things pleased me, the belief in the changing room has been outstanding, Jason Roy’s individual performances, everyone has contributed with the bat except for myself, which is disappointing, but it’ll come…”
Buttler was named Man of the Match, and said: “I’ve had a little bit of success, so nice to contribute in a fantastic performance and a fitting end to the series for us. Great innings from Joe, we always wanted to get to 300 and knew if we batted our 50 overs we’d get more than that.”
Roy received the Man of the Series award for scoring 316 runs, which included two centuries, at an average of 105.33.
“I’ve been getting 40s and 30s and getting out, so nice to push on,” he said. “I’ve put in a lot of hard work, a lot of respect for the coaching staff.”