And with that, we’ll leave you to enjoy your evening. Thanks for reading everyone - a pleasure as always. Join Rob Smyth for the only T20 international on Saturday. Cheers!
And here’s the match report. Some more extensive thoughts from Ali Martin in Colombo will follow.
“We’ll go back to dissecting how we prepare, how we plan,” management speaks Morgan. “We’ll use it as a platform on how to learn.”
Man of the series is Eoin Morgan, collecting a pair of novelty cheques for his own personal success and that of the team. “Sri Lanka took advantage of a very poor day on our part,” says Morgan. “As an exercise [giving some other players a chance] it was tremendously valuable, but we were way out.”
Always weird when the end of match presentations take place indoors. Truly village in a very enjoyable way. Niroshan Dickwella is man of the match for his terrific 95.
So that’s that. A pretty grim performance from top to bottom from England, with the possible exception of Ben Stokes with the bat. But the series was already won, they were without a few key men and this probably won’t mean anything of note beyond this single game. The series ends in a 3-1 victory for England, three of the four results decided by DLS.
Sri Lanka win by 219 runs (DLS)
The sensible call is made, with absolutely no prospect of any further play. That’s England’s highest ever ODI defeat, apparently.
“Let’s see what it looks like in 20 minutes, eh...?”
A torrential downpour has stopped play here in Colombo.
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 23, 2018
Scorecard: https://t.co/Mecuua9gVu#SLvENG pic.twitter.com/kKfn4tShHD
There will almost certainly be no more play today, and as at the start of the last over the DLS par score was 328, I would rate England’s chances as slim.
26.1 overs: England 132-9 (T.Curran 1, Wood 0) - target 367 We’re treated to the delightful sight of Aleem Dar confirming the Plunkett wicket, running off the field with his finger raised high in the air because the skies have entirely opened, dumping fat chunks of rain on the stadium.
WICKET! Plunkett lbw b Dananjaya 5 - England 132-9
The TV pictures are dropping in and out due to weather, but they emerge for just long enough to confirm Plunkett trapped in front. His review was adorably optimistic.
26th over: England 132-8 (Plunkett 5, T.Curran 1) - target 367 More thunder, more Dar nerves. The groundstaff are gathering next to those vast tarps, and the rain is starting.
25th over: England 131-8 (Plunkett 4, T.Curran 1) - target 367 Aleem Dar is rather spooked by some thunder in the Colombo area. So much so that he stops Dananjaya almost in his delivery stride. Only an act of God can stop Sri Lanka now. And even then, they’re ahead on DLS.
WICKET! Rashid Dananjaya 4 - England 129-8
What a weird shot from Rashid. I genuinely can’t work out if he didn’t pick the spin, played down the wrong line, a combination of the two or something else. Whatever, off stump is knocked back and everyone will be going home pretty soon.
24th over: England 128-7 (Plunkett 2, Rashid 4) - target 367 Two runs from an over less eventful than a Counting Crows album.
23rd over: England 126-7 (Plunkett 1, Rashid 3) - target 367 England manufacture a few runs nicely, but this is an administrative exercise from this point.
WICKET! Stokes c Perera b Dananjaya 67 - England 122-7
The end to a fine innings and any modicum of hope England have comes when Stokes - having quite sensibly decided to go big or go home - sticks one straight up in the air and straight to long-on. Ultimately, that might not be a bad thing for England, as it stops the bloody-minded Stokes from doing any damage to himself.
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2nd over: England 122-6 (Stokes 67, Rashid 0) - target 367 “Wish I was watching the Duckworth Lewis par score version of this match,” wistfully wonders Brian Withington. “223-5 off 20 overs chasing 367, a wounded Stokes still at the crease. Game on.” Just a single from a fine over by De Silva.
WICKET! S.Curran c Sandakan b De Silva 2 - England 121-6
Ach, not a great shot from Sam Curran, chipping straight to long-off. That weather might not be much of a factor, as it turns out.
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21st over: England 121-5 (Stokes 66, S.Curran 2) - target 367 SCurran starts off for a run then quickly sends the limping Stokes back, who is charitable enough to laugh when he might have screamed. Just a couple of runs from the over, and apparently there is weather in the Colombo region. Needless to say, if it tipped down from here England are about a billion runs back on DLS.
20th over: England 119-5 (Stokes 65, S.Curran 1) - target 367 Stokes absolutely murders a couple of sweeps - one conventional, one reverse - to the boundary. Foolhardy or no, this is some effort.
Meanwhile, Australia and Pakistan are quite literally playing for a biscuit.
Brighto presents TUC Cup 2018 #PAKvAUS T20I series trophy unveiling ceremony. pic.twitter.com/9i0uPmtSoW
— PCB Official (@TheRealPCB) October 23, 2018
19th over: England 108-5 (Stokes 55, S.Curran 0) - target 367 Stokes gets some proper treatment on that cramping calf. Sam Curran faces his first deliveries of the series, defending Dananjaya stoutly back down the pitch.
“I thought we had agreed that this chaos was caused by Brexit,” quite rightly notes Ian Copestake.
WICKET! Moeen Ali c Chandimal b Danajaya 37 - 107-5
Mo’s eyes light up as Dananjaya tosses one high, but he miscues the shot quite badly and Chandimal does brilliantly to take a catch diving forwards onto the unused pitches, taking all the skin off his elbows in the process.
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18th over: England 107-4 (Stokes 54, Moeen 37) - target 367 Stokes seriously struggling now, crumpling to his knees after one shot. Mo then takes over, not quite nailing a lofted straight drive but gets enough of it to reach the boundary. Then Stokes really does nail one to reach his half century, inside-out to the boundary over the covers. Then there’s four more from a much more delicate shot, a back cut past the slips. Hearty as this effort is, there must be a point where England will conclude that a brave innings in a dead rubber isn’t worth the damage it might cause to Stokes in the medium-long term...
17th over: England 93-4 (Stokes 45, Moeen 32) - target 367 Close! Samarawickrama runs in and around from long-on to take a catch off Mo, but he seems to misjudge it, running around too far to the left and not far enough in from the boundary, and can’t take a diving one. Stokes picks out fielders with a couple of reverse sweeps and there are just two runs from the over.
They’re having a drink. “Maybe not the best day to choose to discuss the merits of Buttler captaining England over Root?” asks Martin Hamilton. “A hefty SL total in spite of lots of bowling options and then a collapse when we bat. Not the ideal audition is it?”
In fairness I don’t particularly think this is down to Buttler’s captaincy: Sri Lanka’s total was a combination of good batting and ropey fielding, while the top-order collapse was a few iffy shots combined with superb quick bowling. It’s possible I’m being charitable, mind...
16th over: England 91-4 (Stokes 44, Moeen 31) - target 367 Another bowling change, with more spin from Lakshan Sandakan. Stokes is still suffering: the commentators seem to think it stems from being hit on the thigh early in his innings, but I’d wager is is cramp. Still, one way to get around the problem of not being able to run easily is to just hit fours, which he does twice: once hoying Sandakan’s loosener over mid-wicket, once fortunately under-edging an attempted reverse sweep past the keeper.
15th over: England 81-4 (Stokes 35, Moeen 30) - target 367 Akila Danajaya has a bowl, and Stokes gets a bit of a leading edge on one but chips it to safety in the off side, collecting two runs. Then mo’ elegance from Mo, sweeping behind square and to the boundary, which is the 50 partnership. Good batting, but you can’t help feeling Sri Lanka have let this one slide from their astonishing start.
14th over: England 74-4 (Stokes 32, Moeen 26) - target 367 Oh Mo! How much do we love you? Lots! Beautiful violence in a shot which it seems rather gauche to describe as a slog-sweep. But in the same way that Monica Belucci can make a bin bag look elegant, so Mo can make a carted sweep over cow corner seem like the most delicious shot in the world. He gets four to exactly the same spot with a slightly less pretty shot, but that’s 12 from the over and the partnership ticks over to 46: terrific effort from the flaming bin these two discovered when they reached the middle.
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13th over: England 62-4 (Stokes 31, Moeen 15) - target 367 Lovely from Mo, flaying an attempted Perera bouncer just behind square for four. Stokes gets the same result from a slightly less elegant version of the same shot, then gets another but a little luckily with an aerially-sliced cut, after Perera spotted him coming down the pitch and banged one in. Still, England won’t care about style points: a valuable over, 13 runs coming from it.
12th over: England 49-4 (Stokes 23, Moeen 10) - target 367 From the Spin to some spin (needs work), as Sri Lanka introduce Dhananjaya de Silva into the attack. He keeps it tight, to the tune of three runs from the over.
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Another shout for the Spin, excellent (as ever) this week by Raf Nicholson on the impending women’s World T20 and the excitement that comes with it.
11th over: England 46-4 (Stokes 22, Moeen 8) - target 367 Stokes doesn’t look entirely happy with life: he’s sweating bullets in the humidity out there, shirt plastered to his chest, and looks like he’s cramping up already. He’s had at least two breaks for fluids, a spray on his hands (to help with the perspiration) and now a banana, throwing in some reasonably extensive calf stretches too. England tick the scoreboard over with five singles from that over.
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10th over: England 41-4 (Stokes 20, Moeen 5) - target 367 Mo plays a few beautiful backfoot drives that you’d be happy to take home to meet your mother, but gets no reward for them, with some unsportingly placed fielders in the way. He collects a run after Chameera switches to around the wicket, and Mo thus has enough of an angle to flick a single off his hips.
9th over: England 40-4 (Stokes 20, Moeen 4) - target 367 Chandimal is enormously unlucky: he belts after a Stokes cover drive, dives full length and looks to have saved a boundary, but the ball just bounced up and hit his right arm as his left touched the ropes. Still sensational fielding. Nobody has a prayer of stopping the next four though, Stokes absolutely Stokesing a pull over mid-wicket. A fielder standing exactly where it went might not have stopped that one.
8th over: England 32-4 (Stokes 12, Moeen 4) - target 367 Whatever the woes of an England cricket fan, they can always be soothed by a Moeen drive - he gives us one of the best, a free-flowing number that belts through point to the boundary. Chameera sends down a short one that Mo hooks at, all the Sri Lankans scream an appeal for caught behind, but the umpire is unmoved.
England: "Oh no, we're going to lose."
— Vithushan Ehantharajah (@Vitu_E) August 28, 2017
...
England: "Hold on – who's that at the door?" #EngvWI pic.twitter.com/wcLFvbNcBx
WICKET! Root c Samarawickrama b Chameera 10 - England 28-4
Root jabs at a cut, doesn’t time it well and Samarawickrama takes a fine catch, diving low in front of him. As with any catch that is within two feet of the ground they go upstairs to check, but he’d got his hands well under it.
7th over: England 27-3 (Root 9, Stokes 12) - target 367 Root flicks a couple through mid-wicket. Although the TV seems to have found an extra run from somewhere. Pretty sure it’s 27-3....
Not out!
Brilliant umpiring from Aleem Dar as it turns out: that looked absolutely cold gone, but he had spotted the ball pitching maybe three or four inches outside leg.
Review! Stokes given not out
Well that looked extremely close. Rajitha thought his man was stone dead lbw, the only thing that can save him is pitching outside leg...
6th over: England 23-3 (Root 6, Stokes 12) - target 367 More problems for Root, in the locating the middle of his bat stakes. He jabs at a couple, has trouble finding a gap but eventually does from the last ball of the over, not quite timing one but still collecting three runs through the covers.
5th over: England 18-3 (Root 2, Stokes 11) - target 367 Root looks...out of touch. A couple of swings and misses, before he seeks the sanctuary of the non-strikers’ end after a mis-timed cut.
4th over: England 17-3 (Root 1, Stokes 11) - target 367 Root starts in unconvincing fashion, but collects a run with an edge along the ground. Stokes picks up two more from a cue-end off a rank long hop, then another four with an identical twin of the leg glance from the previous over. Seven runs from the over! What bounty! Perhaps more of an achievement: England have gone 15 balls without losing a wicket.
3rd over: England 10-3 (Root 0, Stokes 5) - target 367 Stokes is trying to be cautiously positive, if that makes any sense, stepping down the wicket to Rajitha to try and wrest a little control, but he has trouble getting any of his strokes off the square. That said, he times the pants off a leg glance that sprints out to the square-leg fence. “Are you allowed to enforce the follow on in a 50 overs game?” quips Brian Withington.
2nd over: England 6-3 (Root 0, Stokes 1) - target 367 Well, the good news for England is they have two senior players in. The bad news is...everything else.
WICKET! Buttler c Dickwella b Chameera - England 4-3
Oh mercy oh me! WHAT a start! Buttler, captain for the day, shoved up to four in the order to get a bit more time in the middle, lasts two balls, a terrific ball rising on him and it takes the edge through to the keeper!
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WICKET! Hales c Mendis b Chameera 0 - England 4-2
Another! Incredible scenes! Not an incredible shot though, Hales feeling for one just outside off and edging to the slip, where Mendis takes a terrific catch.
1st over: England 4-1 (Hales 0, Root 0) - target 367 Brilliant ball though it was, that was a poor shot by Roy…
WICKET! Roy b Rajitha 4 - England 4-1
Rajitha beats Roy with an absolute blooter first up, pitching on middle, hooping away late, missing both outside edge and the stump by a hair. And not a thick hair either - a thin, whispy hair. Roy, like a man with a new sense of life after a near-death experience, lives to the fullest by creaming a leg glance to the square leg boundary. But that life is then whipped away with another corker, again missing the edge but very much not missing the stumps. Great start for Sri Lanka.
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Hello all, Nick Miller here to take you through the England response....
50th over: Sri Lanka 366-6 (de Silva 19, Dananjaya 18) Tom Curran is entrusted with the final over, and his usual excellence at the death deserts him. Dananjaya slogs a slower ball for six and then offers a simple catch to Moeen at short extra, which is mysteriously dropped. That hands the strike to de Silva, who wallops a six over long-on.
So Sri Lanka finish on a high – their highest ODI score against England. They could have had 400 if they hadn’t offered so much catching practice, but maybe they’d see that as a reasonable price to pay for a much more assertive performance. England were erratic, with both their bowling and fielding – the one understandable, as they gave the reserves an outing, the other not a good look at all. The best facet of their game today has been Buttler’s captaincy. And he may need his own batting, at full throttle, to win this one.
“Apologies to James Taylor,” says John Starbuck, acting as his own fact-checker (46th over). “It turns out it was Mr Batty on Talksport2. My hearing has been very poor since 1954. ‘Tax-free’ is still a good term though.” It is.
That’s it from me – thanks for your company, your emails, your views on Joe Root’s captaincy, and your coinages. Nick Miller will be along in a minute, so do email him.
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49th over: Sri Lanka 351-6 (de Silva 12, Dananjaya 10) I seem to have lost an over somewhere – sorry. Wood’s eighth and last goes for nine as Dananjaya slaps a four through the covers.
48th over: Sri Lanka 342-6 (de Silva 10, Dananjaya 3) de Silva dinks Tom Curran past short third man, where Sam Curran only half-dives. Curran T tells Curran S off, trumping the moment earlier on when Stokes told off his Durham mate Wood for not fielding with total commitment. Curran T then misfields himself, blowing a faint chance of a run-out. The cameras, all, don’t reveal whether Sam allows himself a sly smile.
When it comes to nomenclature at this stage of an innings (45th over), Mike Daniels has a different financial metaphor. “I’ve always heard it called sale time – everything must go.”
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46th over: Sri Lanka 334-6 (de Silva 4, Dananjaya 2) Five singles off Wood, as Sri Lanka retrench. And no wides.
A thought from John Starbuck, who appears to be listening to the radio. “James Taylor on TalkSport has coined a phrase, ‘tax-free’, to indicate the kind of batting where anything goes, towards the end of limited-over games. Not bad, eh? So let’s all start using it to see how fast it catches on.” Not bad indeed. But slightly alarming. If just-retired cricketers are going to come up with classy new phrases, we cricket writers are going to have to start inventing strokes.
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45th over: Sri Lanka 329-6 (de Silva 1, Dananjaya 0) No hat-trick, as de Silva defends, but what a great over at this stage of an innings, or any other stage: two wickets and only two runs. Nasser Hussain is inking Tom Curran into his World Cup squad.
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Wicket! Perera c Hales b T Curran 11 (Sri Lanka 328-6)
Another one! Another slower ball, another slog, another crisp catch by an England opener. So there are two brand-new batsmen to bowl at. And Tom Curran is on a hat-trick...
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Wicket! Chandimal c Roy b T Curran 80 (Sri Lanka 328-5)
Joy at last for a Curran, as Tom’s slower ball persuades Chandimal to offer an easy catch to deep square. And still no individual hundred this year for Sri Lanka – but Chandimal played a fine captain’s innings, switching easily between first and second fiddle.
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44th over: Sri Lanka 327-4 (Chandimal 80, Perera 10) Wood’s over is a weird mixture of wides and decent slower balls, as if he can’t decide whether to be Steve Harmison or Steve Waugh. Still, only three runs from the bat.
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43rd over: Sri Lanka 321-4 (Chandimal 77, Perera 9) Rashid bowls his final over, a landmark that his six colleagues may not reach. Chandimal smacks him for four and Thisara Perera comes to the party straightaway, swishing a six. England are getting a great big dose of their own medicine here. Rashid finishes with 10-0-52-1, less than his just deserts.
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42nd over: Sri Lanka 309-4 (Chandimal 72, Perera 2) Spoilt for choice of seamers, Buttler brings back Wood. Chandimal, sniffing an opportunity, uses his extra pace to flick for four. England have given the batsmen far too many balls to glance.
41st over: Sri Lanka 301-4 (Chandimal 66, Perera 0) Reward at last for Rashid, who’s been the best bowler. And now it’s up to Chandimal to get the individual hundred that has eluded Sri Lanka all day, in fact all year.
“No need to apologise for Brexit shoehorning in my book (35th over),” says Brian Withington. “It is the parable of our days, the weft and weave around our lives. I include a free edition of the Brexit Times in a quarterly missive charting my parallel sponsored journey from the depths of referendum despair to weight loss (shedding the Brussels yoke) and restored personal mobility (outside Schengen area, of course). Between that and the multi-media cricket coverage, I really don’t know where the time goes.” Say what you like about Brexit, it’s a steady source of gallows humour.
Wicket! Shanaka c Roy b Rashid 18 (Sri Lanka 300-4)
Buttler brings back Rashid, who does the trick, luring Shanaka into a skier that is well held by Roy in the deep. Hell of a cameo, though: only 11 balls.
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41st over: Sri Lanka 297-3 (Chandimal 62, Shanaka 18) The runs keep on flowing and now even Plunkett is under the cosh. A cut for four from Shanaka, a swing for six from Chandimal.
Meanwhile, Joe Root is back on the field and OK to bat. He may well have a bruise, and that’s just from your emails.
40th over: Sri Lanka 285-3 (Chandimal 54, Shanaka 13) Perhaps inspired by Mendis, Dasun Shanaka tucks in straightaway, flicking Tom Curran for four and thumping him for four more. After a year of misery, Sri Lanka are finding themselves before our eyes.
More on the captaincy, from Brian Withington. “Buttler gets my vote for whichever captaincy he wants - as long as he relinquishes wicketkeeping in all formats. Not so much a verdict on the additional challenge of captaincy, more an ongoing concern about the quality of his keeping. And let’s face it, his batting should be enough to guarantee his place anyway. In passing, Bairstow to be banned from all contact sport warm-ups. Feeling unusually gung-ho today - must be the effect of watching the Brazilian election coverage.”
39th over: Sri Lanka 272-3 (Chandimal 54, Shanaka 1) That’s a vital intervention from Plunkett, so strong in the latter stages of a one-day innings, and a crying shame for Mendis, who hit no fewer than six sixes and was half-way to one of the all-time great knocks.
“Afternoon Tim.” Afternoon Stephen Brown. “Lovely job today.” Thanks. “Morgan should captain England in Tests as well. He’d have the chops to tell Root to bat at three where he should be too.” Yes, it’s odd that he isn’t mentioned more often – the best captain in England.
Wicket!!! Mendis c Stokes b Plunkett 56 (Sri Lanka 270-3)
Cometh the hour, cometh the man just back from his honeymoon. Plunkett’s heavy ball is enough to send Mendis’s pull into the clouds, and when it comes down, it lands safely in the hands of Stokes.
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38th over: Sri Lanka 268-2 (Chandimal 53, Mendis 54) One Curran, Tom, replaces another, Sam. Kusal Mendis isn’t bothered: he launches a six over long-off, followed by another six flicked off his toes, to go to a spectacular fifty off only 30 balls. A few more minutes of this and England will be in deep trouble.
37th over: Sri Lanka 252-2 (Chandimal 51, Mendis 40) Stokes continues, and so does his red mist as Chandimal flicks him for four, to reach a cultured fifty, and Mendis mows him for six. Stokes has followed two overs for two with three for 32.
The Guardian’s weekly cricket feature, The Spin, is out today, with Raf Nicholson looking at the way the Women’s World T20 has established itself.
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36th over: Sri Lanka 237-2 (Chandimal 46, Mendis 31) Sam Curran bowls five decent balls, for one run, and one stinker, short and anodyne, which Mendis whips for six.
35th over: Sri Lanka 230-2 (Chandimal 46, Mendis 24) Stokes continues, England’s fielding gets ragged, and so does Stokes’s fuse. He finishes the over by fielding himself and hurling the ball into the ground. Try telling Stokes this is a dead rubber.
“Over 18,” says Clifford Webb. “I should like to nominate you for inclusion in today’s Brexit shoehorn award. Not only irrelevant to the subject, but also inserted into someone else’s quote.” Ouch. “Fantastic effort, well worthy of recognition.” It was an attempted joke. But Clifford, you have powerful allies: my wife has banned me from mentioning Brexit.
34th over: Sri Lanka 224-2 (Chandimal 42, Mendis 22) Sam Curran starts his over with a long hop, slapped away for four by Chandimal, to bring up a fizzing fifty partnership. Nine off the over.
“On the question of Root as captain,” says Geoff Wignall, “two points seem obvious. One is that his captaincy has been competent at its best and suspect at other times.The other is that either his batting has been damaged by the captaincy or it’s worsened of its own accord, to an extent where he can no longer be considered as unarguably the side’s best batsman. The former seems much more likely. As you say, there is now a clear alternative in Buttler, so surely it makes sense to try that option.” Root’s just been hit on the hand, which may be a case of adding injury to insult.
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29th over: Sri Lanka 187-2 (Chandimal 24, Mendis 3) Chandimal likes that reverse sweep so much, he immediately tries another one – and gets a six. That’s the first boundary off Rashid for ages. Nasser Hussain, whose strokemaking was a little more sedate, is in awe.
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33rd over: Sri Lanka 215-2 (Chandimal 34, Mendis 21) Buttler gives Stokes a second successive over for the first time, and may regret it as a slow bouncer to Chandimal yields only a top-edged four, and a knuckle ball to Mendis goes for six over long-on, with Stokes berating himself furiously for getting it wrong. That’s drinks, with Sri Lanka back on top after a wobble.
32nd over: Sri Lanka 204-2 (Chandimal 29, Mendis 15) If anyone can manage a seven-prong attack, it’s Buttler, who keeps making interesting changes. Now he brings back Sam Curran, a show of faith that is rewarded with a three-run over.
“Ah, Moeen,” says Andrew Benton, “he’s the main man. Cricket’s a bowlers’ game. But perhaps he’s the only man, everyone else in the England side seems to have gone home. Due to the change of captain? Or general series-victory-already-secured lack of zing. Bring on that swinging pendulum!”
31st over: Sri Lanka 201-2 (Chandimal 27, Mendis 14) Needing to push the plug back in, Buttler recalls Stokes, who does the business with another one-run over. It’s almost as if he feels insulted by being the fifth seamer.
30th over: Sri Lanka 200-2 (Chandimal 26, Mendis 14) Mendis, who’s been playing second fiddle, leaps into the limelight with a pull for four and a sweep for six. A lovely way to bring up the 200.
So, should Root give up the captaincy? He’s clearly not about to, straight after beating the world’s top Test team by the apparently thumping score of 4-1. But I do feel he, and England, might have been better off if he had turned it down in the first place. After Cook, England needed a natural leader, not just the best batsman. In Buttler, they now have a realistic alternative, and, for me, Root is more of a Tendulkar than a Ganguly. Anyone else?
28th over: Sri Lanka 178-2 (Chandimal 16, Mendis 2) Sri Lanka need a boundary and Chandimal finds one, with a reverse sweep off Moeen that is swift and decisive. Stick that in your textbook.
27th over: Sri Lanka 172-2 (Chandimal 9, Mendis 1) Buttler takes Stokes off, despite his exemplary start, and brings back Rashid, who responds with five dots to Chandimal. You can see the pendulum swinging.
An email from OB Jato. “Even though he isn’t doing anything significant in the middle at the moment, it would be fair to shine some light on Joe Root, especially because one of his contemporaries is on the verge of 10K ODI runs. Root has had a sudden revival in limited overs form ever since the ODI series against India. Until on a road in the last Test match, he was below par in the five match series. Since he is seemingly doing better without the burden of captaincy in LOIs, maybe he should give up the captaincy in Tests? Everyone in the team might deny a problem, but playing without any burden on his shoulders would do him some good. Personally, what do you think about this pesky matter?” Answer in a moment.
26th over: Sri Lanka 170-2 (Chandimal 9, Mendis 1) So Moeen has two wickets, and Dickwella is kicking himself. As well as catching the eye, he dominated the strike, so Chandimal has only faced ten balls and England have the chance to bowl at two batsmen who are not settled.
Wicket!! Dickwella c Root b Moeen 95 (Sri Lanka 168-2)
What a shame. Dickwella goes for the big yahoo when he really doesn’t need to, gets a thick edge, and gives the simplest of catches to backward point. A sad end to a superb innings.
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25th over: Sri Lanka 166-1 (Dickwella 94, Chandimal 7) Buttler finally turns to Stokes, who reels off five dots to a batsman at the top of his game. Morgan comes on as 12th man, for Moeen, forgets that he’s not captain and starts moving fielders around, which may test Buttler’s cool temperament.
24th over: Sri Lanka 165-1 (Dickwella 93, Chandimal 7) Moeen’s mid-on comes up, so Dickwella dances down and punches the ball past him, to ease into the nineties. And then Chandimal is dropped by Tom Curran at long-on. His legs do everything right but his eye is off the ball when it hits his hands. The Currans’ family outing, so far, has been no picnic.
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23rd over: Sri Lanka 158-1 (Dickwella 87, Chandimal 6) So Dickwella survives, and he celebrates by missing a reverse sweep in such a whirl that Buttler misses the ball too, and it goes for four byes.
Not out!
It was doing too much, missing the leg stump. Great review.
Review! Dickwella given out
Rashid and Buttler secure the raised finger as Dickwella plays outside a leg break (off break to him), but he reviews as confidently as he’s been playing...
22nd over: Sri Lanka 151-1 (Dickwella 84, Chandimal 6) Buttler is trying to whizz through the middle overs with his spinners, and it’s half-working: Moeen at least avoids being hit for four.
21st over: Sri Lanka 146-1 (Dickwella 80, Chandimal 5) Another fine over from Rashid, who sees Dickwella shaping to reverse sweep and beats him outside off, nearly giving Buttler a stumping. With figures of 5-0-22-0, Rashid has been a beacon.
20th over: Sri Lanka 143-1 (Dickwella 78, Chandimal 4) So here’s Dinesh Chandimal, the captain. He’s been short of runs but he starts briskly, feeding off the confidence of the openers.
Wicket! Samarawickrama b Moeen 54 (Sri Lanka 137-1)
Gone! “In sport, anything can happen,” says an advert, and Moeen has just proved it by bowling Samarawickrama, barely disturbing the bail, so there’s confusion all round, exacerbated when Buttler fumbles what might have been a stumping chance. But out it is: end of a fine innings, and an excellent opening stand.
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Review!
For bowled, bizarrely – Samarawickrama facing Moeen. Looks out...
19th over: Sri Lanka 137-0 (Dickwella 73, Samarawickrama 54) Adil Rashid is playing in a different game, one in which England are still the top team in the world. In four overs, he has conceded only one four, whereas his teammates have gone for 18 in 15.
18th over: Sri Lanka 132-0 (Dickwella 73, Samarawickrama 54) Plunkett continues to suffer as Dickwella gets out the bludgeon (back over the bowler’s head) and then the feather-duster (a flick between the keeper and fine leg, who isn’t fine enough).
Abhijato Sensarma is right back at me. “Thank you for answering my enquiries.” It’s a pleasure. “I’m a fifteen-year-old student and not a reporter :) but that good old a), b) and c) do get under my skin too because of their appearances on my question papers.” Ah yes, exams: journalism for kids.
“As for the selection of five seamers, it is indeed quite baffling. Maybe one justification could be they wanted to give some game time to everyone (even though Denly’s spin should still be in the team, if he’s any good). Something tells me that if good old Mo gets enough purchase on the surface, Joe Root could be called in to bowl a long spell and keep the economy down.” I thought that was Brexit’s job. “At the moment, however, they must get through the openers. Even the edges are on Sri Lanka’s side today. Considering they have good finishers, their improvement in strike rotation is a pleasing sight. Maybe Jos needs to shed the gloves and take the wicket himself. After all, he is Superman, as he proved to Indian fans this summer!”
17th over: Sri Lanka 122-0 (Dickwella 64, Samarawickrama 51) A fine over from Rashid, who beats Samarawickrama with the googly and would be asking for a review if this was a Test match. And that’s drinks, with Sri Lanka well on top, and showing themselves how they should have played the whole series.
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16th over: Sri Lanka 119-0 (Dickwella 62, Samarawickrama 51) With his fifty in the bag, and now his mate’s too, Dickwella starts having a laugh: a flick for four, a scoop for four more, both off Plunkett, who’s usually hard to get away.
“Is it cowardly,” asks Bob O’Hara, “to pray for rain?” Nice one.
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15th over: Sri Lanka 107-0 (Dickwella 52, Samarawickrama 49) Several singles off Rashid, the first of which brings Dickwella a fine fifty.
“To be honest,” says Dave Brown, “I can’t understand the Joe Denly pick, and I’m a Kent supporter. His average of just under 35 for the season isn’t exactly kicking the selectors’ door in. Yes, I know he bowls a bit of useful leg spin but surely this can’t be a deal clincher for a top-three batsman.” Not normally, but England’s Test team don’t have a top three at the moment – they have Cook who’s retired, Jennings who’s only still there because Cook’s retired, and Moeen filling in, manfully.
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14th over: Sri Lanka 101-0 (Dickwella 49, Samarawickrama 46) Liam Plunkett comes on, fresh from his honeymoon in America, part of which he spent bowling in a baseball diamond. Alone, we assume, though maybe his bride formed an audience of one, like Meghan for Harry at the Sydney Opera House. Plunkett almost persuades the batsmen to concoct a run-out, but Stokes can’t hit the stumps, and that’s the hundred partnership off 82 balls.
13th over: Sri Lanka 94-0 (Dickwella 45, Samarawickrama 44) Buttler turns not to Stokes but to Adil Rashid, and as a captain he is attacking enough to post a slip – Morgan would approve. Tidy start from Rashid, but the batsmen are seeing it well and still pick up a couple of twos and a single.
So, some answers for Abhijato, picking up on the previous over. (a) Hard to set a par score before a wicket falls, but I’d say 330. (b) Yes, some rust, but also some bad luck, a good pitch, and some very good batting. (c) As an Englishman, I don’t know much about Denly either. He’s the latest hunch from Ed Smith, the new national selector, who has done very well with Buttler and Sam Curran, and quite well with Rashid. Denly was picked for the Test tour, so that’s why he is waiting his turn today. But the five seamers do seem a strange decision.
12th over: Sri Lanka 89-0 (Dickwella 43, Samarawickrama 41) Tom Curran goes for a few singles and a two.
Stone the crows, there’s an email that is not from John Starbuck. “The strokemaking is entertaining by itself,” says Abhijato Sensarma, “but I must confess that I have turned up the volume of my telly just to enjoy the background music more. The crowd is really into it, and so am I! The festive music throughout the series adds to the uniqueness of cricket in Sri Lanka. One gets the feeling that the music will play long into the night if the Sri Lankans win today.
“About a more pressing issue on my mind, however... Perhaps it’s too early to say, but (a) What looks like a par score on this pitch? (b) Has the English bowling been sporadic because of change in personnel, who would be understandably rusty, or is the pitch just too flat for their length to err slightly? (c) As an Indian, I don’t know much about Joe Denly; how good is he, and in your opinion should he have been in the revamped line-up today?”
Ah, the old (a), (b) and (c). Are you by any chance a journalist? Answers in a minute.
11th over: Sri Lanka 83-0 (Dickwella 39, Samarawickrama 39) Moeen is getting some turn, and even a puff of dust, which doesn’t bode well for England’s innings. The Sri Lankans aren’t fazed. Dickwella plays a reverse sweep, nicely controlled, which deserves more than two; Samarawickrama dances down the track to chip for four. What can Buttler do? Send for Stokes, maybe.
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10th over: Sri Lanka 72-0 (Dickwella 35, Samarawickrama 33) Tom Curran, showing his stomach for the fight, brings out his loopy slower-ball yorker, and comes close to befuddling Dickwella. Shades of the only ball Moeen has faced in this series, a lethally slow thing from Malinga. That’s a fine over, going for a mere two, but Sri Lanka still finish the Powerplay well on top.
9th over: Sri Lanka 70-0 (Dickwella 34, Samarawickrama 32) Buttler, who may be wondering why on earth he agreed to have five seamers in his team, turns to spin, in the form of Moeen Ali. He manages to get through an over without a boundary.
8th over: Sri Lanka 65-0 (Dickwella 30, Samarawickrama 31) Different Curran, same result. Tom replaces Sam, Samarawickrama chips him over cover, and Dickwella picks out the same spot with much the same shot, except that he’s a left-hander so cover has become midwicket. We’ve had 13 boundaries already, eight of them off the Currans, and this is now the highest opening stand of the series, for either side. The challenge for the batsmen is to turn it into a big one.
7th over: Sri Lanka 55-0 (Dickwella 25, Samarawickrama 26) Dickwella lofts Wood for four over long leg, whips him for two, and then plays a delicious scoop for four more. The two brings up the 50 partnership off only 39 balls. It’s been one third streaky, two thirds superb.
6th over: Sri Lanka 45-0 (Dickwella 15, Samarawickrama 26) Buttler keeps Sam Curran on, and Curran goes round the wicket. It almost works, as Samarawickrama plays with both his edges. A slash outside off should go for one or two, but Wood makes a hash of his dive. A Harrow cut could easily clip leg stump, but instead flies to the rope. So Curran has figures of 3-0-27-0 when it could easily be 3-0-20-1.
Just when you think nobody is ever going to email you again, up pops John Starbuck. “Going by the local weather forecasts,” he argues, “you’d expect the impending rain to influence conditions and allow plenty of swing for the quicks, but this seems not to be the case. Is there an even more local effect in Colombo or is it like that all over Sri Lanka? If the grass is dry rye there won’t be a lot of pace off the pitch either; so why not use all the spin options? It used to work for India.”
5th over: Sri Lanka 37-0 (Dickwella 15, Samarawickrama 18) Wood restores order for half an over, then Dickwella plays a flick-pull, rather unconvincingly, and a checked pull that is much more solid. Two more boundaries, and Sri Lanka, for once, are in charge.
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4th over: Sri Lanka 28-0 (Dickwella 7, Samarawickrama 18) Dickwella hits a four too, with the first contender for shot of the day, easing Curran through the covers. And suddenly the floodgates open. Samarawickrama plays a slog over cover, a far more elegant drive, and a crisp flick off the hip, all for four. That’s 17 off the over: wham, bam, thank you Sam.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 11-0 (Dickwella 2, Samarawickrama 6) Wood finds his radar, and with it the edge of Samarawickrama’s bat – but the ball goes wide of the two slips and Wood’s pace propels it to the rope. Which spoils what might have been a maiden.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 7-0 (Dickwella 2, Samarawickrama 2) Buttler hands the other new ball to Sam Curran, not Tom. The two of them become the first brothers to play for England since the Hollioakes, also from Surrey, also great to watch. Sam celebrates by beating Dickwella with a beauty, curling away and nipping back off the seam.
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1st over: Sri Lanka 5-0 (Dickwella 1, Samarawickrama 1) It’s Mark Wood to get the party started. He races in off his new longer run-up... and bowls a wide. His second ball is better, swinging back into Dickwella’s off stump, and going for a single off a thick inside edge. Another single, another wide, and finally a couple of dots. Wood is flying in his follow-through – he just needs to get away from the left-hander’s pads.
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Those teams in full
Lasith Malinga, who started this series in style, is rested. His place goes to Lakshan Sandakan, who’s a bit different – a left-arm wrist spinner.
Sri Lanka Dickwella (w), Samarawickrama, Chandimal (c), Mendis, de Silva, Shanaka, Perera, Dananjaya, Sandakan, Rajitha, Chameera.
England Roy, Hales, Root, Buttler (c, w), Stokes, Moeen, Sam Curran, Rashid, Plunkett, Tom Curran, Wood.
Toss and teams: Sri Lanka bat, Morgan rested
Eoin Morgan, the man of the series by a mile, is so good he decides to rest himself, so Jos Buttler captains England today. He calls wrong and Dinesh Chandimal takes first use of what looks like a good pitch. Buttler says he would have bowled anyway, “with a bit of weather around”.
England play a game of musical seamers: Liam Plunkett, Mark Wood and Sam Curran come in for Woakes, Stone and Morgan, so the Currans appear together for the first time in an international, and Buttler has seven bowlers up his sleeve.
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That’s enough questions. Play starts at 10am UK time, so I’ll bring you the toss and the teams in about a quarter of an hour. In the meantime, do email me.
Preamble
Morning everyone and welcome to the fifth and final one-day international in Colombo. Is this match (a) a bit of a drag, as a sodden series turns into a dead rubber; (b) a bit of an experiment, as we establish whether England’s best-ever one-day team can still win on DLS with a cast of understudies, or (c) a bit of a laugh, as Joe Denly hopes to return to international cricket after a 383-match lay-off?
Actually, no rubber can ever be pronounced dead, as Alastair Cook and Jimmy Anderson showed in the Oval Test. There are always some live issues. Can Sri Lanka, who have gone from the bottom of ODI cricket to the top and back again, find their way? Can Mark Wood touch 90mph again and see off Olly Stone? Can Moeen Ali face a ball in this series without getting out? Can England field both the Curran brothers at once, or are they, in fact, the same fresh-faced young man, bowling right-arm in one-dayers and left-arm in Tests?
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