A beautiful batting surface and a greased lightning outfield made this second one-day international wildly different from the first 48 hours earlier. Unfortunately for England, on the wrong end of a thriller, the result was wildly different too. Set 322 to win, and boosted by a rapid-fire 143-run opening stand between Ben Duckett and Tom Banton, England had appeared on course to wrap up the series with a match to spare.
But Sri Lanka refused to give up, delivering a famous shutout and profiting from an injury to Jos Buttler to win by 16 runs. It was agony for Buttler, who had earlier pulled up with a hamstring problem on 66 when the equation was 68 to win off 75 balls. Re-emerging when this became 27 needed off 14, the 36-year-old was unable to run singles, watched Will Jacks hole out for 52, and then eventually perished himself in the final over.
As it is, the series now heads to a decider at the Oval on Sunday that Buttler will miss and where Sri Lanka will be buoyant. Their captain, Kusal Mendis, had delivered a sparkling 121 from 100 balls, before Dunith Wellalage’s three-wicket haul and a fine display of death bowling brought a run of four defeats on tour to a juddering halt. They were electric in the field.
You can’t dwell on that too much. I don’t think he ever had any doubt in his mind. It was a matter of when we were going to send him out really.
Having the opportunity to play in a decider will only benefit us.” Headingley may have been bathed in sunshine for much of the day but half-full stands perhaps said something about the appetite for September internationals in this part of the world. Although try telling that to the Sri Lankan supporters, who outnumbered those of Pakistan during the recent Tests and loved every minute. Their afternoon was lit up by Kusal Mendis and was aided by a string of useful cameos from his teammates.
Plenty was loaded in the favour of the batters but the right-hander’s innings was no less thrilling, with 14 fours and three sixes pinging sweetly off the bat to seal his first international century on English soil. One crucial chance came and went for England, however, when a top-edge off Jamie Overton sent one high into the sky on 17, Gus Atkinson misjudged the ball’s trajectory in the deep and it spilled out of his hands. Had it stuck, England’s task with the bat would probably have been far more straightforward.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
