Woakes inspires England to comfortable ODI win
CHRIS Woakes paved the way for victory and Joe Root delivered it with ease as England cruised to a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first one-day international.
Woakes arrived at the Emirates Riverside having bowled just seven overs for his country in the nineand-a-half months since he was named as England’s player of the year last September, but it was his exemplary bowling that settled matters.
He claimed 4-18 from his 10-over allocation, restricting the weakened tourists to a less-than-competitive 185 all out. Jonny Bairstow scrubbed 43 off the target in a frenzy of boundary-hitting at the top of the order and, after a brief wobble, Root saw the hosts across the line with a polished 79 not out.
The tourists could hardly have imagined a more unhelpful buildup to the series opener, with last week’s Twenty20 whitewash only compounded by the self-inflicted loss of three senior men. With Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka all sent packing following their night out in Durham, the Sri Lankan XI had a mix-and-match feel, with three debutants and an ad-hoc batting order.
Who can tell what would have become of Sri Lanka had captain Kusal Perera joined that ill-fated sojourn. As it was, he was on hand to keep his side afloat with a hardfought 73 and an accomplished stand of 99 with Wanindu Hasaranga. That all-rounder had been thrust up the order to number five and responded with a typically enterprising 54.
Perera was playing a different game to his team-mates in the 10-over powerplay, racing to 32 not out from just 16 balls while England took 3-15 at the other end. Woakes struck twice with the new ball, foxing Pathum Nissanka with a slow bouncer and taking out Dasun Shanaka via a regulation outside edge. In between those strikes David Willey made it a debut to forget for Charith Asalanka, nicking to slip for a duck.
England’s hopes of running through the order were held up for more than 20 overs by Perera and Hasaranga.