Bowling trio turn on power as England ease to victory
ENGLAND eased into a 2-0 series lead over Sri Lanka as Eoin Morgan’s unbeaten 58 and a disciplined bowling performance delivered victory in a rain-shortened third one-day international.
The match at Pallekele was cut to 21 overs per innings after play was delayed by almost six hours, but England’s welloiled machine powered through for a seven-wicket win with 15 balls to spare.
Morgan’s half-century was a fourth in his last five knocks but his work was made considerably easier by the efforts of Adil Rashid and the returning Tom Curran.
Rashid claimed four for 36 as the home side were held to 150 for nine, with Curran turning in an exemplary three for 17 after winning the battle to replace the injured Liam Dawson.
Morgan was full of praise for the England attack. He said: “Three of our bowlers were outstanding today.
“Tom Curran coming in, quite fresh. Ben Stokes hasn’t bowled a great deal this tour so far - he did a magnificent job. Adil Rashid, picking up four wickets in a 21-overs game really did halt Sri Lanka’s progress.
“I can’t praise the bowlers enough for the work they’ve done tonight. I thought the guys were outstanding.”
Tom Curran needed just three words to describe being back in England’s dominant one-day side and winning games of cricket - “so, so good”.
He continued: “It’s nice to be back in this team and nice to go 2-0 up in the series after a long day. I just wanted to get out there.”
When play belatedly got under way Sri Lanka’s Niroshan Dickwella hit seven boundaries from his first 12 deliveries and the scoreboard read 55 for nought off five overs.
That was as good as it got for the hosts, though, with their next 16 overs yielding 95 runs and nine wickets.
England’s response began perfectly as Lasith Malinga, ably assisted by an aggressive Roy, donated 17 runs from his first bowling visit.
Left-arm spinner Amila Aponso had Jonny Bairstow caught at mid-off with his second ball then skidding one past a lacklustre press from Joe Root and rocking back middle stump.
Roy and Morgan took some of the sting out of the situation with a calming stand of 46.
Roy fell for 41, caught lbw sweeping Akila Dananjaya.
Morgan did important work, punching regular boundaries between cover and backward point.
Stokes proved a perfect foil, damaging Nuwan Pradeep’s ego with an outrageous over-the-shoulder ramp for six and De Silva’s shoulder with a thunderous stroke that left the bowler needing treatment.
Stokes clubbed the winning six straight down the ground in the 19th over, by which time the pair had put on 73 runs in 57 deliveries.