Curran haul brightens rain-ruined final match of ODI series

Tom Curran enjoyed his most productive England performance for more than two years in a rainruined final match against Sri Lanka but insisted a lack of wickets had not been weighing on his mind.

Curran took four for 35 as the tourists were dismissed for 166 in the third Royal London ODI, a feebly below-par score but one England were prevented from chasing by an afternoon deluge in Bristol.

An abandonment was probably the best Sri Lanka could hope for, sparing them a second successive 3-0 whitewash, having already been routed by the same scoreline in the T20 format.

For England, and the fans in attendance, it was a perfunctory flex of their limited-overs muscles, brightened by the elder Curran brother's figures, which were a welcome tonic after a lengthy struggle to impact games.

In 11 appearances since his last four-wicket haul in 50-over cricket, taken against Pakistan just before the 2019 World Cup, he had drawn a blank on nine occasions.

But while there is no doubting the scalps of Oshada Fernano, Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne and Binura Fernando put a very visible smile on his face, he has not been questioning his ability.

"Guys will say I haven't had a good run of form, but I've felt pretty good about my bowling," he said.

"I've felt pretty good within my own skin. The back end of last summer, I guess that's where the run of no wickets started, but I felt I was doing a good job for the team and bowling tight. You need a bit of luck, but I don't feel I'd been bowling badly at all.

"It is nice to get wickets today, but I haven't felt the real need for wickets. I guess it's a funny game, sometimes you bowl really well and don't get a wicket, other times you can cash in with some average balls."