Buttler serves up epic finish but it’s agony for England
JOS BUTTLER produced one of the great one-day innings at Lord’s yesterday but it was not quite enough for England to pull off their highest one-day international run chase on home soil and win their first series under new management in glorious fashion.
Instead, Sri Lanka pulled this fourth one-day international out of the fire in a thrilling finish to level a series of extremes at 2-2 with Tuesday’s game at Edgbaston to come.
It looked certain that England were stumbling towards another heavy defeat in this Royal London series when they stumbled to 111-5 in search of 301 to win with less than 22 overs of their reply remaining.
Yet Buttler, first in company with Ravi Bopara and then with Chris Jordan, went so close to upsetting the odds with a brilliant 121 off only 74 balls, the fastest one-day international hundred Lord’s has ever seen, only to fall agonisingly short of an historic triumph.
Somehow Buttler, with his extraordinary array of shots and improvisation, got the target down to 92 off the last 10 and then 12 off the last over, which was handed to one of the best ‘death bowlers’ in the world, Lasith Malinga.
The experience and nous of Malinga proved too much for England, with Buttler run out trying to scramble a single from a perfect yorker as Sri Lanka won an incredible game by seven runs.
There had been no sign of the drama to come as England displayed many of the shortcomings that have bedevilled their one-day cricket. If they thought Sri Lanka would be shellshocked after being blasted out for 67 in Manchester then they were to be disappointed as the application and determination the tourists showed when winning in Durham returned after they were inserted by Alastair Cook.
England’s biggest problem with the ball was appearing to settle for containment rather than trying to be penetrative, with Cook reluctant to replicate the attacking field placings that played a part in that Old Trafford one-day success.
Sri Lanka had dropped the struggling Lahiru Thirimanne down the order and his opening replacement, Kusal Perera, got them off to a flying start which laid a platform for them to gather momentum. Tille- keratne Dilshan signalled his intent with two trademark scoops over his head for four off successive balls from Jimmy Anderson, while Kumar Sangakkara found his fluency after a stuttering start.
The two veterans, with a staggering 652 ODI appearances between them, knew precisely how to build a 50-over partnership in favourable conditions and England, who have looked a bowler short in this series, lacked the options to test them.
Sangakkara moved through the gears towards the first hundred at Lord’s of his long, distinguished career, while Dilshan became a little bogged down before he was bowled by Anderson attempting one scoop too many.
Once the pair had added 172 for the second wicket, England were sure to be facing a big target but at least they pegged Sri Lanka back to an extent as they ended their innings on precisely 300-9 when 330 had looked more likely.
Jordan, who has earned two manof-the-match awards in this series, had a less impressive day and overdid the short bowling that had played such a part in his success.
Harry Gurney was the pick of England’s attack and ended up with four wickets as he continued his steady but not yet spectacular impact in his first full ODI series.
England have never successfully chased 300 in a home one-day international and Cook and Ian Bell fell cheaply to the enduring brilliance of Malinga. Their batsmen both failed to reach the boundary and struggled to get on top of the mystery spin of Sachithra Senanayake and Ajantha Mendis. So lacking in purpose were England that at one stage they went a staggering 130 balls without a boundary.
They looked old-fashioned, outdated and under-strength — at least until their innings was turned on its head after Morgan became the fifth wicket at 111.
England are convinced their top order can adapt to any one-day conditions and that they do not need the explosive hitting of Alex Hales, but the methods of their top four will only get them so far on surfaces like this at the World Cup in Australia next year.
Only when Buttler joined forces with Bopara did England show any invention and energy, with the innovative batsman-keeper finding the gaps and the power that eluded Gary Ballance and Joe Root.
At first it seemed the pair would just bring a bit of respectability to what looked like another one-sided game but the longer their stand went on the more Sri Lanka’s nerve-ends began to fray.
Bopara played the supporting role as they added 133 off 16.2 overs but his running between the wickets was brilliant and he could not believe it when he top edged an attempted sweep off Mendis.
It was a significant blow but when the dust settles, England should dwell on the best demonstration yet of Buttler’s supreme talent, rather than their narrow failure here.