Sri Lanka bowlers take another hammering as England return home with a consolation win over their earlier tormentors. BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE. (eLanka Sports Editor)
Sri Lanka showed plenty of spirit in a commendable run chase that saw them fall short by 55 runs against England in Lahore.
The changing trend of the bowlers taking plenty of stick and some sloppy fielding contributed to much of Sri Lanka’s woes while the batters made a bold chase before falling short of a massive target.
The game was of little consequence seeing Sri Lanka are in the final against Pakistan. But a win would surely have put them in the box seat to win the tri-series.
England for their part made amends for a poor showing in the tournament albeit losing two winnable games to Sri Lanka and Pakistan. They returned home with one win in four games.
It’s been a tight series, making the final anyone’s game after Pakistan and Sri Lanka ended with a win apiece against each other.
The surface in Lahore proved to be as unpredictable as its history, as the low scoring game between Pakistan and Sri Lanka yielded only 200 plus runs for 12 wickets after a sensational batting collapse by the home team for 110 in 25.3 overs. Sri Lanka chased it down in 18.1 overs.
England batted first and went on a run spree thanks to a Tom Banton, 74 off 75 balls and Ben Duckett 167 off 132 opening stand that realised 163 runs.
Duckett and skipper Harry Brook then added a further 107 for the second wicket as they feasted on a toothless attack with little effort aided by sloppy fielding by the Lankans.
England posted an imposing 386 for five in their allotment with Duckett leading the way with a magnificent 167 off 132 balls, Tom Banton 74 off 75, Jamie Cox 43 off 27, Will Jacks 30 off 21 and Sam Curran 21 off 12 deliveries.
It set the stage for an unassailable score which Sri Lanka’s batters made a daring effort thanks to emerging superstar Pavan Rathnayake who made another invaluable innings of 118 off 71 balls and a welcome return to form by skipper Kusal Mendis 89 off 71. But their dismissal at crucial stages killed off any chance of a repeat of the sensational chase of 429 in their earlier encounter in Rawalpindi.
Sri Lanka went from six for 315 to 331 all out falling to spinner Liam Dawson 4 for 49 and paceman Sonnny Baker 2 for 75. Sam Curran, Harry Crocombe and Joe Root claimed a wicket apiece.
What Has been heartening from a Sri Lankan perspective though is the welcome return to form by their batters, mainly Pavan Rathnayake whose purple patch continues to breathe belief that a star in world cricket has arrived.
Rathnayake has shot up the world rankings in his short tenure and is definitely a player to watch going forward.
Sri Lanka are also establishing stability from opener Avishka Fernando, Kamindu Mendis and Janith Liyanage apart from Skipper Kusal Mendis giving them the required backbone to the batting that has been fragile for a considerable period.
While England return home with work to do before the World Cup next year, while Pakistan and Sri Lanka will look to boost their image with victory in the upcoming final.
Shaheen Shah Afridi’s team are much like Sri Lanka with their inconsistency. But both cannot be written off on their day.
Sri Lanka’s hope is that the batting depth will be a focus after the last game exposed a lower order that crumbled when the platform was set for a gettable chase.
Sri Lanka’s other concern is the bowling which apart from their last encounter against Pakistan has not been flattering. The fielding which was also impressive against Pakistan was sloppy against England.
Allround consistency against Pakistan will be key to their hopes of taking out the tri-series which in many ways signal their surge to being competitive once more.
A new self belief is certainly noticeable among the current squad.
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