The last time England considered one-day internationals sufficient preparation for an altogether different format — a series in New Zealand before the Ashes — it did not go well. Now, with a T20 World Cup on the horizon, three ODIs in Sri Lanka is again rather odd initial preparation that shows no sign of reversing recent travails given the evidence of this disappointing defeat in Colombo.
Lamentably, England have now won only four of their past 17 ODIs and, Lord only knows how it has come to this, concerns will only grow about their automatic qualification for next year’s World Cup.
It was an important toss for Sri Lanka to win, batting first without hesitation on a slow, spinning pitch, and they showed admirable caution, that could easily have been interpreted as dawdling at the time, to post a competitive total that was constructed on the rock of Kusal Mendis’s 93 not out, but England slipped alarmingly quickly out of the reckoning once an excellent partnership of 117 between Ben Duckett and Joe Root had been broken. Some astonishing late hitting from Jamie Overton, striving for recompense after conceding 23 from the final over of Sri Lanka’s innings, promised the most unlikely of victories, but it was not to be.
Mendis, right, Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper-batsman, finished on 93 not out from 117 deliveries, with 11 fours
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Sri Lanka used four frontline spinners, with the off spinner Dhananjaya de Silva, left-arm spinner Dunith Wellagage and leg spinner Jeffrey Vandersay all outstanding, as England showed some well-worn deficiencies of method and mind against the turning ball.
England themselves bowled 33 overs of spin and introduced their left-arm spinner Liam Dawson as early as the sixth over of the day to emphasise the sort of conditions on offer, but Sri Lanka knew what they were doing in reaching only 49 without loss in their opening powerplay. It was a day for building an innings carefully, revealing the enduring fascination of the 50-over game to the traditionalist in comparison with its unruly, unsubtle T20 cousin.
That said, Sri Lanka had some wobbles. In the first over out of that powerplay, Pathum Nissanka dragged a Sam Curran slower ball to mid-on and soon England were deploying two leg spinners in tandem, with the more experienced Adil Rashid striking first, tempting the left-handed Kamil Mishara into a sweep at a googly pitched outside leg stump that bowled him around his legs.
The veteran Rashid took three wickets as England’s spinners found turn in Colombo
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The tyro Rehan Ahmed, a late inclusion instead of the ill Will Jacks, was initially expensive, with Mendis late-cutting him for consecutive fours so that the leg spinner was taken from the attack after two overs for 12.
The sweep, this time of the paddled variety, also proved the downfall for De Silva, who was palpably leg-before to Rashid. All the while Mendis, having taken 13 balls to get off the mark, was sweeping to much greater effect, moving towards a half-century, but the captain, Charith Asalanka, then also fell to a sweep, top-edging on to his helmet and then straight up off Ahmed, who had returned and begun to find purchase from the surface, particularly with his googly.
21-year-old Ahmed, left, removed the captain Asalanka
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Janith Liyanage was not hanging around, lofting Ahmed over mid-on from just his second ball, and that was the area Mendis targeted off the same bowler to pass 50 off 61 balls, but then Sri Lanka became becalmed, with boundaries drying up to the extent that 42 balls passed without a boundary before Liyanage hit Jacob Bethell down the ground for six.
As with the clichéd London buses the next ball also then produced a boundary, this time a four, even if Zak Crawley should have done better out at deep mid-wicket.
With ten overs remaining, Sri Lanka were 191 for four and Liyanage took his team past 200 with a straight six off Curran’s slowest of slower balls, before gifting Rashid a return catch to end a productive partnership of 88. Unsurprisingly Rashid ended as England’s most successful bowler with three for 44 from his allocation.
In at No9, Overton made 34 from 17 balls, a strike rate of 200, in a late rally but he couldn’t get England over the line
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Pavan Rathnayake chipped Dawson to long off, meaning the spinner finished with superb figures of one for 31 from his ten overs, but on Mendis went, knowing the importance of every last run, remaining unbeaten on 93 off 117 balls. Crucially Overton then conceded 23 in that final over, mainly because of the sparkiness of Wellalage, heading into the break with all the hackneyed momentum.
In response under lights Crawley began by playing out a maiden from Asitha Fernando before edging the same bowler behind in the innings’ third over. It was not an unfamiliar sight.
In his first ODI appearance in more than two years, Crawley fell for six
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But then Root announced himself with a regal cover drive on the up off the skiddy Fernando before taking two classy boundaries in an over from the right-arm seamer Pramod Madushan, as England made 41 for one in their opening powerplay.
Duckett looked thoroughly uncomfortable at the start but gradually found his touch, sweeping and hitting Asalanka’s off spin over mid-on for boundaries.
Root went to 50 off 72 balls, and from the very next ball Duckett passed his milestone too, his coming off 67 balls. The left-hander celebrated by hoisting Mishara’s part-time off spin for six, but, on 62, having put on 117 with Root, reverse-swept at Vandersay, getting so low that the ball hit his hip. He reviewed the affirmative decision, but it was out.
So too, much to many people’s surprise, was the decision against Root when he had made 61. Sweeping at De Silva who was coming from around the wicket, it looked as if the ball had pitched outside leg stump, but technology ruled otherwise and Root was gone, leaving in a huff at something said to him as he did so.
Mendis made two stumpings, removing Brook and Bethell in consecutive overs
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Having been cruising, England’s ship was now listing. Could Bethell, in at No4, and the captain Harry Brook stabilise it? No. Brook was stumped off Asalanka as the ball turned sharply down the leg side. In the next over Bethell was also stumped, this time off Wellagage, and England were 158 for five. Jos Buttler has retrieved some situations in his time, but this was just too much, prompting the argument that he should perhaps have come in earlier.
Buttler was dismissed for 19, having struck the previous ball for six over long off
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Curran was caught and bowled by Wellagage, and England required 105 from the last ten overs. Ahmed swung bravely, with three consecutive boundaries in the 44th over off Fernando, before being brilliantly caught at long off by Wellagage off Vandersay, so when Buttler was bowled in the 46th over, it seemed all over, but Overton somehow conjured a position where he required only 20 from the final over. He was caught off a full toss from the second ball.