{"id":908103,"date":"2026-09-28T03:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T03:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/908103\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T03:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T03:24:11","slug":"england-demolish-sri-lanka-in-odi-series-decider-as-banton-bashes-maiden-ton-cricket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/908103\/","title":{"rendered":"England demolish Sri Lanka in ODI series decider as Banton bashes maiden ton | Cricket"},"content":{"rendered":"

A dysfunctional summer ended on a brighter note for England as Tom Banton\u2019s eye-catching maiden international century and some masterful finishing from Jordan Cox propelled them to a one-sided victory against Sri Lanka in this one-day international decider.<\/p>\n

The neurosis had chiefly centred around the Test team, in fairness, with Harry Brook\u2019s white-ball sides on something of an upward trajectory in 2026. Hence Brendon McCullum was relieved of only half of his duties as head coach in July.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless the sight of Banton, 126 from 105 balls, and Cox, 76 from 52, helping to put 355 for seven on the board, before Sri Lanka were derailed for 132 all out in 29.1 overs, said something about what is coming through. Had Jacob Bethell and Jos Buttler been fit, both would have been running the drinks in all likelihood.<\/p>\n

Brook provided a bit of \u00adinspiration himself, cracking 77 from 66 balls before overseeing Sri Lanka\u2019s disintegration. The call to bat first in a match starting at 10.30am in \u00adSeptember also went against the norm but ended up securing a 2-1 scoreline \u2013 \u00adEngland\u2019s sixth bilateral series win in \u00adlimited\u2011overs cricket this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving not played too much 50-over cricket, you forget how long you have got to bat,\u201d Banton said. \u201cThe tempo, hitting a few \u00adboundaries but going up and down the gears \u2013 there were periods they bowled well and I had to respect that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an \u00adamazing few hours. I got close the other day [73 at \u00adHeadingley] and got out at an important time. I\u00a0came\u00a0here\u00a0today committed to what I have been doing. To finally get over\u00a0the line with a hundred is difficult to\u00a0put into words.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a raw team by the end. The loss of Buttler with a hamstring injury meant Joe Root was the only England player north of 50 one-day caps. And at the end of a long season that saw him thrust back into Test captaincy came the dismissal that has haunted his summer, trapped lbw by a medium-pacer in Janith Liyanage.<\/p>\n

But as much as Root will be pon\u00addering this glitch as he heads into a six\u2011week break before the white\u2011ball tour of Australia \u2013 nine of his 13 \u00addismissals this summer have involved the ball thudding into his pad \u2013 perhaps it was for the best that England\u2019s well-judged total was driven by the rookies learning 50-over cricket on the job.<\/p>\n

Take Banton, who before this match had played just three List\u00a0A games in the past five years \u2013 two of which were last week. Not that you would have known it in a 150\u2011run third\u2011wicket stand alongside Brook during which the long-levered right\u2011hander matched his captain by way of aggressive 360-degree strokeplay.<\/p>\n

Banton ransacked 16 fours and five\u00a0sixes overall, his half-century \u00adcoming off 51\u00a0balls and three-figures just 44 more. Nerves were pretty \u00adnonexistent as the milestone came into view, Banton dancing down to the spinner Dunith Wellalage and \u00adcreaming him through extra cover to trigger a deserved standing ovation.<\/p>\n

Jordan Cox made an explosive 76 from 52 balls during England\u2019s victory. Photograph: Stu Forster\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

What happens when Bethell is fit may not just be a question for the Test side and it was not a great day for Ben Duckett to endure a fifth\u2011ball duck. That said, even in a topsy\u2011turvy summer across formats that ended bowled by a ball from Dilshan \u00adMadushanka that swung away and nipped in, the left-hander was \u00adcoming off a fluent 67 in Leeds and 141 against the might of India at Lord\u2019s mid-season.<\/p>\n

Buttler remains a lock in the side, fundamentally, although Cox has seen his stock rise significantly this season. Arriving at 218 for three in the 35th over \u2013 Brook having \u00admis\u2011timed his latest attempt to clear deep \u00admidwicket \u2013 he initially took a look, going at a run a ball to reach 30\u00a0before accelerating at the death. His half-century was also his first in List\u00a0A cricket, this his 10th match in the format.<\/p>\n

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Like Banton, who had earlier shown his strong wrists with a reverse-swept six, Cox was full of innovation for his six fours and two sixes. The pitch was already offering turn but Cox was equal to it, while his wicketkeeping to the spinners also impressed later on \u2013 although he did\u00a0risk undoing Jofra Archer\u2019s direct\u00a0hit to run out Pavan \u00adRathnayake by \u00addisturbing the stumps before the ball hit the target.<\/p>\n

Tom Banton shows his delight after reaching three figures in the win against Sri Lanka. Photograph: John Sibley\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n

That incident was the main \u00adtalking point as Sri Lanka crumbled under scoreboard pressure, not least since \u201cNot Out\u201d flashed up on the big screen initially. This was soon reversed, however, with the third umpire Adrian Holdstock clocking that Archer\u2019s shy had knocked the stump clean out of the ground. All good, under Law 29.2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Otherwise it was a run chase that never really got going once Brook threw one of the two new balls to Sonny Baker ahead of Archer and he forced Pathum Nissanka to nick off with a beauty of a second ball. In for the rested Josh Tongue, Baker finally had his maiden ODI wicket after a shellacking on debut last summer.<\/p>\n

Gus Atkinson picked up two more wickets in the powerplay \u2013 Kamindu and Kusal Mendis both sent top edges high into the inner ring \u2013 before Liam\u00a0Dawson, in for the dropped Rehan Ahmed, winkled out three for 26 from eight overs. Will Jacks picked up the final wicket and was named player of the series.<\/p>\n

A non-event? Slightly. But for \u00adEngland, having reached the finish line of a turbulent summer with five successive series wins across \u00adformats, this was very much welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A dysfunctional summer ended on a brighter note for England as Tom Banton\u2019s eye-catching maiden international century and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":908104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-908103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}