England beat Sri Lanka and the rain to take upper hand in ODI series

SAM MORSHEAD: This was an encouraging performance from England, who adapted well to conditions with the bat and then blew away their opposition’s top order with the ball

^{England beat Sri Lanka in the second ODI in Dambulla}

Dambulla: England 278-9, Sri Lanka 140-5 - England won by 31 runs (D/L)

This time, the monsoons could not rain on England’s parade.

Although the heavens did open on Dambulla once again, just as they had on Wednesday when the opening match against Sri Lanka was abandoned, the necessary number of overs had been bowled to constitute a complete game.

And in that time, the tourists had done just enough to take the lead in this five-match series.

It was an encouraging performance from England, who adapted well to conditions with the bat and then blew away their opposition’s top order with the ball.

Eoin Morgan was ruthless in his run-a-ball 92, the backbone to his side’s 278 for nine, while Joe Root made 71 - his fourth score of 50 or more in nine innings in Sri Lanka - to put England in a position of relative comfort at halfway, despite a phenomenal display from Lasith Malinga, who collected five wickets in an ODI for the first time since 2014.

Lasith Malinga took five wickets

Comfort quickly became luxury when Sri Lanka took to the crease, with Chris Woakes collecting three early wickets and Olly Stone - hugely impressive on debut - claiming his first international victim.

The home side were soon 35 for four and the match, as a contest, effectively over.

By the time the 20-over mark was reached, and Duckworth-Lewis allowed to come into play, Sri Lanka were almost 70 runs shy of par.

There was a semblance of a middle order fightback, led by Kusal and Thisara Perera, but by the time the rain came and washed away all hope of any further play, Sri Lanka’s chances of dragging themselves to an unlikely victory were as bleak as the conditions.

The day had started very differently for the hosts, under blue skies.

Jason Roy lasted just four deliveries before dollying a catch up to midwicket off Malinga, while Jonny Bairstow made an uncomfortable 26 before being bowled by Thisara Perera attempting a hard-handed drive.

Root was dropped at midwicket on 48, a regulation chance off a Lakshan Sandakan full toss which should have been taken, before reaching his 29th ODI half-century later in the same over.

Graeme Hick’s longstanding record for most runs for England between one-day dismissals was soon beaten but Root started to get bogged down against the turning ball and, having made 71 on the day and 309 since he last lost his wicket in ODI cricket, the No.3 flopped a leading edge to extra cover off Dhananjaya de Silva.

Morgan took his partner’s exit as a cue to counter-punch. Mixing calculated risks with intelligent manipulation of the field, the captain reached his 40th one-day international half-century.

Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow at the crease

Thirty-one runs came from the 18 deliveries he faced immediately after Root’s demise and he made the vast majority of the 50 partnership he shared with Ben Stokes in a little under eight overs.

Stokes, barring one imperious drive straight down the ground, looked uncomfortable at the crease and his stodgy 15 came to an end with a leading edge into the offside off Akila Dananjaya.

Morgan, sweeping sweetly both sides of the wicket,ploughed on regardless and looked dead set on a hundred. But Malinga had other ideas.

With the England captain on 92, Sri Lanka’s frost-tipped paceman fooled the batsman with a cleverly disguised slower ball which Morgan chipped straight back at him.

Malinga threw his arms out wide in delight. One ball later, the celebration was back in action.

Moeen Ali was flummoxed by a slow yorker first up, England’s allrounder totally deceived by late dip.

Suddenly, from laying a platform for a score of over 300, the tourists had to consolidate.

Jos Buttler was bowled by a Pradeep Kumar full toss to leave England without their finisher and Malinga then took the innings’ legs from beneath it by getting Woakes - with a curious DRS decision - and Dawson.

Liam Dawson celebrates a wicket with Jason Roy

Had it not been for Adil Rashid’s late cameo in an unbroken final-wicket stand of 24 with Olly Stone, the visitors might have felt they were a little below par.

As it was, they had more than enough.

Woakes struck in the first over of the reply, coaxing a nibble out of Upal Tharanga, while Stone made an immediate impression with a fierce bouncer which caught Niroshan Dickwella by surprise, leaped up off the opener’s glove and looped into Buttler’s gloves.

Sri Lanka’s woes continued when captain Chandimal chopped on against Woakes and the Warwickshire allrounder also did for Dasun Shanaka, squared up by another swift, rising delivery which he could only divert to Buttler.

As dark clouds began to form on the horizon, England’s spinners skipped through their overs in a hurried attempt to complete the 20 overs necessary for the game to be considered complete.

In the search for speed, Dawson and Moeen might have sacrificed a little accuracy, and Sri Lanka’s middle order cashed in.

Kusal Perera pulled Dawson to Roy at midwicket but Thisara Perera and De Silva made the most of a series of dragged-down deliveries to up the scoring rate before the rain arrived.