ODI TALKING POINTS: Rashid's control, Morgan's form and kudos to the groundstaff

England took on Sri Lanka in another rain-affected one-day international in Kandy on Wednesday. The Cricketer picks out the hot topics to come out of the game...

Adil thrills

Who said legspinners struggle with a wet ball.

Adil Rashid produced a superb display of control and skill to make sure Sri Lanka’s fine start came to little.

Eoin Morgan can’t possibly have been expecting to give Rashid the honour of being England’s only five-over bowler prior to the innings getting under way, with the outfield still glistening from the day’s rain and towels stapled to his bowlers’ hips.

But the Yorkshireman fully deserved the chance. Rashid’s first four overs only went for 22 and, though his final set of six was hit for 14, he still recorded the second best figures by an England spinner in white-ball cricket in Sri Lanka.

Not to be sniffed at.

^{Niroshan Dickwella in action}

Rain, rain go away

Once again, the elements played a major part in this series.

Following the abandonment of the first installment and the curtailed second meeting in Dambulla, here only 21 overs could be bowled.

England felt compelled to release a statement on social media addressing criticism of the timing of the tour - in the middle of the worse of Sri Lanka’s two monsoon seasons, where nearly 600mm of rain falls on average over the space of two months - but as much as that might be the case, it fails to address a deeper question.

Kandy crushed! England ease past Sri Lanka in third ODI

Did this tour absolutely have to take place? Should issues such as the likely weather not come into the Future Tours Programmers’ thinking when they plot their admittedly very complicated matrix, or, if it does, what went wrong here?

In Dambulla, just 15 and 78 overs were possible. In Kandy, it was 42. This cannot count as a worthwhile trip for an English team at the end of a very long domestic summer, nor can it possibly shine a good light on the profile of cricket globally. More common sense, please.

And if that means truncating a trip, or perhaps even not having one at all, it might be worth thinking a little more seriously about.

Tom Curran comes in to bowl

Firestarters

Sri Lanka have been chopping and changing their opening partnership in a desperate attempt to find some sort of consistency at the top of the order.

The combination of Niroshan Dickwella and Sadeera Samarawickrama did just the trick in Kandy, taking the attack to England once the match was reduced to 21 overs a side.

Without playing many particularly ugly hoiks, and using the pace of the ball to fine effect, the pair reached 50 together inside five overs.

In Dambulla, during the second ODI, the hosts were 38 for four at the end of the 10th.

Their 38 runs from the opening three overs was the most any Sri Lankan first-wicket duo have managed batting first in an ODI since Upal Tharanga and Tilleratne Dilshan made 39 against India in 2009.

Amazing what batting without fear does.

Chris Woakes takes a catch

Hats off to the groundsmen

Given most of the day was spent playing hokey-cokey with the covers while the rain fell, relented and fell again, the groundstaff of Kandy produced a remarkably good playing surface.

The pitch was quick and true, and not as skiddy as might have been expected given a hesion mat was required to soak some of the residual moisture in the minutes before the start of play, but even more impressive was the outfield.

With the amount of rain that had fallen, it seemed bizarre that the balls were still zipping to the rope at a rate of knots.

These chaps are very good at their jobs.

Captain Fantastic

Eoin Morgan became the first England skipper to hit back-to-back half-centuries in Sri Lanka… and he did so in style.

After narrowly failing to reach three figures in Dambulla on Wednesday, Morgan was fluent, composed and utterly in control in accumulating an unbeaten 58 here to lead his team to victory by example.

His in-to-out drives through extra cover were particularly eye-catching but most impressive was Morgan’s manipulation of the Sri Lankan field. Given his tendency to peak and trough, England will hope this form has not arrived too far out from next year’s World Cup.

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