Sri Lanka vs England: Joe Root helps tourists level ODI series

Second one-day international, R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Sri Lanka 219 (49.3 overs): Asalanka 45 (64); Root 2-13, Overton 2-21

England 223-5 (46.2 overs): Root 75 (90), Brook 42 (75); De Silva 2-37

England won by five wickets; Series level at 1-1

Joe Root made a measured 75 as England pulled off a comfortable run chase to beat Sri Lanka by five wickets in the second one-day international which squared the three-match series.

Sri Lanka had posted a relatively modest 219 after England’s spinners had turned the screw on a surface which offered appreciable turn.

Charith Asalanka top-scored with Sri Lanka, striking just one boundary in his 64-ball 45, while Dhananjaya de Silva chipped with 40 on a day where strike-rates were largely an after thought.

Veteran leg-spinner Adil Rashid bowled the most impressively for England as he finished with economical figures of 2-34 from his 10 overs while Root’s two overs at the end yielded him 2-12.

Root’s patience at the crease, deft footwork and reading of spin made him the linchpin of England’s chase and once he settled in, Sri Lanka found it difficult to know where to bowl to him.

England’s all-time leading Test run-scorer shared stands of 68 with Ben Duckett, who made 39, and 81 with fellow Yorkshireman Harry Brook which broke the back of the reply.

Root’s innings had been chanceless until a yorker from Asitha Fernando hit him on the pad as he attempted to flick the ball off his toes.

He reviewed the decision to give him out lbw, but the ball-tracking technology came down in Sri Lanka’s favour and he was out on umpire’s call.

That left Brook and Jos Buttler to get the 42 runs required and nerves probably jangled when the England skipper misjudged a sweep on 42 and was lbw to Jeffrey Vandersay.

But Buttler put his foot on the accelerator to get England over the line with 22 balls to spare following a unbeaten 33 off 21 balls.

Most of the spin from England during the Ashes came via their off-the-field briefings as they attempted to massage the narrative of a winter tour of discontent.

On a pitch which ragged at the R Premadasa Stadium, however, it was the degrees of turn offered by the ball which provided the focus on this occasion.

In ODIs since the start of 2024, this stadium has seen an average turn of 2.93 degrees. In the 23 bowling innings here in this timeframe, England’s degree of turn today was the fourth-most at this venue.

England managed 3.15 degrees of spin in the first ODI but it was 3.62 here – a 15% increase – which Brook, to his credit, astutely realised was the best way to winkle wickets.

There were 40.3 overs bowled by spinners which was the most by any England bowling attack in an ODI. The previous record was 36 overs, back in March 1985 in a 50-over match against Pakistan in Sharjah.

It was also the first time in an ODI, England have used six different spinners.

Rashid’s leg-breaks were the most masterful as he finished with an economy of 3.40 claiming the key top-order wickets of Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka and captain Charith Asalanka.

But he was well supported by a phalanx of twirlers – offies from Jacks and Root, leggies from Rehan Ahmed plus Jacob Bethell’s left-arm orthodox.

Five different spinners picked up a wicket – the joint-most in an ODI innings by a team and first by England.

The seven wickets which fell to spin was the second most by an England attack in an ODI, bettered only by eight against West Indies at North Sound in 2014.

England have longed to have these kind of depth of slow-bowling options on tours of the sub-continent.