3 days ago
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$460,000 gets you a lot these days
20th over: England 77-2 (Root 28, Bethell 17) Sri Lanka review unsuccesfully for LBW whe Root misses a sweep off Vandersay and is hit on the rump. He was outside the line.
It looked a poor review to the naked eye, never mind the technology, but you can understand why they went for it given Root’s importance.
19th over: England 73-2 (Root 26, Bethell 15) The pitch looks slow and awkward rather than downright difficult. Root (strike rate: 81) is rotating the strike much better than Bethell (SR: 54), a reflection of their experience. But overall England are in a decent position at drinks.
This is a good read on a miserable situation.
18th over: England 69-2 (Root 24, Bethell 13) Two from Vandersay’s over.
17th over: England 67-2 (Root 23, Bethell 12) Another quiet over from Hasaranga. We need someone else’s glasses, ideally someone from the 1980s, because this isn’t the usual bish-bosh ODI series: 250 may well be a matchwinning score.
16th over: England 65-2 (Root 22, Bethell 11) With the occasional exception, low-risk singles are England’s currency at the moment; they bank three more from Vandersay’s over.
15th over: England 62-2 (Root 20, Bethell 10) The pitch looks okay at the moment. There’s some turn but nothing disgusting. And Joe Root, as is his wont, is making it look easy: he has 20 from 20 balls and I can barely remember a stroke.
We are living in the time of an all-time batting genius, and he’s English, and I’m not sure we appreciate him enough. He is also – and this matters – one of the nicest human beings around.
14th over: England 57-2 (Root 17, Bethell 8) The legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay concedes five singles from his first over.
13th over: England 52-2 (Root 14, Bethell 6) Bethell reverse sweeps Hasaranga past slip for four. That’s a fine shot from a player who some idiots reckon has a future in the game.
He almost offers a return catch later in the over. But he doesn’t, so on we go.
12th over: England 47-2 (Root 13, Bethell 2)
11th over: England 41-2 (Root 12, Bethell 1) The new batter is crickerotica subject Jacob Bethell. After he gets off the mark, Root reverse sweeps expertly for four.
WICKET! England 40-2 (Rehan c Vandersay b Hasaranga 24)
The skiddy legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga, rested for the first two games, comes into the attack. Rehan survives an LBW appeal first ball after missing a pull at a delivery that would have missed leg stump – but two balls later he pulls another googly straight to midwicket to end a promising innings.
10th over: England 40-1 (Rehan 24, Root 8) Root misses a lusty slog-sweep at a ball from Wellalage that bounces sharply. As in the first two games, this feels like a handy toss to win.
9th over: England 37-1 (Rehan 22, Root 7) Rehan belts Dhananjaya for successive boundaries, a slog-sweep and a flamboyant slap over mid-off. Root carts another to cow corner to make it 16 from the over.
8th over: England 21-1 (Rehan 11, Root 2) Spin from both ends with the left-armer Wellallage coming on. Just one from the over. This is a very 1990s start.
7th over: England 20-1 (Rehan 11, Root 1) Some fresh-faced genius has walked out to bat.
WICKET! England 19-1 (Duckett c Wellalage b Dhananjaya 6)
The first wicket falls to the fifth ball of spin. Duckett plinks a reverse sweep straight to cover off Dhananjaya and is on his way for six.
6th over: England 17-0 (Rehan 10, Duckett 6) Six dot balls in a row from Liyanage to Rehan. I thought England might go after the seamers, given how spin-dominated this series has been, but Fernando and Liyanage have bowled well.
5th over: England 17-0 (Rehan 10, Duckett 6) Duckett slashes Fernando behind square for two; it would have been four but for a good sprawling stop. All very quiet at the moment.
4th over: England 14-0 (Rehan 9, Duckett 4) Rehan takes a quick single to mid-on, one of three in another low-key over.
3rd over: England 11-0 (Rehan 7, Duckett 3) That Rehan boundary, it’s been a low-key start to the innings. No clues yet on the pitch – we’ll get that when the spinners come on.
2nd over: England 8-0 (Rehan 5, Duckett 3) A quiet first over from Liyanage, the highlight of which is a slash by Duckett that is well stopped on the boundary.
1st over: England 4-0 (Rehan 4, Duckett 0) Notorious D. I. G. – David Ivon Gower – is on commentary and the game is under way. After hitting the field with a couple of shots off Asitha Fernando, Rehan Ahmed times a beautiful push through the covers for four. This ain’t no nighthawk.
Taha Hashim
Liam Dawson has been around for England’s finest white-ball moments in the past decade. He was an uncapped inclusion in the 2016 World T20 touring party, when Eoin Morgan’s fresh-faced team were denied right at the end by Carlos Brathwaite’s “remember the name” sixes. He was there as a squad member on that golden day at Lord’s in 2019 and a travelling reserve when England won the T20 World Cup in Australia three years later.
But, remarkably, the 35-year-old is still waiting to make his debut at a global tournament. It has been an international career spent on call, limited to 33 appearances in all formats, his left-arm spin and handy batting there to use in case of emergency.
Team news
Sri Lanka Nissanka, Mishara, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dhananjaya, Asalanka (c), Liyanage, P Rathnayeke, Wellalage, Hasaranga, Vandersay, A Fernando.
England Rehan, Duckett, Root, Bethell, Brook (c), Buttler (wk), Jacks, S Curran, J Overton, Dawson, Rashid.
England win the toss and bat
England are unchanged; Sri Lanka have brought in the brilliant Wanindu Hasaranga for Pramod Madushan.
Preamble
Hello, good morning and welcome to the first series decider of 2026: Sri Lanka v England in Colombo, the third and final match of a largely meaningless and yet still engaging series. A mini-masterpiece from Joe Root on a dodgy wicket brought England level on Saturday; we’ll soon find out what kind of pitch we have today.
The match starts at 9am.
