Chris Woakes set up an easy five-wicket win that was eliminated by Joe Root as England again proved too strong for Sri Lanka to lead the three-match series 1–0 in the opening one-day international at Riverside.
Woakes, in only his third international in nine months, finished with excellent figures of 4/18 in his entire 10 overs as 50-over world champions England bowled out Sri Lanka for 185 runs at Durham’s headquarters.
Root scored an unbeaten 79 in his 150th match at this level as England saved more than 15 overs after a brief struggle.
‘fell good’
Warwickshire all-rounder Woakes, who was named player of the match, told BBC Radio: “I felt good today, it’s always good to get a pair (wickets) early.
“I try to assess the conditions early, and while taking wickets, try to figure out what is best to do on the wicket. I just try and make it as tough as possible for the batsman on that wicket.”
Sri Lanka’s batting faltered repeatedly during their 3-0 T20I series loss to England and it was no big surprise to see England captain Eoin Morgan get dismissed cheaply after winning the toss.
The tourists were missing three senior players after Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka were sent home for violating the team’s COVID-19 rules.
Sri Lankan captain Kusal Perera played a crucial innings of 73 runs for the three debutant Sri Lankans.
He shared a stand of 99 with Wanindu Hasaranga (54).
Perera and Hasaranga kept England away, the former with a stylish top-order and the latter with an aggressive 22 off fellow leg-spinner Adil Rashid.
Woakes’ return ended the partnership, with Hasaranga getting out in the deep.
It was the start of a collapse that lost seven wickets for 40 runs, with a quick left-arm Willie removing Perera on his way to 3-44.
Jonny Bairstow scored four runs off the first two balls of England’s reply, before being struck for 43 off paceman Binura Fernando.
Morgan and Sam Billings both fell cheaply to fast bowler Dushmantha Chamira.
But with Sri Lanka defending such a low score, they needed every opportunity to go hand in hand if they were to secure an impossible victory.
Instead, wicketkeeper Perera dismissed Moeen Ali on the first ball. Had he lasted, England would have been 80-5 – by the time Moeen was dismissed for 28, they had a 171-5 win.
Test captain Root batted calmly in 58 balls with just two fours before Sam Curran scored the winning run.
“Joe Root is one of the best in most situations in the world,” Morgan said. “Today he showed up to his class.”
Such are the demands on Root, he has been dropped from England’s T20 squad in recent days to give him as much break from the demands of Test and ODI cricket as he is on the grounds of form.
But Morgan, speaking on the day when the Twenty20 World Cup, which was confirmed to start in October, was moved from India to the United Arab Emirates and Oman due to Covid-19 concerns, said of Root: ” You can’t get him out of the government. T20 World Cup. He helped us a lot to get to the final of 2016.”
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