Joe Root England celebrated their 150th One Day International appearance with an unbeaten half-century as they claimed a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the opening match of their series at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday.
England’s opener came out chasing the target of 186 runs Jonny Bairstow England got off to a brisk start and scored 50 runs in five overs but soon lost their opening partner Liam Livingstone, who dropped Chamika Karunaratne straight to mid-on.
Bairstow fell seven runs short of a half-century after being bowled by Binura Fernando, and the hosts were soon reduced to 80-4 as Dushmantha Chamira removed the captain. Eoin Morgan (6) and Sam Billings (3) cheaply.
Root and all-rounder Moeen Ali (28) A patient stitched together a 91-run partnership to stabilize the ship.
Chamira came back to dismiss Ali, but Root finished with an unbeaten 79, and along with Sam Curran, ensured no more hiccups as England won in the 35th over.
collapse of middle overs
Chris Woakes led the England bowling attack with four wickets as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 185 runs with 7.3 overs to spare.
Woakes, playing his first ODI in nine months, finished his 10 overs with a scintillating 4-18 finish as the tourists lost their last seven wickets for 40 runs.
Morgan said, “I’m happy. The way the guys started and stayed in the field the whole time, put us in a really good position.” “Full credit to our bowling unit today, it really set the fire on fire.”
Sri Lanka’s batsmen struggled to score big scores during the previous 3-0 Twenty20 series loss to England and it was no surprise when they fell again in the middle overs.
The tourists arrived in the match without three senior players – Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka – who were sent home after violating the bio-bubble protocol.
Captain Kusal Perera played a brilliant knock of 73 runs and shared a 99-run stand for the fourth wicket with Wanindu Hasaranga to keep England at bay.
It was Woakes who ended the partnership and started the collapse with Hasaranga (54) dismissing Livingstone at deep mid-wicket off a short ball.
Left-arm pacer David Willey dismissed Perera for 3-44 when Sam Billings dismissed Pravin Jayawickrama with a straight hit.
“Hasranga did a good job for the team, we got partnerships but not enough,” Perera said. “But there are two more games left. It’s a team game, we have to come together to get a good score.”
The second match of the three-match series will be played at The Oval on Thursday.
England’s opener came out chasing the target of 186 runs Jonny Bairstow England got off to a brisk start and scored 50 runs in five overs but soon lost their opening partner Liam Livingstone, who dropped Chamika Karunaratne straight to mid-on.
Bairstow fell seven runs short of a half-century after being bowled by Binura Fernando, and the hosts were soon reduced to 80-4 as Dushmantha Chamira removed the captain. Eoin Morgan (6) and Sam Billings (3) cheaply.
Root and all-rounder Moeen Ali (28) A patient stitched together a 91-run partnership to stabilize the ship.
Chamira came back to dismiss Ali, but Root finished with an unbeaten 79, and along with Sam Curran, ensured no more hiccups as England won in the 35th over.
collapse of middle overs
Chris Woakes led the England bowling attack with four wickets as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 185 runs with 7.3 overs to spare.
Woakes, playing his first ODI in nine months, finished his 10 overs with a scintillating 4-18 finish as the tourists lost their last seven wickets for 40 runs.
Morgan said, “I’m happy. The way the guys started and stayed in the field the whole time, put us in a really good position.” “Full credit to our bowling unit today, it really set the fire on fire.”
Sri Lanka’s batsmen struggled to score big scores during the previous 3-0 Twenty20 series loss to England and it was no surprise when they fell again in the middle overs.
The tourists arrived in the match without three senior players – Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka – who were sent home after violating the bio-bubble protocol.
Captain Kusal Perera played a brilliant knock of 73 runs and shared a 99-run stand for the fourth wicket with Wanindu Hasaranga to keep England at bay.
It was Woakes who ended the partnership and started the collapse with Hasaranga (54) dismissing Livingstone at deep mid-wicket off a short ball.
Left-arm pacer David Willey dismissed Perera for 3-44 when Sam Billings dismissed Pravin Jayawickrama with a straight hit.
“Hasranga did a good job for the team, we got partnerships but not enough,” Perera said. “But there are two more games left. It’s a team game, we have to come together to get a good score.”
The second match of the three-match series will be played at The Oval on Thursday.
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