Harry Brook smashed a blistering 136 and Joe Root made one other flawless century as England beat Sri Lanka by 53 runs to clinch a much-needed ODI collection victory.
The Yorkshiremen mixed for a rare 191-run partnership in Colombo to elevate England to a mammoth 357 for 3, the very best whole on this floor since October 2018.
Root steered the innings with an unbeaten 111, laying the platform for skipper Brook to challenge a surprising reminder of his firepower as he blasted Sri Lanka to all elements of the bottom in an ODI-best 136 not out from simply 66 balls.
On a floor the place scores above 300 are uncommon, it was a complete at all times prone to be past the hosts and so it proved regardless of an exquisite maiden worldwide century from Pavan Rathnayake.
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(Eranga Jayawardena/AP)
Morale enhance
For England, it was only a second ODI collection win of their final eight and supplied a morale enhance after the 4-1 Ashes drubbing in addition to aiding their ODI rating, with automated qualification for the 2027 World Cup removed from sure.
A formidable 2-1 win in opposition to a facet who had gained seven consecutive 50-over collection on dwelling soil can even come as a reduction to under-fire head coach Brendon McCullum.
Brook started this tour of Sri Lanka by apologising to England supporters for his “horrible mistake” after an altercation with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand on their final white-ball engagement in October.
The 26-year-old admitted he was fortunate to nonetheless be captain and felt he wanted to regain the belief of his team-mates.
His blistering innings was a great way to go about it.
Elegant show
Brook launched 9 sixes in a chic show of timing and energy, transferring from reaching fifty to his 136 in simply 26 balls, hitting 22 from the penultimate over and main the way in which as England blasted 130 from the ultimate 10 overs.
That he had the platform to take action was due to Root, who backed up scores of 61 and 75 within the first two matches with a twentieth ODI century.
It took his common from 15 ODI matches in Sri Lanka to a exceptional 76.
He has seemed a category aside on tough pitches all through the collection and rebuilt the innings superbly after the early wickets of Ben Duckett and Rehan Ahmed.
Jacob Bethell performed his half with a well-made 65 as Root supplied the glue for England’s whole.
The 35-year-old will head dwelling as England put together for the T20 World Cup, however many will consider he might play a task in that workforce on his present white-ball kind.
(Eranga Jayawardena/AP)
Daunting chase
This was the identical pitch as Thursday’s collection opener and was a far cry from the second ODI wicket Root and Brook closely criticised, producing considerably much less spin and giving the batters a significantly better probability.
With that in thoughts, Sri Lanka started their daunting chase on the cost as openers Pathum Nissanka and Kamil Mishara took 48 from the primary 5 overs.
Mishara gifted his wicket to Will Jacks for 22, however as Sri Lanka raced to 85 for one inside eight overs, the cameras panned to a nervous-looking Brook.
The captain gratefully grabbed Kusal Mendis’ loft off Jamie Overton as Sri Lanka’s assault was stunted by wickets tumbling usually.
Nissanka fell for a 25-ball 50, Charith Asalanka for 13 and Janith Liyanage for 22 to depart the hosts 174 for 5.
Rathnayake’s 121 stored Sri Lankan hopes alive, however he was the final to fall as they have been bowled out with 3.2 overs to spare.
The three-match T20 collection in Pallekele, close to Kandy, begins on Friday.
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