Sri Lanka beat England by two wickets in Rawalpindi on Thursday, chasing 430 with one ball left, even though Harry Brook had scored a record 202.
Janith Liyanage hit a six off the penultimate ball to finish a chase that only South Africa’s 435 against Australia in 2006 has bettered, according to ESPNcricinfo.
England finished on 429-4 in the third match of the tri-series. Sri Lanka replied with 430-8 in 49.5 overs.
Brook’s double century
Brook reached 200 in 114 balls, the quickest in men’s one-day internationals, and was out for 202 off 116 deliveries. He hit 21 fours and 10 sixes. The BBC reported that he passed Ben Stokes’ England record of 182.
He was slow to start, with 13 runs from his first 24 balls. He then went from 100 to 200 in only 39 balls.
Brook is the first batter to score an ODI double hundred and lose. The previous highest losing score was Charles Coventry’s 194 not out against Bangladesh in 2009, ESPNcricinfo noted.
Joe Root made 69 and Will Jacks hit an unbeaten 66 off 30 balls. England scored 156 in the last 10 overs. Their total was the highest ODI score in Pakistan, beating Pakistan’s 375-3 against Zimbabwe in Lahore in 2015.
Sri Lanka’s reply
Sri Lanka chose to bowl first and were 24-2 early in their reply. Pavan Rathnayake then made 130 off 106 balls and was named player of the match.
Avishka Fernando and Dasun Shanaka each made 97. Fernando put on 166 with Rathnayake, and Shanaka added 133 in 79 balls with Rathnayake. Shanaka survived two close calls on review along the way, ESPNcricinfo said.
Liyanage finished on 61 not out from 27 balls. Josh Tongue took 3-79 for England, and had Dunith Wellalage and Eshan Malinga bowled with successive balls in the last over. Sri Lanka still needed six from two balls, and Liyanage hit the next one down the ground.
The match produced 859 runs, the second-highest ODI aggregate. The 123 boundaries, made up of 93 fours and 30 sixes, are also a record, the BBC said.
Dew made the ball hard to grip, and England’s bowling was loose. Sam Curran went for 103 from nine overs, the BBC said was the most expensive return by any England bowler in the format. Gus Atkinson bowled only seven of his 10 overs. Jofra Archer is rested for the tri-series and Adil Rashid was left out for tactical reasons.
The BBC said England’s tactics would come under scrutiny. Former England bowler Steven Finn said on Test Match Special that the team balance may need rethinking.
Brook did not make excuses. “You don’t see many teams chase down 430 and hats off to Sri Lanka,” he said afterwards, as quoted by the BBC.
England have no points from their first two games. The BBC said the tri-series is meant to mirror the conditions they will meet at next year’s World Cup in southern Africa. Their next game is on Sunday, against Pakistan at Lahore.
Sources: ESPNcricinfo, Aaj English TV, BBC Sport
This story was compiled by the MDW Newsdesk with AI-assisted tools, using the reporting credited above.
