England v Sri Lanka 1st ODI at Southampton July 22nd

Neil Whitaker reports

WILL Jacks took 5/22 his best ODI figures for England and he hit an unbeaten 46 as they  beat Sri Lanka by 89 runs with 13 overs to spare.Charith Asalanka was his first victim when he  tried to sweep him but  missed the ball,  was hit on the pads and given out.  Asalanka reveiwed it but the replay showed it to be hitting.

Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis, who hit  42, gloved Josh Tongue wide of Jos Buttler to the fine leg boundary.  He swept Rehan Ahmed to the fine leg boundary and he started to play with  the field as he turned the next ball to the mid-wicket boundary.   He seemed to  be guiding Sri Lanka home before he  missed a sweep off Jacks and was given out leg before.  He reviewed it in hope because the replay showed he was plumb. 

Dunith Wellalage, calmly placed Jofra Archer over Ben Duckett’s head on the cover boundary for a six.  Then slapped the next ball to the extra cover boundary.  He hit two consecutive fours off Rehan Ahmed and then a big six over the mid-wicket boundary to bring up Sri Lanka’s 150.  He top edged Gus Atkinson over Buttler’s head.  But in the next over he went down the pitch to Jacks and lofted him to  Jamie Overton at mid-on.

Asitha Fernando  went for a big hit off Jacks but found Tom Banton on the long-on boundary who made the catch look easy.  Jacks took his fifth wicket when he bowled Dilshan Madushanka with his next ball,

England went from 196 for four to 241 for eight till Jacks went mad with the bat.  Before Jacks started to find the boundary only Gus Atkinson of the lower order reached double figures.  Jacks hit four  consecutive fours off Dushmantha Chameera: the first was a chip to the long-off boundary to bring up England’s 250, the second was a drive to the extra cover, the third went to cover and he pulled the fourth to the fine leg boundary as England made Sri Lanka pay for bowling their overs too slow.

It was Sri Lanka’s  Sachindu Colombage who took the best figures by a Sri Lankan  player on debut for five years  and the best figures by a spinner at the Riverside since Mitch Santner who started the damage for Sri Lanka and Asitha finished it  off. 

Colombage’s three victims included the prize wickets of Joe Root and Buttler and his last victim was the dangerous Overton who didn’t make double figures.  After Colombage bowled his first two overs from the Finchale end he was taken out of the attack and came  back at the Lumley end.

Leg spinner 28 year-old Colombage got his first wicket when Root went back to him and was beaten by one that skidded through him. During his innings Root became the eighth player to reach 23,000 runs in international cricket.  With Harry Brook he  added 68 in 12 overs for the third wicket and finding the runs easy to come by.

Colombage got his second wicket when he trapped Buttler leg before.  The appeal was turned down by umpire Graham Lloyd but the decision was overturned on reveiw.

After England captain  Brook won the toss and decided to bat,  England lost their first wicket when Asitha got  one to seam away from  Banton  after it swung in and hit the top of Banton’s off stump.

Ben Duckett turned Chameera to the square leg boundary to bring England’s fifty up in the ninth over.  Duckett  and Root’s  fifty partnership  came up after 46 balls but the partnership was broken with the next ball.  Duckett attempted to sweep Wellalage but missed and was given out. Duckett thought he had got outside the line but replay showed he hadn’t.

Root clipped Chameera to the mid-wicket boundary.  He drilled Asitha to the extra cover boundary and got an inside edge to Chameera which evaded his stumps and stumper Mendis.

Earlier, Buttler smashed the left arm spinner Wellalage to the long-off boundary  he was lucky that he didn’t get his left hand to it otherwise it would have gone to the boundary as well.  He drove Chameera one-handed for a one bounce four to the long-on boundary.

Overton smashed Madushanka to the long-on boundary. In the next over played over a straight ball from Colombage which smashed into his middle and leg stumps.

Brook reached his seventh ODI fifty from 49 balls.  He  slog/swept Wellalage to deep mid-wicket boundary and to prove that  Colombage could be played he smashed the leg spinner to the extra cover boundary.

Once again the England captain brought about his own downfall when he went down the pitch to Chameera and sliced him to Madushanka on the extra cover boundary.  Brook’s 69 came from 67 balls.

Now the Sri Lankans turned the screw on England and played much better than they did in the T20’s.  Rehan Ahmed ran himself out.  He played Madushanka into the covers and set off for a single that was never there, turned back but was beaten by Asalanka’s direct hit from cover.

Bowling around the wicket, left arm seamer Madushanka cut one back at Atkinson and clipped his off stump.

Asitha bowled Archer with an inswinger yorker which hit the base of Archer’s middle stump.  Asitha finished England’s innings when he bowled Tongue with another inswinger yorker.

Nissanka stroked the first ball of their chase  to the cover boundary and 12 runs came from that first over. He smacked Rehan Ahmed’s first ball to the mid-wicket boundary. But Nissanka should have been on his way back to the hutch when he hit the next ball straight back to Rehan Ahmed but the bowler dropped the knee height chance.  But it didn’t prove to be an expensive drop, in the next over he feathered Tongue to Buttler.

Sri Lanka lost their first wicket when Kamindu Mendis mistimed a pull Atkinson and it went straight to Duckett at mid-wicket.

Pavan Rathnayake, who has an unusual batting style  with his bat almost horizontal and low,  cut Overton to the point boundary with force.  He drilled the next ball thinking that he had another four but Banton at cover took a knee height catch.

Vimukth thought Overton had bowled him a bouncer and tried to duck it but it didn’t get high, had a slash at it but top edged to Buttler.  

Following his success with the ball  Colombage hit consecutive boundaries off Archer: the first to square leg and the second to fine leg.  Then he turned his attention to Rehan Ahmed and slog/swept him to the mid-wicket boundary.  He made 14 before he was leg before to Rehan Ahmed.  The ball looked to be going down leg but Sri Lanka had no reviews left.

 Brook said: “It was a very good win. That wicket wasn’t a wicket that you would expect to find in England. We have manufactured a win with a very good performance.  We wanted to keep the stumps in play as much as possible and be patient and let them make the mistakes.

Jacks has been a vital member of our team in the past 18 months.  I think he’s a very good spinner, he can contain the batters when it’s needed.  He’s  dry good with both the bat and ball.

When we batted we said after 20 overs that 280 would be a very good score on that pitch, in the end I think we got a par score on that surface.  It was an exceptional performance to bowl them out for less than that.  We had to contain them as much as possible.”

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