Sri Lanka pull off second-highest ODI chase, hunt down 430 against England

Sri Lanka chased down 430 to beat England by two wickets in the tri-series match in Rawalpindi on Thursday, completing the second-highest successful chase in ODI history. Harry Brook’s 202, England’s first ODI double century, was in vain.

Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis won the toss and chose to bowl, but England began positively, with Tom Banton racing to fifty off 48 balls in a 74-run opening stand with Ben Duckett. Dunith Wellalage then removed both openers, finishing with 2-56.

Brook was 13 off 24 balls when he hit successive sixes off Kamindu Mendis, and a boundary burst took him past fifty. He and Joe Root added 159 before Root chipped Asitha Fernando to mid-wicket for 69.

Brook and Will Jacks, unbeaten on 66, then added 185, including 156 in the last 10 overs. Brook needed only 39 balls to go from 100 to 200, sealing the fastest double century in ODI history with a superb shot.

His 202 came from 116 balls with 21 fours and 10 sixes, a record 31 boundaries, and broke Shubman Gill’s record set last month. He holed out to Sahan Arachchige off Janith Liyanage from the last ball as England finished 429-4, their fourth-highest ODI total.

Sri Lanka’s reply began badly. Josh Tongue bowled Kamindu Mendis for 18, and captain Kusal Mendis was run out without facing a ball when Gus Atkinson deflected Avishka Fernando’s drive onto the non-striker’s stumps, leaving them 24-2 in the fifth over.

Fernando and Pavan Rathnayake rebuilt with a 166-run third-wicket stand. Fernando fell for 97, caught and bowled by Jamie Overton just short of a century, leaving Sri Lanka needing 213 from the last 20 overs with England seemingly in control.

Rathnayake reached his hundred off 87 balls and made 130 from 106 before picking out Banton at long-on. Dasun Shanaka kept the chase alive, hitting eight sixes in 97 from 50 balls, including three off Sam Curran in a 20-run over.

Shanaka eventually found Banton off Liam Dawson, and Curran removed Arachchige for 13 after a 43-run stand with Liyanage. Liyanage reached fifty from 22 balls and finished unbeaten on 61 from 27, leaving Sri Lanka needing eight from the final over.

Tongue then struck twice, bowling Wellalage and Eshan Malinga with successive deliveries, and finished with 3-79. But number 10 Asitha Fernando gave Liyanage the strike, six were needed off two balls, and Liyanage launched Tongue over long-off for six off the penultimate ball.

It was the second-highest successful chase in ODIs, behind South Africa’s 435 against Australia in Johannesburg in 2006, and only the third over 400, after India’s 406 against West Indies in Guwahati this year. The sides scored 859 runs between them.

The win gave Sri Lanka their first points of the tri-series. England suffered a second successive defeat, which complicates their bid to reach the final on October 31. Brook, at the presentation, summed up the mood.

“It was an incredible game of cricket. I thought both sides were exceptional but Sri Lanka just outplayed us unfortunately.”

“It was a nice innings. Unfortunately it doesn’t mean anything now being on the losing side. It has no value whatsoever.”

“We have to go back to the drawing board a little bit. We know where we have gone wrong - we didn’t execute well enough with the ball. We have an opportunity in the next couple of games to try and nail down a spot in the final.”