Ben Stokes may have missed picking up a wicket against Sri Lanka in the rain-affected 3rd ODI in Pallekle but he ensured England’s victory with his devastating batting alongside his skipper Eoin Morgan. Sri Lanka lost the 3rd ODI by 7 wickets on Wednesday, trailing 2-0 in the series.
After Adil Rashid’s spin twirled the Lankan batting with his 4-for, Stokes and Morgan gave the final touch with their match-winning 73-run partnership for the 4th wicket.
While chasing the target of 151, England top order tumbled against Lankan spin bowling. Jonny Bairstow, who opened the innings with Jason Roy, lost his wicket on 4 to Amila Aponso in the second over. A couple of overs later, Joe Root returned to the pavilion after scoring only 8 runs. Next was Roy who missed his fifty by 9 runs while the Englishmen were reduced to 80/3 under 10 overs.
Captain Morgan and Stokes took the charge from this point and ended the game with 15 balls to spare. The English skipper slammed half-century and remained unbeaten on 58 while Stokes played some mind-boggling shots to keep the hosts at bay.
Veteran Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Pradeep were the most expensive bowlers as they conceded runs at an economy rate of 9.75 and 10.5 respectively.
Stokes turned out to be the only English batsman to hit sixes in the game. He also did a ‘MS Dhoni’ to finish the game. In the 19th over, he move down the ground and and bludgeoned it straight down the track to take the game home. He scored 35 off 24 deliveries.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 150/9 in 21 overs (Niroshan Dickwella 36; Adil Rashid 4-36, Tom Curran 3-17)
Lost to
England 153/3 in 18.3 overs (Eoin Morgan 58*; Amila Aponso 2-27) by seven wickets.