Sri Lanka’s apathy in one day cricket this year continued on Wednesday as they suffered yet another loss at the hands of England in the 4th ODI at the Oval. This was another occasion when Sri Lanka were good in one department and worse in the other. While their batting clicked, their bowling let them down once again.
Sri Lanka had begun on a positive note though. Even after losing Kusal Perera quite cheaply, Sri Lanka recovered well in time as Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis piled up a 128-run partnership between them.
There were as many as four half-centuries hit by the Sri Lankan batsmen on Wednesday. After Gunathilaka and Mendis had resurged the innings, the run-making show was taken forward by Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal. The Sri Lankan captain and the vice-captain looked at their best on this tour.
By the end of the rain-curtailed 42 overs, Sri Lanka had gathered 305 runs. The Duckworth- Lewis were at it again and England were given a stiff target of 308 runs to chase when they came out to bat.
After getting the makeshift opener Moeen Ali out for just 2, Sri Lanka had begun on a hunt, only to realize at the end of the match that they themselves were someone’s prey from the start. That someone called Jason Roy.
Jason Roy continued from where he had left in the 3rd match. Usually, a thunderstorm happens before the rain, but here it was a vice-versa. It begun to rain sixes at the Oval as Roy launched one of his brutal attack at a bowling line-up. It just took him 74 balls to reach his 3rd ODI ton and another 35 balls to 150.
By the time Sri Lanka saw Roy’s back, it was pretty much done and dusted for them. Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow completed the formalities by hitting the winning runs as England sealed the ODI series 3-0.
