England Wrap Up ODI Victory
When David Willey dismantled Dinesh Chandimal's stumps with nine overs still to go and Sri Lanka requiring over 125 runs, yesterday afternoon, there was a real sense of crushing power. England hadn't just beaten Sri Lanka, but they'd pulverized them, cruelly ground them into the dirt and were now stamping on their forehead, slowly squeezing the life out of them. Already 2-0 up in the series with one to play, England played well, Sri Lanka played not as well, and the result was an absolute hammering.
And that's what has shown during this series: just how far ahead of Sri Lanka England really are, almost none of this Sri Lankan side would get into England's team, certainly none of their bowlers and barely any of their batsmen. This is an England side that didn't play at full throttle for the majority of this series, although they certainly have played very well make no mistake, but they've been able to completely and utterly outclass Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka didn't bowl badly, and England didn't really bat very very well, although there were real moments of class towards the end of their innings, but nevertheless they set 325 for Sri Lanka to chase, a total that Sri Lanka never got near, as England bowled well, crucially, as a unit. Woakes and Willey set the tone, keeping it tight and ensuring that England were nearly 20 runs ahead after the first ten overs, whilst getting the crucial wicket of Perera. Plunkett and Rashid then picked up the mantle and bowled terrifically, utterly dismantling Sri Lanka in the middle overs, as Rashid took 2-41 from his set, and Plunkett plundering 3-44 from eight, before Woakes and Willey came back to finish the tail, Willey finishing with 4-34, but Woakes was unlucky not to take a wicket and an economy of 4.00 represents the building pressure on Sri Lanka, as right from the off England forced the run rate upwards. The only bowler who didn't impress today was Chris Jordan, whose line and length were all over the place and he struggled to threaten.
As for the bat, it was Joe Root and Jos Buttler who excelled today. Vince (in for the injured Hales) and Roy got England off to a good start, taking England to 108-2 off less than 19 overs, before both fell, Vince just after reaching his maiden fifty. Root anchored the innings, scoring a slightly tentative 93 off 106, scoring just six boundaries, but crucially kept the rate ticking over as Vince, Morgan and Bairstow got in and got out alongside him, all trying to play big shots. And when Buttler came in, he went big and hard, as you'd expect, scoring a bludgeoning 70 from 45, with some really classy shots and one huge six.
So looking back at the series as a whole, rather than just this one comprehensive win, and England have been very, very impressive. Sri Lanka only broke 300 once this series, scoring 286, 254, 248 in the opening three ODIs, before hitting an impressive 305 off 42 in a rain affected fourth ODI, batting first every time. The simple truth is that Sri Lanka's batting wasn't there, and England's bowling has been class. Woakes and Willey have been very, very solid throughout and Liam Plunkett has taken bags of wickets. Having three pace bowlers who have been on the mark time and time again, constantly keeping it tight and taking wickets has really hurt Sri Lanka; there hasn't been a period of their innings where they've been able to score quickly without losing wickets. Only Mathews and Chandimal have shown any adeptness with the bat, but they've simply not been able to score quickly enough to put England under any real pressure. And of course, England's ace in the hole has been Adil Rashid, who has taken wickets, had a low economy rate and been a constant danger. With Moeen and Jordan taking it in turns to play, and neither of them impressing, it's been very impressive that England have had four bowlers who have all had at least 8/10 series'.
And with the bat, England have sparkled at times, and simmered at others. Sri Lanka's bowling has been sloppy and inconsistent and, crucially, they have failed to defend a total. In the first ODI, they had England 82-6 in less than twenty overs, and still failed to secure a win, as Plunkett's last ball six secured a draw for England. This is partly due to England's lower order batting quality, as Buttler and Woakes scored 93 and 95 respectively, putting on a century stand, but more due to Sri Lanka's staggering ineptitude. And this was never more clear than in the 2nd ODI, where England were absolutely brutal. Having reduced Sri Lanka to a miserly 254, England chased it down without breaking sweat, or losing a single wicket, as the excellent Alex Hales, and man of the series Jason Roy set the biggest 10 wicket victory in the history of ODIs with more than 15 overs to spare. It was cruel, brutal, efficient batting, as both batsmen made centuries and Sri Lanka were humiliated.
And England didn't bat again until the 4th ODI, as their run chase was curtailed by rain, chasing less than 250 in the 3rd (an ODI that England probably would have won were Sri Lanka not saved by rain). But it says everything about this England team (and this Sri Lanka team), that even though Sri Lanka batted very well in the 4th ODI, with Mendis, Mathews, Chandimal and Gunathilaka all scoring superbly, to set England a testing 305 in 42 overs, England still chased it down easily, securing a six wicket victory with two overs to spare. And once again, it was Jason Roy, who scored a phenomenal 162 who led the charge, with Root supporting him.
And one thing that does need to be mentioned is England's fielding. Fielding is a key area of the game that is often overlooked, but when you compare the amount of drops, run outs and runs conceded from fielding errors, things that can have a big impact on a tight game, England are ahead in every single column. They are a tight fielding unit, and rarely give teams an inch in the field.
So overall, England have batted sublimely when they've had to, bowled superbly throughout, but really Sri Lanka haven't put up a fight. No one bowler has created a sustained attempt at pressure this series, only one or two batsmen have had good series overall and truthfully, whilst England have had three or four genuine match-winners, there are no match-winning players in this Sri Lanka side. No one bowler has bowled a match-winning set of ten, no batsman has scored a match-winning century. There's no cutting edge in this Sri Lanka team, but England have it in spades. So I thought I'd finish with some series ratings for the England players:
Jason Roy 10/10: A phenomenal series. Two centuries, two match-winning innings out of the three matches that England won. Over 300 runs this series and overall just a real class act. A fine example of how to bat in the one-day game.
Alex Hales 8/10: Only got to bat twice due to rain and his back injury, but was every bit as good, if not better than Roy in the 10 wicket chase. A huge century, and in really good form, a genuine match-winner. Showing he has a future in all three forms of the game for potentially a long time.
Joe Root 8/10: Only batted thrice but two fifties in those three innings, two excellent innings that anchored England and although he wasn't able to kick on and get the triple figure score, he played a key role in two of England's three victories and continues to be a top quality batsman.
Eoin Morgan 6/10: Morgan deserves credit for his captaincy, but he's kept things relatively simple and relied on his bowlers to do the work, so not enough credit to elevate his poor batting display. Morgan hasn't scored a fifty for his team in nearly a year (now eleven innings) and whilst that's not necessarily an issue if he's the captain of a winning team, if England get put under pressure, questions will have to be asked.
Jonny Bairstow 6/10: Some excellent pieces of fielding, but overall Bairstow hasn't got started this series with the bat, something that a high score of 29* illustrates. Harder to judge lower order batsmen when they bat less innings, but a dismal 3 in the first ODI and a mediocre 22 yesterday represent a poor series for a man of his form and quality.
Jos Buttler 8/10: Another man whose low score (if you can call 8 a low score) is highlighted only by his lack of opportunity, rather than execution. He only really got the chance to bat twice, in the first and last ODI innings, and his scores of 93 off 99 and 70 off 45 represent two excellent innings, arguably two game-changing innings. England certainly would have lost the first ODI without his contribution and could well have lost the last as well. Buttler has made massive contributions when called upon with the bat this series and sooner or later will get another shot at the big time.
Moeen Ali 5/10: Twice he batted and twice he failed to make double digits. In at a crucial point in the first ODI he faltered, and elevated to opener in the crucial 4th ODI he faltered. Zero contribution with the bat, and with the ball not significantly better, conceding 1-69 in the first ODI and 0-58 off eight in the fourth. Two wretched ODI performances, spared a lower score by a good wicketless display of 0-41 in the third ODI. No longer England's premier spinner in the short form and will be lucky to remain England's best test spinner, and his batting form is letting him down as well. Struggling to see his long term place in the side.
Chris Woakes 8/10: Overall a solid but unspectacular bowling display from Woakes. 2-56 in the first ODI and 3-34 in the third represent two excellent bowling performances, but he remained disciplined with a low economy overall, even if five wickets is maybe a little low. His score also reflects an excellent display with the bat, as in the only ODI where he got a chance to really bat (despite a useful cameo yesterday), he top scored with 95. I've been on the fence about Woakes for a long time, but he's starting to really knock on the test door.
David Willey 8/10: Much like Woakes, Willey has opened the bowling well for England, chipping away with a decent economy and wickets in every match, ten for the series. He's shown that he's an excellent one-day bowler in this series and despite not producing a match-winning bowling display, he's contributed consistently with the ball.
Liam Plunkett 8/10: Plunkett has also taken ten wickets this series and has bowled consistently well in the middle overs, finding ways to remove batsmen that England have needed to remove throughout the series. The only complaint that you could label at Plunkett is his economy, the highest in this England side, but when he's taking two or three important wickets almost every match, it's hard to be too critical.
Adil Rashid 8/10: Rashid is another to have a consistently solid series, with extraordinary economy rates in three of his five innings, and taking wickets at regular intervals. To score less than four runs an over twice in a five match series, taking 0-34, 2-36 and 2-41 are all excellent, and even when he conceded slightly more runs, he was still looking dangerous, and six wickets this series reflects that. Has to be included in the test series against Pakistan.
Chris Jordan 6/10: Only given two games this series, Jordan struggled to impress, taking just one wicket at the cost of 89 runs. Whilst his figures of 1-49 in the third ODI represent a solid effort, he was woeful yesterday.
James Vince 7/10: Just given the one run out after the injury to Hales but a maiden ODI half-century represents a good start from Vince, a man who I think has the potential to impress at all three levels of the game. Hopefully we see more of him, although it will be hard to break into this ODI side at present.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Djokovic is OUT of Wimbledon. Wow. (Reaction tomorrow)
- Murray however cruised through in straight sets.
- Germans and penalties...(Again, tomorrow)
- This transfer window is hotting up...
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