England 386 for 5 (Duckett 167, Banton 74) vs Sri Lanka
Though the Lahore deck is excellent for batting, Sri Lanka will have to put together another spectacular batting performance to get close, even if there is renewed belief in their batting group following the running down of 430 last week. Still, England’s is the highest total ever recorded in Lahore, beating the 375 for 3 Pakistan had made against Zimbabwe in 2015.
Those two stands carried England to 270 for 2 in the middle of the 38th over, putting them in the vicinity of another 400-plus total. Although England’s finish was excellent, Sri Lanka’s attack may reflect that keeping England to 94 runs in the last 10 overs was almost as good as they could have hoped for, given the batting mayhem that had defined much of the innings.
Asitha Fernando emerged with the most creditable figures, taking 2 for 63 from his 10. Fellow quicks Dilshan Madushanka and Eshan Malinga claimed a wicket apiece, after Dasun Shanaka had been the bowler to break the first, massive partnership.
Duckett was outstanding square of the wicket as usual, almost totally eschewing boundary hits down the ground as he put together his second century in as many matches. Although his was a violent innings, it contained no sixes, 24 fours propelling him instead. Seventeen of those came on the legside, which is testament not only to his superb use of the pull and hook. Sri Lanka were also at times guilty of over-bowling shorter lengths to Duckett, perhaps because that had been their primary wicket-taking strategy when they had decked Pakistan for 110 on Tuesday.
Duckett struck successive square boundaries in the second over to get himself going, moved briskly to a half-century off 46 balls, then brought up his hundred – the sixth of his ODI career – in 89 balls. He then moved up gears in the company of Brook, as the pair reaped 80 in a seven-over stretch starting with the 31st over. Brook, who struck the fastest ODI double-hundred the last time these teams met, had promoted himself up the order and reeled off 44 off 34 himself, before getting into a tangle attempting to scoop Asitha. Duckett’s eventual dismissal, in the 42nd over, was also the result of a scoop-gone-wrong, this time against an Eshan Malinga slower ball.
Earlier, Banton had mostly kept pace with Duckett as he hit 74 off 75 deliveries. He was more comfortable hitting down the ground, launching spin for two sixes over long-on and long-off. He was out playing on to a length delivery from Shanaka, and will perhaps rue having not converted one of his three fifties this series to a triple-figure score.
On a surface not given to spin, left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage could not muster a breakthrough in his 10 overs, travelling for 75. Malinga was Sri Lanka’s most expensive bowler by a distance however, conceding 101.
There is little but pride riding on this match. Sri Lanka have already qualified for the tri-series final on Saturday. England are already out.
