Chester-Lee-Street: Eoin Morgan’s cricketers claimed a five-wicket victory against Sri Lanka.Dushmantha Chameera’s two wickets reducing England to 80 for four in the 12th over, Joe Root delivered a typically frictionless 79 not out from 87 balls with only four fours to seal the 1-0 series lead. Had Kusal Perera not dropped Moeen Ali first ball, en route to 28 in a stand of 91 with Root, things might have been different.
Joe’s innings was a very calming influence as usual, said Woakes, who had earlier presented Root with his 150th ODI cap. It was a great knock to see us home. He certainly reminded people today he’s a class act. We’ve got an aggressive lineup but he’s the glue through the middle.
Already heavily bruised by their 3-0 defeat in the Twenty20 series, Sri Lanka had then stuck Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka on the first flight home – economy class, it was stressed – after they had broken the team’s biosecurity rules on Sunday evening. It left the tourists with three debutants, an imbalanced lineup and looking ripe for the taking.