England comfortably beat Sri Lanka again in the second one-day international at The Oval on Thursday to clinch the series with a game to spare. Sam Curran took 5-48 – his first five-wicket haul for England – as the hosts restricted Sri Lanka to 241-9 from 50 overs.
It sealed a fifth heavy defeat for Sri Lanka in five matches on this white-ball tour – these ODIs following a dominant 3-0 win for England in the Twenty20 series.
After the series defeat, Sri Lanka captain Kusal Perera said even though his team were inconsistent, but there were positives.
“Top order, 21 for 4, it’s hard to get back but Dhananjaya and Wanindu gave us a start, followed by Shanaka and at least 240 is something for our bowlers. Dhananjaya played tremendously, but can’t get a hundred unfortunately, we’re inconsistent but there are positives. Series is lost but we have to try to finish with a win” he said after the match.
performance from Sam Curran helped England restrict Sri Lanka to 241/9 in their allotted 50 overs. The youngster scalped a maiden five-wicket haul which included top 3 batsmen from the Sri Lanka batting line-up who departed in single digits, leaving the visitors reeling at 12/3 at an early stage. For Sri Lanka, Dhananjaya de Silva was the standout player with 91 runs while Dasun Shanka contributed 47 runs to help Sri Lanka go past 200 runs. Silva’s innings comprised 13 boundaries.
The final ODI takes place in Bristol on Sunday.
