Player of the Match
Player of the Match

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

JE Root
JE Root
104(117) 7x4 - 1x6
Control %91%
  • Productive Shot
  • flick
  • 20 runs
  • 1x4 - 0x6
17 1 12 7 16 1 6 44
KC Sangakkara
KC Sangakkara
91(123) 10x4 - 0x6
Control %87%
  • Productive Shot
  • flick
  • 20 runs
  • 2x4 - 0x6
5 1 13 11 22 6 11 22

Best performances - Bowlers

CR Woakes
CR Woakes
O8
M0
R47
W6
Eco5.87
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W
2W
SMSM Senanayake
SMSM Senanayake
O10
M0
R35
W2
Eco3.5
RHB
OFFLEG
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W1W

Match Details

Toss

England , elected to field first

Player Of The Match

Series result

Sri Lanka led the 7-match series 3-2

Match number

Season

Hours of play (local time)

14.30 start, First Session 14.30-18.00, Interval 18.00-18.45, Second Session 18.45-22.15

Match days

10,11 December 2014 - day/night match (50-over match)

TV Umpires

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Scorer: Gopi Rangarajan | Commentator: Alex Winter

Five down, two to go in this series. We stay in Pallekele for sixth rubber on Saturday and it's still all to play for so join us on Saturday at 10am local time, 4.30am GMT, see you then...

Presentation time. Joe Root is Man of the Match for his superb match-winning century.

Here's Angelo Mathews: "We were 20-30 runs short but nothing can be taken away from Joe Root. I was disappointed with the spinners really. Senanayake was brilliant, we banked on him. It could have been different with Herath but we had the spinners to win. The break wasn't a disadvantage, it was just a pretty flat performance."

Alastair Cook taking the praise for his side's second win: "That was a fantastic couple of days. The way we bowled was fantastic. Kumar played very well but Rooty has played a knock of equal class. James has taken his chance and played so well on two difficult wickets. I was a little concerned about the pitch this morning, we wanted to bat under lights but Rooty and Taylor played superbly well. We didn't talk about the chase overnight really. It didn't make a difference. The better side won in this game."

We thought Sri Lanka would have every chance of defending 239 on a slow, dry wicket but it's played far better than expected. There was almost no turn whatsoever and the seamers weren't really given a good enough chance to try and exert pressure. England knocked the spinners around very well indeed and there was no drama at all outside the first 10 overs when two wickets fell to Senanayake bowling straight deliveries. This should be a real confidence boost for England with the sixth ODI to come also on this ground on Saturday.

A fine chase from England, they have won by five wickets and controlled things very well indeed. That's the highest chase in an ODI at Pallekele, led superbly by first James Taylor and then Joe Root who's made his third ODI century, a very mature calm innings. He shared two excellent partnerships, first with Taylor to get England out of a little hole at the start of the innings and then with Ravi Bopara who was the perfect foil. There was a hint of a wobble but overall this has been a very solid run chase and England reduce the arrears to 3-2 in the series with two rubbers to play.

49.1
2
Dilshan to Buttler, 2 runs, delicate paddle sweep behind square, it runs away for a couple and England are home!

Where's Malinga when you need him, can Dilshan do a good impression?

END OF OVER:
49 | 9 Runs 1 Wkt | ENG: 238/5 (2 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 4.85, RRR: 2.00)

  • Joe Root104 (117b)
  • Ajantha Mendis9-0-49-1
  • Tillakaratne Dilshan9-0-43-1

So it goes to the last over, just two to win...

48.6
W
BAW Mendis to Morgan, OUT, tries to win it and caught on the rope! Morgan can't quite finish the job, going for a bit shot over long-on, didn't get all of it and it was solidly held

EJG Morgan c NLTC Perera b BAW Mendis 5 (9m 5b 1x4 0x6) SR: 100

48.5
0
BAW Mendis to Morgan, no run, forward press to cover
48.4
1
BAW Mendis to Root, 1 run, single nudged out to long-on
48.3
1
BAW Mendis to Morgan, 1 run, carefully nudged from leg stump out to deep-backward square
48.2
1
BAW Mendis to Root, 1 run, short outside off, cut to extra cover who fumbles and they get a single

England tour of Sri Lanka 2014-15 News

  • Cook form leaves England in chaos

    England's biggest problem ahead of the fast-approaching World Cup is the form of Cook and it becomes more acute each time a member of the ECB hierarchy launches into an impassioned defence of the captain

  • A dream day for Khettarama faithful

    Tillakaratne Dilshan crashed the farewell party of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara with a spectacular all-round show, but the departing pair would leave the crowd with one final jewel

  • 'No complaints' if sacked - Cook

    It has been a "hell of a year", in the words of Alastair Cook but he will have to wait a few more days to see if it has been worth it - at least from a personal perspective

  • Sangakkara's golden year to remember

    Stats highlights from the final ODI between Sri Lanka and England, in Colombo

  • St Sangakkara b Jayawardene

    Plays of the day from the seventh ODI between Sri Lanka and England in Colombo

First-over jinx

8

Number of times Kusal Perera has been dismissed in the first over in ODIs, including four times in his last eight innings