Joe Root to the fore with bat and ball as England claim much-needed win

First, they restricted Sri Lanka to 219 after losing the toss, and then chased that down with five wickets and 22 balls left.

All eyes now are on Tuesday’s decider as the teams battle it out for the much-coveted - ahem - Damro Cup.

Any win, of course, is welcome for England, their previous away victory in the 50-over format coming way back on November 2, 2024, against West Indies in Antigua.

Since then, they had lost three times in India, three times in New Zealand, three times in Pakistan (at the Champions Trophy), once in the West Indies and in the opening game of this series on Thursday, when Sri Lanka prevailed by 19 runs.

They might have feared the worst again when that coin came down in the home side’s favour, with conditions always trickier batting under floodlights in the game’s second half and Sri Lanka expert in their own backyard.

Indeed, just as England’s away record had turned increasingly dire, so Sri Lanka’s home form has been impressively good; they had won 16 of their previous ODIs at home, so not many, perhaps, saw this result coming.

As with the first game, England were forced into a change when Zak Crawley pulled out with a right knee complaint. Will Jacks returned after missing that first match through illness, leg-spinning all-rounder Rehan Ahmed - the man who replaced him - somewhat surprisingly taking Crawley’s spot at the top of the order in preference to Jacks.

The experiment did not prove successful.

Rehan was bowled trying to cut off-spinner Dhananjaya de Silva for 13 in the sixth over of the chase.

Instead, it was the familiar figure of Joe Root who shone, the Yorkshireman top-scoring with 75 after earlier returning 2-13, striking with the last two balls of the innings as Sri Lanka were dismissed with three deliveries of their allocation left.

Arriving at the fall of Rehan’s wicket, it was a typically controlled exhibition by Root, who milked the bowling as if it was a cow - nudging, nurdling and sweeping sweetly.

You could see that he was desperately disappointed not to go on to a century that would have been his 20th in ODIs, unsuccessfully reviewing an lbw decision to a full-length ball from pace man Asitha Fernando that was clipping leg stump on umpire’s call.

England needed 42 from 57 when Root was fourth out, having faced 90 balls and hit five fours – and shared 81 in 21 overs with captain Harry Brook, who described it as “probably the worst pitch I’ve ever played on” after the match, remarks that might raise eyebrows.

Brook, too, was not quite able to get the team over the line, falling with 31 needed from 44 when he was fifth man out, having played well for 42 from 75 balls with two fours.

He fell lbw trying to sweep leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay, a confidence boosting contribution by the captain to go with the result.

Jos Buttler ensured there were no late jitters, striking an unbeaten 33 from 21 with three fours and a six after Ben Duckett had helped to lay the early platform before being bowled by a sharply-turning leg-break from Vandersay that he tried to cut.

The other English wicket was that of Jacob Bethell, who drove Dhananjaya somewhat tamely to cover.

Earlier, England used six spinners for the first time in ODIs, Adil Rashid the pick with 2-34 from his 10 overs.

Rashid had Pathum Nissanka lofting to Jacks running round to his left from long-off, the opener losing control as his hand came off the bat, and later accounted for Charith Asalanka, the captain, who swept to Duckett at mid-wicket for the top score of 45 from 64 with one four.

Rashid also took a splendid catch, low down at deep backward-square leg when Janith Liyanage whipped Jamie Overton off his legs.

Overton set the tone for a much-improved England display when he had Kamil Mishara drilling to cover early in the piece, Duckett taking the catch at the second attempt.

Kusal Mendis, scourge of England in the first match with an unbeaten 93, appeared at fault this time when he was run out for 26, setting off for a single that did not look there after Jacks had made a diving stop at point off Liam Dawson, Mendis well beaten as he tried to recover his ground.

De Silva chipped in with 40 before whipping Dawson to Root at mid-wicket, but Sri Lanka gifted too many wickets against probing bowling.

And so the Damro Cup is all set up for the damn good finish it assuredly deserves.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Be there – or be, er, somewhere else.