Pitch perfect performance from Harry Brook leads England to ODI series win
ONE shudders to think of the damage that Harry Brook might do when he finds a pitch that he is happy with.
Having described the surface for Saturday’s second one-day international against Sri Lanka in Colombo as “probably the worst pitch I’ve played on”, Brook followed up by observing at the toss ahead of the deciding game at the same ground on Tuesday that “we’d like a nice pitch, but I don’t think it’s going to be a nice pitch”.
Turned out to be not too bad after all as England’s white-ball skipper walloped an unbeaten 136 from 66 balls with 11 fours and nine sixes - his highest one-day innings and one of the best ever played by an Englishman in the format.
Allied to an unbeaten 111 by Joe Root from 108 deliveries, a terrific innings somehow almost completely overshadowed, it led England to 357-3, Sri Lanka making 304 in reply as Brook’s men - who lost the first match - hit back to take the series 2-1 with a 53-run triumph.
What a triumph it was individually for Brook, who had gone into the series lucky to have kept the captaincy after his drunken altercation with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand.
Genius is flawed, as the saying goes, a truism that Brook has done his utmost to prove in the space of a few weeks, with this time his cricketing gifts taking centre stage with the series on the line and the spotlight on him personally.
Remarkably, he did not even come to the crease until the 32nd over, once Jacob Bethell had pulled leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay to deep mid-wicket to end a fine innings of 65 from 72 balls and a stand of 126 with Root from 124 that laid the platform for Brook to prosper.
Thereafter, it was essentially carnage but by no means slogging as Brook played some proper shots - not least sumptuous drives beyond the cover boundary - as he contributed the lion’s share to a stand of 191 with Root from 113 balls.
England, who lost Ben Duckett to a catch at forward-point from a reverse sweep, and Rehan Ahmed to a pull to mid-wicket, accelerated breathlessly towards the finish, scoring 130 from the last 10 overs, including 88 from the final five.
Sri Lanka’s bowling wilted, Brook sending the last delivery of the innings for six over cover in what felt like a statement.
It left the hosts with no choice but to attack from the get-go, a policy that saw them plunder 104 in the 10-over powerplay.
Unfortunately for them, they lost three wickets in so doing, including Pathum Nissanka, the opener, who inspired the flying start with 50 from 25 balls.
Thereafter, wickets fell at timely intervals for England, helped by some careless shots and running between the wickets.
Pavan Rathnayake answered Brook and Root’s hundreds with one of his own, his first in ODIs on his fourth appearance.
The 23-year-old hit 121 from 115 balls with 12 fours and a six before he was last out, yorked by Sam Curran with 3.2 overs left, to send England into Friday’s three-match T20 series in good heart.