Player of the Match
Player of the Match

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

JE Root
JE Root
75(90) 5x4 - 0x6
Control %90%
  • Productive Shot
  • flick
  • 30 runs
  • 2x4 - 0x6
4 2 16 1 6 7 17 22
KIC Asalanka
KIC Asalanka
45(64) 1x4 - 0x6
Control %89%
  • Productive Shot
  • flick
  • 8 runs
  • 0x4 - 0x6
7 6 6 9 2 3 1 11

Best performances - Bowlers

JE Root
JE Root
O2.3
M0
R13
W2
Eco5.2
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W
J Overton
J Overton
O5
M1
R21
W2
Eco4.2
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W

Match Details

Toss

Sri Lanka , elected to bat first

Player Of The Match

Series result

3-match series level 1-1

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

24 January 2026 - day/night match (50-over match)

TV Umpires

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Scorer: Thilak R | Commentator: Andrew Miller

9.57pm Right, that'll do for today. Well done to England for finally winning away in an ODI. From Miller, Alan and Thilak, thanks for joining us. See you on Tuesday for the decider!

Time for the presentations.

The Player of the Match is Joe Root for his 75 from 90 balls. "I always like coming to Sri Lanka, great country, feel very welcome, nice to get the win on a difficult surface. Take the ball as late as possible, found a way, learnt from mistakes in the first game. Maximised the powerplay then a couple of big partnerships. Thankfully we got the job done. Use experience, played a lot of cricket here, nature of the bounce, how the ball can turn. When the ball gets softer and older it gets easier. Got to be precise in footwork."

Charith Asalanka: "At least 30 runs short when batting. Kusal's run-out, my dismissal and Dhananjaya's... areas to improve. WIth this heat, it's hard to push singles to seconds. Have to concentrate and save energy. Credit goes to their batters, especially Root and Brook. Recent years our ODI side is brilliant at fielding. Want to do basics right for the decider. It's exciting."

Harry Brook: "Nice to get a win away from home, on a tough surface, happy to get the victory. The pitch was probably the worst I've played on, had to adapt and get off strike. To bowl them out was awesome work. Rotating the spinners, we lost Creeps to his knee, Jacksy did a good job with the ball. Root is an awesome player, gets off strike and puts away the bad ball."

9.38pm Well, that was never in doubt, was it? (Was it...?) Once again, Joe Root was England's mainstay with an even-paced 75, while Harry Brook and Jos Buttler provided the ballast and the afterburn respectively. A target of 220 was always 20 below par, even on a spin-friendly surface. England used eight bowlers, including six spinners with 40.3 overs between them, a national record for ODIs. And the upshot is that the series is squared at 1-1, with Tuesday's decider to come.

Pranav: "doth my eyes deceive me?! england have won an odi game.. stop the press" Yep, I think this means they win the Ashes too

Pavit: "@Andrew If England win the ashes, then do you get your fifty quids back?" Good point well made... the petition starts here...

46.2
4
Pramod Madushan to Jacks, FOUR, bottom-handed flick out of the full length, clean through wide long-on... and England win an away ODI for the first time in 12 attempts!
46.1
2
Pramod Madushan to Jacks, 2 runs, overpitched on the toes, clipped to backward square. Good stop inside the ropes, but the scores are level.

My glass is half-full... who wants to top it up? Pramod with the final (surely) rites

END OF OVER:
46 | 12 Runs | ENG: 217/5 (3 runs required from 24 balls, RR: 4.71, RRR: 0.75)

  • Jos Buttler33 (21b)
  • Will Jacks2 (6b)
  • Pavan Rathnayake1-0-12-0
  • Jeffrey Vandersay10-0-45-2
45.6
6
Rathnayake to Buttler, SIX, pongoed into the sightscreen! I think we can put a bow on this one! Tossed up into Buttler's arc, he opens up his stance, snaps his wrists through the full length, and deposits it high and mighty!
45.5
2
Rathnayake to Buttler, 2 runs, outside off, Buttler gets on top of his cut and finds space at deep point. Easy game while he's on strike...

Dileep: "25 years! Do you get a gold or silver keyboard for the occasion? " I got a Mickey Mouse plaque saying that's for creating the magic, or some such

45.4
1
Rathnayake to Jacks, 1 run, thumped to cover
45.3
1
Rathnayake to Buttler, 1 run, tossed up on a full length, tight to off stump, bottom-handed drive into the covers

England 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st20BM DuckettRehan Ahmed
2nd68JE RootBM Duckett
3rd9JE RootJG Bethell
4th81JE RootHC Brook
5th11JC ButtlerHC Brook
6th34JC ButtlerWG Jacks