Rain halts third ODI between England and Sri Lanka in Bristol

Sport360 staff 21:10 26/06/2016
The third ODI was a washout in Bristol.

Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett shared six wickets to restrict the tourists to 248 for nine. But forecast rain set in to prevent all but four overs of England’s reply – with the total a nascent, and inconclusive, 16 for one.

The consequent no-result means all is therefore still to play for in the Royal London Series, resuming at The Oval on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka were able to set a worthwhile, but far from imposing, total on the back of half-centuries from their captain Angelo Mathews, his deputy Dinesh Chandimal and Kusal Mendis.

England opener Alex Hales then rediscovered the vagaries of cricket with an abrupt come-down from his and Jason Roy’s unbroken record stand of 256 in Friday’s 10-wicket win at Edgbaston.

This time, after his unbeaten career-best 133 two days ago, he went to the batsman’s other extreme when he was out first ball – edging a short one behind from Suranga Lakmal, as he tried to reopen his account off the back foot.

Also as at Edgbaston, Sri Lanka began their innings by losing two wickets with under 50 on the board after Eoin Morgan chose to bowl on a cloudy morning.

Danushka Gunathilaka paid for indecision, trying to leave a full ball from David Willey but edging down on to his stumps, and then Kusal Perera went after a length delivery from Plunkett (three for 46) and skied a catch to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.

Again for the second match running, Plunkett had struck in his first over – this time for his 50th one-day international wicket, a statistic which has taken him longer than any other Englishman to achieve, in a 37-match career stretching back to December 2005.

Perera was also a 100th victim in this format for Buttler, a milestone which has come his way significantly quicker than Plunkett’s.

Mendis (53) then dominated a stand of 56 for the third wicket with Chandimal (62), reaching his second half-century in his fifth ODI from 61 balls.

The return of Plunkett again did the trick for England, though, his second ball once more bringing the breakthrough when Mendis mistimed a pull into the deep.

Chandimal and Mathews (56) got to work with another handy partnership, adding 80 this time to the 82 they put on to little eventual avail in Birmingham.

As there too, though, Chandimal failed to consolidate when he was caught from a thick edge down to third-man after aiming to hit Woakes (three for 34) in almost exactly the opposite direction.

Seekkuge Prasanna’s licence to hit lasted only five balls, and brought just a couple of runs, before he holed out into the leg-side off Plunkett.

Mathews was also eying up the boundary but propelled Chris Jordan only down to short fine-leg, where Buttler scampered back to take his second catch in unconventional circumstances.

It was therefore left to Upul Tharanga, in another repeat of Edgbaston, to eke out runs with the tail – which he did manfully until Woakes returned and bowled him, as he too aimed to leg, the second of two wickets with the last two deliveries of the penultimate over.

The predicted rain was already falling by then – and although it relented long enough for Hales to be dismissed, and Joe Root to get under way with some crisp shots off the back foot, it was no surprise when bad weather had the last word.

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