Key events
6th over: Sri Lanka 29-0 (Nissanka 12, Mishara 13) An early look at Liam Dawson, who should have been in the bloody Ashes squad it was so obvious what the hell were England doing picking a specialist No8 when Dawson could have batted there and bowled proper spin has quickly become a key part of England’s white-ball plans. He almost strikes with the last ball of his first over when Nissanka falls over to the off side and chips just wide of the diving Bethell at midwicket.
Only four runs from the last two overs.
5th over: Sri Lanka 26-0 (Nissanka 12, Mishara 10) Overton, bowling around the wicket, beats Mishara with a spiteful back-of-a-length delivery. When he gets it right, Overton looks thoroughly unpleasant to face. A tall bloke jarring the bat at 90mph: what’s to love?
An excellent over, just one from it – and that came off the edge.
4th over: Sri Lanka 25-0 (Nissanka 12, Mishara 9) A juicy delivery from Curran is punched through extra cover for four by Mishara. The early signs are that this is a very good pitch. Very flipping good.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 20-0 (Nissanka 12, Mishara 4) A loose delivery from Overton flies off the pads of Nissanka for four leg-byes. Overton responds with angry short ball that forces Nissanka to pull his glove off the bat handle.
Those two deliveries sum up England’s start with the ball – a bit of a mixed bag.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 12-0 (Nissanka 8, Mishara 4) Sam Curran takes the new ball, probably his best role if he is going to play in England’s ODI side. A nice inswinger is defended respectfully by Nissanka, who then plays a sumptuous back-foot drive for four. He’s such a classy player; you will probably remember his matchwinning hundred in the Oval Test of 2024.
1st over: Sri Lanka 7-0 (Nissanka 3, Mishara 4) This is the first time Overton has opened the bowling in an ODI. He starts with a short ball that is pulled smoothly for two by Nissanka. A single behind square brings the left-handed Mishara on strike; he’s beaten first ball, chasing a short delivery that snaps away off the seam.
Mishara gets off the mark with a cross-bat edge that lands short of Buttler and bounces through for four.
Jamie Overton will open the bowling to Pathum Nissanka. Let’s get this pyjama party started.
From the archive
Unusual thrashings come no more predictable than Sri Lanka’s demolition of England in the quarter-final of the 1996 World Cup. It was unusual because Sri Lanka had never beaten England in the World Cup and had never qualified for the semi-finals; England had never failed to reach the semi-finals. Yet the buildup to the tournament group stages told us that history was more or less bunk.
Sri Lanka – who were 66-1 outsiders two months before the tournament started – were relatively fresh and in familiar conditions; England were knackered and might as well have been on Mars, so little experience did they have of one-day cricket in Asia. Sri Lanka were playing 21st-century one-day cricket, with pinch hitters and pace off the ball; England’s tactics were straight outta 1985.
Jonathan Liew
There will be consequences. There must be consequences. Perhaps there have already been consequences. Harry Brook is very sorry for getting punched by a bouncer in New Zealand. Rob Key is very sorry for overseeing an Ashes tour that in retrospect could probably have been an email. Brendon McCullum is not sorry, but has promised to “look at things over the next little while”, which is basically the same as an apology, so fine.
In the meantime, the travelling circus of English cricket rolls on. There is a white-ball series in Sri Lanka starting on Thursday morning, for which – consequences, remember – McCullum remains as coach, Key remains as managing director and Brook remains as captain. In addition Zak Crawley returns to open the batting in the 50-over team, a fitting reward for not playing a single 50-over game in the whole of 2024 or 2025. Nature heals.
Perhaps we do, too. Two weeks after the teams left the field in Sydney, the raw emotions awakened by England’s defeat have subsided a little. Sleep and teabags have been replenished. The Twenty20 World Cup starts in a fortnight. Winter nets have already begun. This is the blessing and the curse of cricket: there is always fresh hope around the corner, fresh drifts of snow to cover guilty footprints.
As for McCullum, his contract runs to the end of the 2027 Ashes and according to reports it would cost more than £1m to break it now. Indeed it is possible that this knowledge has informed some of his more obdurate proclamations to the media in Australia, a recognition that in a landscape rich with franchise cash and poor in willing international coaches, he still holds all the cards.
Taha Hashim
A subcontinental World Cup to close an Ashes winter? History tells us this does not end well for England. In 2014 a whitewash in Australia was followed by a group-stage exit at the World T20 with a 45-run defeat to the Netherlands in Chattogram. In 2011 the 50-over side – largely made up of Test regulars – were brutalised by Kevin O’Brien in Bengaluru before exiting with a 10-wicket quarter-final loss to Sri Lanka at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Vic Marks, writing for the Observer, wondered beforehand if England had “anything left to give” after so many months on the road.
And so to the Premadasa again, 15 years on, this time without the goodwill of a recent series victory in Australia. The first one-day international against Sri Lanka will begin just two weeks after Alex Carey struck the winning runs at the SCG, and open the second half of England’s winter, with three T20s to follow in Pallekele. They will hope to end it on 8 March, at the final of the T20 World Cup in Ahmedabad, or Colombo should they face Pakistan, such is the geopolitical mess underpinning the upcoming tournament.
The gap between tours has unsurprisingly been populated with discussion of how it all fell apart in Australia, questions of who goes and who stays and, already, Richard Gould, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, outlining that “our focus is on regaining the Ashes in 2027”. The English game’s unhealthy obsession with one series lives on.
The teams
There’s a late change to the England team. Will Jacks is unwell and has been replaced by Rehan Ahmed.
Sri Lanka Nissanka, Mishara, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dhananjaya, Asalanka (c), Liyanage, P Ratnayake, Wellalage, Madushan, Vandersay, Fernando.
England Crawley, Duckett, Root, Bethell, Brook (c), Buttler (wk), S Curran, Rehan Ahmed, J Overton, Dawson, Rashid.
Sri Lanka win the toss and bat
And why not, with a gazillion spin options in their team.
“I’m very excited about today’s match,” writes Nick Parish. “This is my favourite line-up in action again, possibly my favourite of all time. I know there were some dodgy moments in Australia, but I’m confident we’re going to get somebody fabulous entertainment today. But anyway, enough about you and Harris. What do you think of the chancers on the pitch?”
Look, I wrote some shocking sentences during the Ashes but I’ll take the learnings and move forward. Hopefully by never using the word ‘learnings’ again.
England have named their team, which has possibly the shortest tail in English cricket history. There are three changes from the third ODI in New Zealand: Zak Crawley (the very same), Will Jacks and Liam Dawson replace Jamie Smith, Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer.
England Crawley, Duckett, Root, Bethell, Brook (c), Buttler (wk), Jacks, S Curran, J Overton, Dawson, Rashid.
Edit: Jacks was replaced at the last minute by Rehan Ahmed.
Preamble
Are you over it yet? Nah, me either, but at least we have to some fresh cricket to distract us. A fortnight after the end of the most disappointing Ashes series in living memory, England begin their preparation for the T20 World Cup with – don’t ask – a three-match ODI series.
A lot has changed since England’s last ODI in New Zealand in November. The Ashes dream has gone poof!, Brendon McCullum is fighting for his job. And it’s probably fair to assume Harry Brook had an early night yesterday.
One thing remains the same: if England don’t start winning ODIs soon, they will miss out on automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup. England are currently eighth in the ODI rankings; to qualify automatically, they need to be in the top nine when the music stops in March 2027. If not they will be parachuted into the Cricket World Cup qualifier that summer.
England will surely qualify one way or another. But for a team who were redefining ODI cricket a decade ago, it’s all a bit ignominious.
Today’s match starts at 9am GMT.
