Root and Morgan ease England to victory as hosts seal another series win

Eoin Morgan and Joe Root’s 140-run partnership saw England home in the second ODI fixture against Sri Lanka as the hosts took an unassailable 2-0 series lead at The Oval.

By the time Morgan arrived at the crease, his side were already in a comfortable position at 104-2 thanks to the exploits of the returning Jason Roy.

Roy and Jonny Bairstow lived up to the reputation that their opening partnership has garnered in recent years by posting 76 runs in just 12.4 overs before the latter was dismissed for 29.

The Surrey batsman went from strength to strength and channelled his aggressive game in the way that Morgan and co would have hoped for.

He was extremely unlucky to fall for 60 with the impressive Dhananjaya de Silva taking a remarkable catch at short-midwicket which left Roy crestfallen.

But the experienced duo went about their business admirably with Root looking typically in control of his innings from the very first ball with the Yorkshireman ending on an unbeaten 68 while Morgan injected pace to the partnership to finish on 75 not out off just 83 deliveries.

Sri Lanka have undoubtedly shown more ability with the ball throughout their limited-overs tour, although they were unable purposefully trouble the England batsman which once more led to another convincing defeat.

However, for the first time this summer, the tourists looked capable of posting a competitive score after recovering from a superb swing-bowling spell from Sam Curran.

On his home ground, Curran created problems for right-handed batsmen with the in-swinging delivery that threatened both pads and stumps.

That being said, it was a left-hander in the form of Kusal Perera who was trapped LBW for a second-ball duck in what was a sign of things to come early on.

Avishka Fernando found himself in a perilous position with his front foot coming too far towards the off-side which left umpire Rob Bailey with no choice but to award Curran with his second wicket when the ball crashed into Fernando’s pads.

Pathum Nissanka was the next victim to fall to the Curran in-swinger with the inexperienced opener seeing his stumps rearranged on 5 to leave the Zimbabwean-born all-rounder with figures of just 3-3.

Nissanka’s dismissal brought de Silva to the crease and fortunately for Sri Lanka, they could rely on the experience of the 29-year-old who played a classy innings to add an ounce of respectability to his side’s final total.

It was evident that when he sent two consecutive pull shots to the rope from the bowling of Curran that his knock would be crucial to the outcome of the game

He was strong off the back foot and confident on the drive which left Morgan and his bowling attack searching for a route of dismissal.

Wanindu Hasaranga supported de Silva strongly but their partnership was broken when the former picked out the hands of Sam Billings at deep-square-leg after attempting to take on Curran’s short ball.

The foil role played by Dasun Shanaka was a vital one too and his partnership with de Silva pushed Sri Lanka towards the 200 mark and their highest of the summer so far.

Nobody could begrudge de Silva of a century, although he was denied a maiden ODI ton after top-edging David Willey’s short ball into the hands of Root for 91.

With Shanaka looking to channel his natural aggression after holding back to support de Silva, he cut into the hands of Sam Curran on the boundary at cover-point for 47 with England now into the tail.

Willey found himself on a hat-trick after seeing off Shanaka with the final ball of his ninth over and dismissing Binura Fernando with the first ball of his final over. Dushmantha Chameera denied him the landmark though.

240 is rarely a big enough score to trouble this England outfit and despite the significant upgrade in performance from previous fixtures, Sri Lanka are ultimately nowhere near troubling the world champions. It is down to Mickey Arthur to change that, no matter how improbable.

That shock win the tourists pulled off during the world cup campaign seems a long, long time ago now.

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