Liam Plunkett struck a six off the final delivery of match to clinch a thrilling tie for England in the first Royal London ODI against Sri Lanka – when the home side had appeared destined to go one-nil down.
England had Jos Buttler (93) and Chris Woakes (95 not out) to thank, after the pair steered them from 82/6 into a winning position.
Only Eoin Morgan, who hit 43, of anyone in the England top five registered a score of note, with Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root and Jonny Barstow all falling cheaply.
By the end, a tie felt like a win for Morgan’s side, who’d needed 30 to win off the final two overs – and when death bowler Nuwan Pradeep bowled accurately to leave England requiring six to tie off the final ball, few would have believed what came next.
Plunkett thundered a straight six to send the Trent Bridge crowd into raptures.
Earlier, England bowled with discipline to limit Sri Lanka to 286/9 off their 50 overs, with the tourists’ captain Angelo Mathews again top-scoring.
Woakes enjoyed a stunning return to the ODI side in the absence of the injured Ben Stokes. The Warwickshire allrounder, together with Yorkshire left-armer David Willey, dismantled the Sri Lanka top three as the tourists’ Test match struggles were carried into the 50-over format.
Willey got openers Perera and Gunathilaka and Woakes found the edge of Kusal Mendis’ bat to
reduce Sri Lanka to 56/3.
Yet it was Mathews again who propelled Sri Lanka towards a defendable total with an assured 73 off 109 balls and Seekkuge Prasanna blasted 59 off 28 balls before prodding a catch back to Woakes.
Veteran allrounder Farveez Maharoof then batted aggressively at the end and Sri Lanka would have been content with their final total of 286/9.
England’s reply faltered from the start, when Roy and Hales were dismissed in quick succession. The Surrey man was pinned LBW by Mathews and Hales spliced a catch to Perera at backward point, before Root bottom-edged onto his stumps for 2.
Mathews snared two of England’s first three wickets but was hampered by an injury which forced him off the field.
Meanwhile, his opposite number Morgan appeared to be applying the stabilisers to the innings, until the left-hander’s attempted cut nicked through to Dinesh Chandimal. And when Bairstow (3) and Moeen Ali (7) followed their skipper back to the pavilion, hope looked lost for England.
But Buttler is the master at staging dramatic fightbacks and, along with Woakes, the Lancashire keeper-batsman took the game to Sri Lanka.
Buttler plundered 93 off 99 balls, falling agonisingly short of a century when Prasana’s leg-spin deceived him. Woakes kept fighting however, despite losing Willey (7) who perished in the deep off Maharoof attempting a big slog.
England looked to be behind the run rate for the final 10 overs – until Plunkett salvaged an unlikely tie with a sublime smash down the ground.
The England v Sri Lanka ODI Series concludes with its fitfh game at The SSE SWALEC, Cardiff. Secure your seats by clicking here.