England v Sri Lanka: third and deciding males’s one-day cricket transnational – stay
Key occasions
2nd over: England 7-1 (Banton 5, Root 1) Replays present that the ball to Duckett solely deviated barely, lots lower than I assumed once I noticed it stay. On England batting first, it was a sophisticated resolution – apparently the pitch may be very dry (bat first), but it surely’s September (bowl first) and there’s an opportunity of rain later (bowl first).
“So we come to the ultimate OBO of the 2026 summer season (South Africa on the best way),” writes John Starbuck. “Which do you suppose was the most effective to write down, and did it rely on England’s personal fortunes?”
Yikes, good query. Not positive about the most effective to write down, however my favorite reminiscence is Ollie Robinson’s triple-wicket maiden on his return at Lord’s, throughout which there was a number of rain on my face. Dead inside as I’m, I used to be pleasantly stunned to expertise such overwhelming happiness for any individual I’ve by no means met.
How about you lot?
WICKET! England 6-1 (Duckett b Madushanka 0)
It’s 10.38am in September, people. Duckett tries to drive a magnificence from Madushanka that nips again to hit the highest of off stump. Lovely bowling, and Sri Lanka are in an amongst England early doorways.
1st over: England 6-0 (Banton 5, Duckett 0) Asitha Fernando has an early LBW enchantment in opposition to Ben Duckett turned down. It pitched fractionally exterior leg stump and would most likely have swung previous leg. That apart, it was plumb.
Tom Banton will get the primary boundary with a cracking cowl drive. “Classic cowl drive to an outswing bowler,” purrs Nasser Hussain on commentary. “Perfection.”
A great spot from our cricket correspondent Ali Martin. Jos Buttler’s absence means Joe Root is the one participant with 50+ caps within the England crew. He has 195 caps; the opposite ten gamers have 214 between them. Harry Brook (44*) is second on the listing.
Team information
The injured Jos Buttler is changed by Jordan Cox, who performs his first ODI since a troublesome tour of the Caribbean two years in the past. Liam Dawson and Sonny Baker additionally come into the XI; Rehan Ahmed and Josh Tongue drop out.
Sri Lanka, unsurprisingly, are unchanged from their stirring win at Headingley.
England Banton, Duckett, Root, Brook (c), Cox (wk), Jacks, Dawson, Atkinson, Overton, Archer, Baker.
Sri Lanka Nissanka, Kamindu Mendis, Kusal Mendis (c/wk), Rathnayake, Asalanka, Liyanage, Wellalage, Colombage, Malinga, Fernando, Madushanka.
England win the toss and bat
That’s an attention-grabbing name given it’s a ten.30am begin in late September. Harry Brook clearly doesn’t look after the Natwest Trophy finals of the Nineties.
Ali Martin
Ethan Bamber could also be an adopted Brummie but it surely’s truthful to say he has town’s self-effacing nature all the way down to a tee. After sealing Warwickshire’s ninth County Championship with one closing explosion of bails, and watching captain Ed Barnard raise the trophy to cheers of “You Bears” from the stands, Bamber tried to credit score anybody however himself and even claimed to be an “common cricketer”.
Average? Not so quick. No bowler in Division One has despatched down greater than Bamber’s 445.3 overs this yr, nor can high the 69 wickets that he completed on after rattling Tom Scriven’s timbers to wrap up a complete innings and 79-run victory over Leicestershire. The 27-year-old ploughed by all 14 video games of the marketing campaign, together with his waspish model of wobble-seam and swing persistently undermining batting line-ups on this slow-burn triumph.
Kevin Pietersen’s return to the England dressing-room has evoked all these JFK innings he performed in transnational cricket. I by no means took euphoric medication, however I liveblogged a number of KP specials and that’s mainly the identical factor. In this foolish job, nothing has come near the exhilaration of the KP surge.
Ali Martin
Kevin Pietersen insisted he’s a “utterly completely different” particular person as of late as he sat down at Headingley – the bottom the place he declared “it’s robust being me on this dressing room” 14 years earlier – and spoke at size about his role as the new “specialist mentor” to England’s white-ball groups.
In the aftermath of a 16-run loss to Sri Lanka that sends this late summer season one-day sequence into an Oval decider on Sunday, Pietersen additionally revealed that whereas not full-time – “I’ll be out and in” – his enter is probably not restricted to the problem of profitable the 50-over World Cup in South Africa subsequent yr. A house Ashes comes earlier than that, the sequence that launched his profession again in 2005, and discussions with Stephen Fleming, the incoming Test coach, and Joe Root have already taken place.
For now although it’s Harry Brook’s crew that has his consideration past work as a content material creator and residential life, with this function the brainchild of Brendon McCullum, now the specialist white-ball coach. Pietersen was racking his brains as as to if he had publicly criticised England when McCullum’s title flashed up on his telephone.
“I assumed I used to be in bother,” mentioned Pietersen. “‘What have I executed now? Have I mentioned one thing?’ But [after]: ‘How are you doing? ‘All good?’ ‘Yes, I’m tremendous. What would you like?’ [McCullum replied:] ‘I would like you to hitch us within the dressing room. We wish to work over the subsequent 12 months to be aggressive in South Africa subsequent yr.’
Matt Hughes
Ben Stokes is on track for an additional conflict with the England and Wales Cricket Board as a result of the governing physique is unlikely to grant him permission to play in abroad franchise competitions subsequent summer season.
The former England captain is known to have had discussions with franchises within the United States’ Major League Cricket (MLC) and Pakistan Super League (PSL) about becoming a member of them subsequent season, however the Guardian has discovered that the ECB is reluctant to supply the No-Objection Certificate required to play in both competitors whereas he stays registered with Durham.
We’re liveblogging one other ODI at the moment: Daniel Gallan is on obligation for the second match between South Africa and Australia.
Preamble
Every cloud, eh? England’s defeat to Sri Lanka at Headingley on Thursday was a shock, and a little bit of a shocker, but it surely comes with a reward of types: a sequence decider. Eoin Morgan craved them when he was England captain, as a result of they have been the closest bilateral cricket got here to replicating the stress of a World Cup knockout sport.
Harry Brook’s crew are about to play their third sequence decider of the yr. They dealt fairly properly with the primary two, beating Sri Lanka and India after scoring 357-3 after which 387-3. If they rating 417-3 at the moment, one thing bizarre is happening.
