England won by 122 runs
Sigh! That's that from the ODI pyrotechnics. I remember Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton (during their comm. stint) stressing upon a point where Sri Lanka failed to capitalize on a few opportunites throughout the series. This certainly isn't a 202- all out pitch, "It's just that Sri Lanka are low on confidence" lamented Nass. There's a fine line between good and great. The good turn up while the great turn up and announce their arrival. England's exuberant show and Jason Roy's vast improvement as a cricketer are the apt justifications, if you ever needed one. Um, lets bring the curtains down and we hope to join you on Tuesday, the 5th of July - For the one-off T20I. Till then buh-bye from Raju Peethala, Akshay Maanay, Vineet Anantharaman, Ramakrishnan and Krishna. Enjoy the weekend - Keep rocking.
The champagnes are out and fizzing as England players pose for the cameras. Some of the England players kiss their respective medals while a few keep themselves busy in gulping the bottles down. Ah! Whattay sight. Newspapers splash tomorrow perhaps...
"It turned out to be good toss to lose. We played much better than any other game in the series. We adapted to the conditions well. Had I known about the pitch, I would have gone with two spinners. I think our pacers did well to hit good lengths. Given the ground, I think the bowlers did a great job to restrict Sri Lanka. The belief in the change room has been outstanding. Jason Roy has been batting exceptionally well. Except myself I think everyone has contributed to the team's success. I think we got better with the series. One off T20 is a good chance to rest a few guys and a good chance for a few guys to push their case strongly," an absolutely outspoken speech from Eoin Morgan
"We have been having the same problem in the last 5-6 weeks. We were poor with the ball and in the field. Bowlers quite didn't hit the straps, the batsmen didn't do well either. Running was very poor and we need to improve as a team and day-by-day we need to concentrate on getting better. Credit to English for playing exceptionally well. It was disappointing, unfortunately we could never recover from that (first) game. Going forward there are a lot of positives. The seniors obviously have a role to play in the team but the youngsters also need to put their hand up and make the most of the opportunities" mumbles a disappointed yet optimistic Mathews.
"I think just scoring 40s, 30s, getting myself out and on a couple of occasions pushing myself to score big. I put in a lot of hard work, lot of credit to the coaches for helping me out. We are doing that as a team (fielding). There are some areas where we are working on. I would like to score a lot of runs for Surrey and of course I want to play Test match cricket. That's the dream," an elated Jason Roy.
Undoubtedly, Jason Roy - Man of the Series
"I had a little bit of success against them. Nice to contribute to the team and great to win the series. Respect to Jason (Roy), he played fantastically throughout the series. We have put in some consistent performances and credit to the boys for playing exceptionally well. IPL experience is valuable I think, the more I play the more you learn from those experiences. Rashid bowled fantastically well again. Not focused too much on the future; taking it one day at a time. Whichever format it is, just try and give my best" a fantastically fantastic Buttler.
Jos Buttler - Man of the Match
For England: Jason Roy (who obviously will receive the Man of the Series I presume), David Willey, Adil Rashid, Jos Buttler and Liam Plunkett. Chris Woakes ain't bad either
Positives in the ODI series for SL: Dinesh Chandimal, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis
Dinesh Chandimal was the lone bright spot for the Lankans, as he has been throughout the series, notching up his fourth consecutive half-century to keep his side's hopes alive. But alas, with absolutely no support from the other end, it was a case of too little too late.
The familiar script unfolds itself all over again albeit in the reverse order, with the English batsmen coming out all guns blazing and then being subject to a submissive surrender from the Lankan batsmen. This tour for the visitors just keeps going further downhill. After being steamrolled in the Tests and then being blanked in the one-dayers, the players would be looking to hop onto the next flight to get as far as possible from what has been one of the poorest away tours for this side in years. The resurgent English, on the other hand, appear to have everything going for them at the moment. After setting a mammoth target, thanks largely to half-centuries courtesy Vince, Root and Buttler, the bowlers came out and pierced the Lankan balloon getting them to crumble meekly to yet another humiliating defeat.
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