England v Sri Lanka, 2nd ODI: Five Things We Learned

England get off the mark in the ODI series with a comprehensive 10-wicket win against Sri Lanka. Here’s what we learned from Edgbaston…

MAN OF THE DAY (1) – ALEX HALES 133*

Watchful, measured – devastating. As close to the perfect Hales knock: the balance was excellent early on, picking off a nice four through midwicket in the first over. He waited for the bowlers to stray and punished them accordingly. And then, when three figures was reached – off 91 balls. And then, he went nuts: three sixes blitzed off Seekuge Prasanna’s leg spin, all into the stands at midwicket. He might have done it on his own had his partner not told him to calm it down. Still, he played a big part in England scoring 108 runs between the 20th and 30th over. Ridiculous. He now has England’s highest individual ODI score against Sri Lanka.

MAN OF THE DAY (2) – JASON ROY

Frenetic, domineering – devastating. The first ball of the innings cut into Roy, as Mathews gave Maharoof the chance to catch him cold when the keeper was up. Sensing he might be in trouble, he took stock and played with a straight bat, watched the ball and took a page out of Hales’ book. When 10 overs was reached, with England 57-0, he decided to pick and choose his moments: Randiv was taken down the ground for six after Roy was satisfied that he had the measure of him. He tightened up in the nineties, going through it in singles. On 98, Mathews brought the field up and enough was enough – a flat six down the ground gave him a second ODI hundred from 92 balls. Their 256 is the highest partnership for any English wicket. His work at backward point and midwicket, with two fine run outs, underlined his worth in England’s white ball plans. Hell of a player.

LIKE A RASHID

Without doubt, Sri Lanka’s 254 was 100 short. While their batting left a lot to be desired, they were put out by some excellent bowling from England, especially Adil Rashid. Bowling with great rhythm and at the perfect pace, the Sri Lankan right-handers could not get the measure of him. When he span the ball, he gave it a chance to grip and beat the outside edge. When he bowled his googly, he ensure the line was perfect. That he conceded only one boundary (a four), from his 10 overs, against a line-up used to besting spin, says it all, really. Make no mistake, Rashid is the best white ball spinner England have had for a while…

KERPLUNKETT

While he ended the first ODI a hero with his last gasp six, once the confetti had settled, there were questions to be asked of Plunkett’s position in the bowling line-up, conceding 67 runs from his 10 overs when the innings rate was just 5.72. But today, not only was there more control, but he cranked up the pace and scared the bejesus out of the Sri Lankan openers. Gunathilaka nicked behind before Kusal Mendis was put out of his misery for a nine-ball duck. He varied his lengths appropriately in the latter overs, but his fire at the top set the tone for a thoroughly professional 50 overs in the field.

RERUN

Sri Lanka have been partying like it’s 2009 with the selections of Farveez Maharoof and Upul Tharanga for the series. While Maharoof has shown there is still a bit of life left in him with 31 and 1-59 in the first ODI, the clock was ticking (again) for Tharanga. Despite playing 156 of his 184 matches as an opener, his second/third/Nth coming sees him in the middle order, for some peculiar reason. While he does not possess the big-hitting game to fulfil this role effectively, he gave Sri Lanka a useful total with some smart shots around the ground, eventually finishing unbeaten on 53 off 49 balls. It was his first ODI half-century since July 2013. In the general context of Sri Lanka’s ODI set-up, picking him and playing him at number seven is a waste. The best can be said is that, today, he was the wrong man at the right place, at the right time.