US: England lost by 87 runs in their final tour ODI against Sri Lanka.

     

    England rounded off a fairly miserable tour of Sri Lanka with a heavy final one day international (ODI) defeat.

     

    Having already conceded the seven ODI series, England went into the match in Colombo looking to restore a little bit of pride but they were thoroughly outplayed by a ruthless Sri Lanka side. Tillakaratne Dilshan was the star of the show scoring 101 runs and also taking 3-37 as the hosts breezed to a 5-2 series victory.

     

    Dilshan was marking his 300th ODI and celebrated by scoring his 18th century to give Sri Lanka a total of 302-6 in the final match. His efforts were aided by a 55 not out from Dinesh Chandimal while Thisara Perera scored 54 off just 26 balls before he was caught and bowled by Chris Jordan.

     

    For England captain Alastair Cook, it is the end of what has been a very testing tour for his side and questions will once again arise as to whether he is the man to lead England into the World Cup in February. England have lost 11 of their last 15 completed ODIs and only have five matches to regain some confidence before the start of the tournament.

     

    Standing between them and the opening game of the World Cup is a triangular series against Australia and India, which will once again provide a tough test of the side's ambitions. They will need to put in a better performance that has been seen in the Sri Lanka tour especially in the final game.

     

    While the series had been lost, a 4-3 defeat will have softened the blow but the tourists showed little sign of overcoming their hosts. Chasing the 302-6 total set by Sri Lanka, England did not get off to a good start with Ali Moeen, Alex Hales and Eoin Morgan all failing to reach double figures. Cook himself only made 32 as the tourists' top-order collapsed to 78-5.

     

    There were signs of hope when Yorkshire's Joe Root stepped up to the crease despite carrying an ankle injury sustained while fielding. However, he was able to score a commendable 80 off 99 balls to take his series total to 367 runs with an average of 73. Only Root and Moeen had been able to score over 185 during the series.

     

    This was as good as it got for England as the bottom also succumbed to Sri Lanka's bowlers with Chris Woakes scoring the highest of 34 before they were all out for 215 runs with 4.1 overs to spare.


    They must now regroup again and come back stronger if they are to perform better at the World Cup.

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