Sam Curran took his maiden five-wicket haul and bowled a full spell of 10 overs for only the second time in his career as England defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
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In 10 ODIs, Sam Curran has bowled a full spell of 10 overs only for the second time in his career. His first spell was in the ODI against India in Pune. But, in front of his home fans at The Oval, Sam Curran put on a magnificent performance. He picked up his maiden five-wicket haul and bowled a full quota of 10 overs. Joe Root, Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy slammed fifties as England won the second match at The Oval. England’s eight-wicket win kept Sri Lanka winless in the tour, having lost the three Twenty20 Internationals and the first ODI in Durham.
England chose to bowl and it was Sam Curran who struck the early breakthroughs. The left-arm pacer got rid of the Sri Lanka skipper Kusal Perera in his first over. He followed it up with the wickets of Pathum Nissanka and Avishka Fernando. Dhananjaya de Silva, who had missed the first game due to illness, came out to bat and was in fine form. He shared a 65-run stand with Wanindu Hasaranga to revive Sri Lanka.
Sam Curran was all over Sri Lanka as he nipped the partnership in the bud. He removed Hasaranga with 26 but de Silva got good support from Dasun Shanaka. De Silva notched up his fifty and he kept finding the boundaries at will. Shanaka also upped the tempo with some aggressive hitting. However, the 78-run stand was broken when de Silva mistimed the short ball from David Willey to long leg. De Silva’s knock of 91 laid the base for a good score for the Sri Lankan team.
Shanka and Chamika Karunaratne helped Sri Lanka go past 200. However, Willey got rid of Shanka and Curran registered his maiden five-wicket haul by removing Karunaratne. Sri Lanka were boosted by some good hits from the lower order as they ended on 241/9.
England started off on an aggressive note with Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow starting well. Roy was the more aggressive player of the lot. Bairstow survived a couple of chances off Wanindu Hasaranga. However, the bowler had his revenge as Bairstow inside-edged a straight ball back onto the stumps.
Roy notched up his fifty and he was given good support by Joe Root. However, Roy departed to a good catch by de Silva as he could not believe it.
That was the last jolt England got as both Morgan and Root thumped the Sri Lanka bowling to all parts. Root notched up his second consecutive fifty but Morgan showed his intention by launching Hasaranga for a massive six over long on. Sri Lanka leaked runs easily and they could not stop Root and Morgan’s free-flowing strokeplay.
England sealed the deal with seven overs to spare to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. After the match, Sam Curran was awarded the player of the match. In the post-match presentation, Curran said, “Really special in front of fans as well. Awesome atmosphere. The ball swung quite consistently in the T20s too. I don’t know what changed, I haven’t done anything different (smiles). The more I play, the more I fail, I keep learning. The team bowled really well.”
The final ODI will be played on July 4 at Bristol. Sri Lanka will be hoping to register a win on what has been a difficult tour.
