Duckett's 167 and Dawson's 4/49 Help England Beat Sri Lanka by 55 Runs Despite Rathnayake's 118
England beat Sri Lanka by 55 runs at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Thursday, October 29, to end their ODI tri-series campaign on a winning note. Ben Duckett made a career-best 167, and Liam Dawson took 4 for 49. It was not enough for Sri Lanka, even though Pavan Rathnayake hit a brilliant 118 off 77 balls in the chase.
The match was a dead rubber. Pakistan and Sri Lanka had already booked their places in the final, which will be played at the same venue on Saturday. England were already out and had won only one of their first four games. Sri Lanka chose to field first.
England's innings was built around Duckett. He scored 167 off 132 balls and hit 24 fours. That beat his previous highest ODI score of 165, which he made against Australia in the Champions Trophy at the same ground last year. He put on 163 for the opening wicket with Tom Banton, who made 74 off 75 balls. Harry Brook added 44 and Jordan Cox scored 43. England finished on 386 for 5 in their 50 overs. Duckett was named Player of the Match.
Sri Lanka needed 387 to win and made a bold attempt. Rathnayake struck 15 fours and a six. Captain Kusal Mendis played an aggressive 89 off 71 balls with eight fours and five sixes. The two shared an 80-run stand for the third wicket in just 59 balls. Avishka Fernando added 48 off 50 balls. Rathnayake later put on 72 with Janith Liyanage, who hit 27 off 17 balls, and Sri Lanka stayed in the hunt for a long time.
Wickets fell at important moments, though. Rathnayake was out with the score at 329 for 8, and the last two wickets fell quickly. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 331 in 45.1 overs. Dawson bowled 10 overs for his 4 for 49, which are the best ODI figures of his career. Sonny Baker took 2 for 75.
The win also ended a run of six straight ODI defeats for England in Pakistan. Rathnayake had scored 130 earlier in the tri-series in Sri Lanka's successful chase of 430 in Rawalpindi, so his 118 here added another century to a strong series for him. Sri Lanka will now turn to the final against hosts Pakistan on Saturday.