Sri Lanka vs England, 2nd ODI, England tour of Sri Lanka 2026 - Commentary

Sri Lanka 1 - 1 England. Will the R Premadasa Stadium dole out another slow pitch for the series decider? Tune in on Tuesday (27th January) for the third and the final ODI. Until then, goodbye...

Brook | England captain: It's nice to get a win away from home. On a tough surface, but we're happy to get the victory. Probably the worst pitch I've ever played on and you had to go out there and adapt as quick as possible and just try and get off strike and get the other batter on strike. I thought the bowlers did an amazing job there to bowl that side out. Obviously, they're used to these conditions, so to bowl them out was awesome work from them guys. (On using six spinners) It was just rotating the spinners really. We lost Creeps (Crawley) for selection last night with his knee, so we brought Jacksy in to replace him back in the middle order and he did a really good job with the ball as well. (On Joe Root) He's an awesome player. His ability to get off strike and put the bad ball away when they slightly miss is awesome. He's a phenomenal player to have in our side.

Asalanka | Sri Lanka captain: We were short by at least 30 runs. Kusal's run-out, my dismissal and Dhananjaya's .. few areas we need to improve. We were short by some runs. I didn't notice that (lack of urgency in their running). We have to be smart, with this heat, sometimes we have to save our energy. Credit goes to their batters, especially Root and Brook. They batted really well in the middle period. We were trying a lot, the bowlers did everything but credit should go to them. Our one-day side is brilliant in fielding over the last couple of years. (On the series decider) Exciting, we want to do the basics right again and have our combinations right and just want a big hundred from one batter.

Root | Player of the Match: Always love coming to Sri Lanka, it's a great country. Always feel extremely welcomed from everyone. Enjoy playing here. Nice to get the win on a very difficult surface. (Adjustments to bat on this surface) Just try to take the ball as late as possible. I don't think that's a great wicket for ODI cricket if I'm being brutally honest, but we found a way today and we adapted and learned from the mistakes we made in the first game with both with the bat and ball and got across the line. So from that case, we knew it was going to be a case of trying to maximise the powerplay and then a couple of big partnerships. If a couple of guys bat for a period of time there, then it's going to be difficult for Sri Lanka to wrest momentum back in their favour. So that's how we tried to approach it. And thankfully, we got the job done today. Just use experience, really. I've played a lot of cricket in the subcontinent, I've played a lot of cricket here in Sri Lanka. Have an understanding of the different nature of the bounce and how the ball can turn. Trying to work out the delivery from the hand as much as possible. As the ball gets softer and a bit older, then it makes it a little bit easier to play. When it's newer, you've got to be really precise with your footwork.

21:37 Local Time, 16:07 GMT, 21:37 IST: No twists tonight and England wrap up the match with 22 balls to spare. In Crawley's absence, Rehan opened the batting and England got off to a cautious start. He fell to Dhananjaya which was the first over bowled by a Sri Lankan spinner. Root joined Duckett and just like the first ODI, they batted fluently against spin to stitch a 72-run stand scoring at a brisk pace. Vandersay cleaned up Duckett with a spinning legbreak in his very first over and then Bethell fell cheaply. Root and Brook batted conservatively to forge an 81-run partnership for 4th wicket. Both of them were dismissed in quick succession. While Root fell to Asitha's inswinging yorker, Brook tried to sweep Vandersay and was trapped plumb in front. England, having lost half their side, still needed 31 runs to win. Buttler batted positively, struck 3 fours and a six to ensure that there were no further hiccups. Earlier in the day, England bowled 40.3 overs of spin on a dry and slow deck to restrict the hosts to 219. A couple of Sri Lankan batters got to 40s but even they failed to kick on.