England seal much-needed series win in Sri Lanka as Harry Brook and Joe Root star with centuries
Harry Brook smashed a blistering 136 and Joe Root made another flawless century as England beat Sri Lanka by 53 runs to clinch a much-needed ODI series victory.
The Yorkshiremen combined for an extraordinary 191-run partnership in Colombo to lift England to a mammoth 357 for three, the highest total on this ground since October 2018.
Root steered the innings with an unbeaten 111, laying the platform for skipper Brook to issue a stunning reminder of his firepower as he blasted Sri Lanka to all parts of the ground in an ODI-best 136 not out from just 66 balls.
On a ground where scores above 300 are rare, it was a total always likely to be beyond the hosts and so it proved despite a wonderful maiden international century from Pavan Rathnayake.
For England it was just a second ODI series win in their last eight and provided a morale boost after the 4-1 Ashes drubbing as well as aiding their ODI ranking, with automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup far from certain.
An impressive 2-1 win, against a side who had won seven consecutive 50-over series on home soil, will also come as a relief to under-fire head coach Brendon McCullum.
PA
