England emerge winners in a rain hit match against Sri Lanka - The 3rd ODI of the series between Sri Lanka and England was played at Mahinda Rajapaksa International cricket stadium in Hambantota. This match was important for the visitors as they wanted to win this one in order to gain some confidence back in the game. Before this the team had lost all the 2 matches they played. In this match after winning the toss the Sri Lankans decided to bat first.
Batting first the match was interrupted at the start first due to bad light and later due to rain. The Sri Lankan opener failed once again as Kusal Perera lost his wicket without even scoring a single run. Dilshan lost his wicket after scoring 23 runs while Kumar Sangakkara made sure that he didn’t fall apart and scored 63 runs in the innings. Lahiru Thirimanne scored 62 runs in the game and helped his team reach a score of 242 runs in the end of 35 overs. The game being curtailed due to rain to just 35 overs the score of 242 was changed to 236 runs for England to chase. Chris Woakes took 3 wickets in the game.
The English side had a tough chase in hand as the score was a big one given under the conditions. The openers Alastair Cook and Moeen Ali were the men for Team as they provided a great start to the team. They together scored 84 runs in 12 overs. Cook lost his wicket after scoring 34 runs while Ali scored 58 runs giving the team a platform to fire. Alex Hales and Joe Root later made sure that the team didn’t lose the path. They scored 27 and 48 runs and took the team close to a victory. Jos Buttler was the man who made all the difference in the end as he scored 55 runs in just 37 balls taking his team cross the line with 8 balls remaining. With this win the English side registered their first win in the series and now the series stands at 2-1 for Sri Lanka. Buttler was named as the man of the match for his outstanding batting performance.