Jason Roy’s career best 162 off 118 balls with 13 fours and 3 sixes helped England to seal the series. Match had been reduced to 42 overs per side after interruption of more than 2 hours of rain. Jason Roy was looking unstoppable as he crafted his 2nd century of the series to seal the deal for his team ahead with the rain threat looming throughout their long chase of 308 runs.
After winning the toss, England captain Eoin Morgan invited the visitors to bat first. Sri Lanka suffererd an early blow as Kushal Perera was run out by Bairstow for just one in the second over.After Perera got out, Kushal Mendis took the England bowlers and scored a brisk half century off just 44 balls. This was his 2nd consecutive fifty in the series. Both Danushka Gunathilaka and Kushal Mendis added 128 runs for the second wicket. Gunathilaka also scored his first fifty of the series off 51 balls. For England, Adil Rashid pulled things back as he got rid of both the set batsmen Kushal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka. After both the set batsmen got out, Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal took the responsibility and continued the Sri Lankan innings in the same way. Dinesh Chandimal scored a brilliant half century before Willey got rid of Chandimal in his final spell. Angelo Mathews stayed till the end and scored an unbeaten half century. Eventually Sri Lanka posted a massive total of 305 runs in 42 overs and the revised Duckworth Lewis target for England was 308 runs.
Chasing 308 runs, England also suffered an early blow when Nuwan Pradeep got rid of Moeen Ali who was replacement of Alex Hales as an opener. After that, Jason Roy and Joe Root took over the Lankan bowlers and added record 149 runs for the 2nd wicket. Both the batsmen were looking in ominous touch and they were playing their shots all around the park. Joe Root played a brilliant knock of 65 off 54 balls with 9 fours. Jason Roy on the other side was playing his natural game and he raced to his century in just 74 balls and snatched the victory from Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan bowlers have no clue for Jason Roy. Eventually England won the match by 6 wickets and as expected Jason Roy was adjudged Man of The Match.
Brief Scores :-
Sri Lanka 305/5 in 42 overs (K Mendis 77 off 64 balls, A Mathews 67* off 54 Balls, A Rashid 2/57) lost to
England 309/4 in 40.1 overs (Jason Roy 162 off 118 balls, Joe Root 65 off 54 Balls, Pradeep 2/78) by 6 wickets.