England needed to pull off their highest successful chase in their history to avoid losing the fifth and final one-day international against a resurgent Sri Lanka.
With the series already won courtesy of a 3-0 lead, an England side showing three changes were clobbered to all parts of Colombo’s Premadasa Stadium as the hosts piled on 366 for six.
Not only was that Sri Lanka’s best ever score in the fixture, easily eclipsing the 324 they made at Headinley in 2006, it also left England needing to break their own record for a victorious pursuit. Their current mark is the 350 they reeled in against New Zealand in 2015.
Niroshan Dickwella led the way with 95 at the top of the innings, captain Dinesh Chandimal weighed in with 80 and there were half-centuries from Sadeera Samarawickrama and Kusal Mendis, the latter striking six sixes along the way.
England’s daunting chase was made all the trickier given their decision to rest skipper Eoin Morgan, their most in-form batsmen.
New-ball bowlers Chris Woakes and Olly Stone were also stood down and it was a chastening day for their replacements, Mark Wood and Sam Curran taking combined figures of nought for 101 in 14 overs.
Adil Rashid’s economy rate of 5.2 was positively miserly in comparison with his team-mates, while Tom Curran and Moeen Ali each picked up two wickets.
