What cost England in ODI run-fest vs Sri Lanka as Harry Brook's 'genius' double century has 'no value whatsoever'?

At the halfway stage, most people would have given Sri Lanka no chance.

The ask was a herculean 430, second only to the 438-9 South Africa peeled off versus Australia in Johannesburg in 2006 when it came to successful ODI run chases.

But on a day when South Africa beat Australia once again – this time in a one-sided Test match in Gqeberha – Sri Lanka stunned England in a Rawalpindi run-fest.

That meant Harry Brook’s astonishing 202 from 116 balls, during which he reached 200 from 114 deliveries to set a new record for the fastest ODI double ton, came in vain.

So where exactly did things go wrong for England?

How did England lose that game?

Not with the batting, obviously, as Brook’s sizzling knock – the highest for England in a men’s ODI, eclipsing the 182 Ben Stokes scored against New Zealand in 2023 – was backed up by half-centuries from Tom Banton, Joe Root and Will Jacks.

The bowling was the issue with Sri Lanka rallying from 24-2 once Kamindu Mendis had been bowled by a beauty from Josh Tongue and captain Kusal Mendis was run out backing up without facing a ball after Gus Atkinson tipped on to the non-striker’s stumps.

Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain noted how England overcompensated from bowling too full during their 87-run defeat to Pakistan at the same venue on Tuesday by dropping too short, particularly to Pavan Rathnayake, who top-scored with 130 from 106 balls.

The former England captain also lamented his country’s long-standing issue of middle-overs wickets, with only one taken between Kusal’s run out in the fifth over and Rathnayake holing out off the expensive Sam Curran at long-on in the 41st.

Rathnayake put on 166 with Avishka Fernando for the third wicket and then 133 with the wisely-promoted Dasun Shanaka for the fourth – both of his team-mates made 97.

Hussain: Lack of middle-order wickets a concern for England

Hussain said of the wicketless woes: “It comes from that middle period where England, historically, over the last two or three years, have struggled to take wickets.

“That is even with Adil Rashid, who did not play in this game, at his best, so that is something they need to solve, a box they need to tick. Getting back Jofra Archer, rested for this series, will help and add a bit of firepower.

“Maybe Adil has come off his best but today showed the need for Archer, and Rashid being back to his best. We all big up Adil but he has just dropped off, maybe because of injuries.”

Former Sri Lanka batter and Hussain’s fellow Sky Sports pundit Kumar Sangakkara said: “England needed an all-out push to take wickets when they had Sri Lanka 24-2. You have 429 on the board.

“Have set plays, try to bowl the bumpers, fielders set for catches – of if you want to restrict because conditions are not suitable for wickets, then go to death bowling early, try to cut off the boundaries.

“The only way they were going to lose the game was by the boundary count rising. If you are a fast bowler, you stop the fours with fields set and the sixes by executing the best deliveries.

“Still, England need to give credit to an incredible batting performance from Sri Lanka.”

Sri Lanka get over the line after ‘marathon’

That point about Sri Lanka is an important one from Sangakkara.

For as loose as England were with the ball – Curran, in just his second game since The Hundred in August due to a groin injury, struggled to land his moon balls and yorkers and was flogged for 103 runs from his nine overs – Sri Lanka were superb.

They showed grit after slipping two down early, then the ability to adapt by pushing Shanaka up the order – he smoked eight sixes in his 50-ball 97 – and when late wickets had seen Sri Lanka wobble a bit, Janith Liyanage fired under pressure with an unbeaten 61.

Liyanage crunched two fours and a six across three balls off Curran to trim the ask to 29 from 21 deliveries and then spanked the winning six with one ball to spare after Tongue has taken two wickets in two deliveries earlier in the final over.

Hussain added: “Sri Lanka had to be pretty much perfect for 50 overs and they were. There were lads in there who played pretty much the perfect innings.

“It was like running a marathon for Sri Lanka – they saw that last bit and started to stumble when they needed to be calm.

“So Liyanage in the end – that was incredibly special. You looked at his body language, it was like, ‘leave it to me, lads’ – he was calm, composed and belted it down the ground.

“It was a perfect, historic chase and brilliant for Sri Lanka. They are such a talented, passionate cricketing nation. They needed a day like today and they got one.”

Why Brook said his double hundred ‘does not matter’

Brook had spoken earlier in the week about wishing there was a match-winning column in players’ stats.

If that was part of cricket, then for a long time in Rawalpindi on Thursday it looked like Brook’s would have a big fat tick in it.

In the end, though, the Yorkshireman insisted that his individual heroics “didn’t matter.”

Brook, whose innings featured 21 fours and 10 sixes said: “I always say I want to make match-winning contributions, have a match-winning impact. Unfortunately I’ve got 200 and it’s not been match-winning. In my eyes, it doesn’t matter. It had no value whatsoever.”

Still, Hussain and Sky Sports colleague Mark Butcher enthused over the England captain, with Hussain calling him the best male multi-format batter in the world and saying his presence makes the team contenders at next year’s 50-over World Cup in Africa.

The pundit added: “Every shot selection he made was spot on – it had to be to score 200 that quickly. He has been touched by genius ever since we have seen him.

“The biggest area of growth for this ODI team is if Brook can convert his Test and T20 form into this format. He did that, it was magical.

Butcher said: “Sometimes your breath is taken away with Brook and you don’t quite have the words to describe what you are watching.

“Such is his precision and the way he can uses the pace on the ball, he can pretty much manoeuvre it wherever he likes. Then he will fly out of the crease and hit you for six.

“He has such balance, his hands are so good, the control of the bat face is as good as anybody I have seen. He can play a shot for pretty much every delivery. He is absolutely box office.”

Now, if England could just get the bowling sorted…

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