OTD| England fell to their biggest ODI defeat when they lost by 219 to Sri Lanka in 2018

In 2018 the English side was on a long tour to Sri Lanka and their tour started with the ODI series. The English had already won the series as they had an unassailable lead of 3-0 in the series but in the last ODI, the Lankan Lions fought back and packed a counterpunch. 

England – clueless with the ball

The Sri Lankan skipper Dinesh Chandimal won the toss and elected to bat first. The openers, Niroshan Dickwella and Sadeera Samarawickrama started the innings with a massive 137-run stand to put the English bowlers under pressure right from the start. Moeen Ali broke this dangerous partnership by uprooting Samarawickrama to send him back.

Dinesh Chandimal also contributed with a solid knock of 80 runs to progress the Sri Lankan innings without any more trouble. The wicketkeeper Dickwella missed out on a deserved century but his 95 runs helped Sri Lanka post a mammoth target of 366.

Carnage from the Sri Lankan bowlers

If any team could chase this huge target, it was England. At the start of the innings England would have given them a chance to chase this total but the Sri Lankan bowlers proved them horribly wrong. 

Kasun Rajitha and Dushmantha Chameera brought down hell on the English batters with a lightning opening spell. They dismissed Jason Roy, Alex Hales, and Jos Buttler to bring England to their knees. This ruthless bowling did not stop there as they gave more blows to England. Chameera once again added a wicket to his tally and this time by dismissing Joe Root. England were 4/28 in the first powerplay and the run chase looked impossible.

All-rounders Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali built a partnership to give some hope to the English fans as they added 79 runs. But once this partnership was broken by Akila Dananjaya, the Sri Lankans did not look back. Ultimately England was dismissed for 132, conceding a huge defeat of 219 runs. 

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