Liam Plunkett’s last-ball six saves tie for England in ODI thriller
Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes' heroics help set up an amazing fightback from 82-6 against Sri Lanka in the series opener
LIAM PLUNKETT sent the final ball soaring into the night sky and over the boundary as England secured a sensational tie against Sri Lanka.
In a match of almost unbelievable twists and turns, Plunkett’s six from the last delivery summed up the drama and sense of the surreal.
Sri Lanka’s players were celebrating while the previous ball was in play because they thought No.10 Plunkett and Chris Woakes were going to run only two.
But they scampered three on a misfield – which put Plunkett on strike and six needed to level the totals at 286 apiece.
Plunkett then swung with all his might, connected juicily against the ball from Nuwan Pradeep and watched it sail into the seats in front of the old pavilion at Trent Bridge.
It was England’s eighth tie in their one-day history stretching back to 1970.
Woakes was left 95 not out – the highest score ever by a No.8 in a one-day international, beating the 84 managed many years ago by Kenya’s Thomas Odoyo.
Plunkett said: “There was nothing else on my mind other than hit it out the ground. I’ve been hitting the ball quite nicely for Yorkshire, I’m in decent nick.
“I practice striking ball into the stands a lot. I feel like I’m quite good at doing it, I back myself. As soon as I made contact, I knew it was going for six. It’s like hitting the ball on the golf course – you know straightaway if you’ve hit it well.”
Plunkett saves the match in the only way he can, smashing Pradeep over the top
When England slumped to 82-6 courtesy of some dopey and sloppy top-order batting, Sri Lanka looked certain to win the first of the five 50-over contests.
But a seventh-wicket stand of 138 between Jos Buttler and Woakes put England within sight of victory.
Buttler was dismissed by a superb leaping catch at long-on for 90 but, although David Willey failed, Woakes and Plunkett put on 51 for the ninth wicket from just 4.2 overs.
The lower-order batting was a big contrast to the efforts of the top-order, who departed with a series of daft and dopey dismissals.
Skipper Eoin Morgan added: “Our general performance was poor. The first few overs of our inning was as bad as we have batted for a year.
“But you never give up. You can always win games from any situation and today proves that. In the World Twenty20 earlier this year, we won a couple of games when we were dead and buried.
Plunkett and Woakes revel in the match-turning finale during the series opener
“Getting a tie from 82-6 is a big result. There is a lot of relief in the changing-room, we were a bit lucky, to be honest.”
Buttler’s performance will do his campaign to win back his Test place no harm at all.
He has not played Test cricket since being dropped during the series against Pakistan in the UAE before Christmas.
Many pundits, however, reckon he should be brought back as wicketkeeper with Jonny Bairstow playing as a specialist batsman.
Bairstow has been piling on the runs recently but has made some blunders behind the stumps. The flame-haired Yorkshireman, though, is desperate to hang onto the gloves in the Test team although Buttler is wicketkeeper for the one-day team.
England took three wickets in the first nine overs and a fourth in the 26th when Sri Lanka were 120-4.
But then Seekkuge Prasanna, promoted to No.6, smashed an amazing 59 from just 29 balls. He struck four sixes and eight fours – so only three of his runs didn’t come from boundaries.
England were confident of overhauling their total of 286-9 in 50 overs but such optimism quickly looked woefully misplaced.
Jason Roy was plumb lbw and then Alex Hales called for one of the worst and most bizarre decision reviews imaginable.
Nuwan Pradeep celebrates catching England skipper Eoin Morgan for 43
He chipped the ball to mid-wicket via his pad but then, presumably with the endorsement of non-striker Joe Root, called for the TV verdict. Sure enough, it showed what we all knew. What a waste of England’s only review.
Root was bowled to complete a miserable match – he earlier dropped a dolly catch at long-on.
Bairstow, dropped on nought at mid-wicket, gifted a catch to point in the next over.
Morgan looked in decent enough, unfurling a couple of decent drives and a juicy pull shot. But then, on 43, he aimed a nondescript cut shot and edged a catch behind.
Buttler brilliantly inspires England to a tie at Trent Bridge in the ODI series opener
That’s 19 international innings without a half-century.
Moeen Ali dragged a loose shot onto his stumps. It was sloppy, typical of the efforts by England’s better batsmen.
But Buttler was joined by Woakes and they displayed sound judgement and plenty of skill.
England’s cause was helped by a hamstring injury to Mathews who snared a couple of early wickets but then had to leave the field with four of his ten overs unbowled.
