Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka has challenged England’s criticism of the pitch used for the second one day international in Colombo, pointing to the volume of runs scored across the match.
England chased down 220 with five wickets in hand and 22 balls remaining to level the series at 1-1. After the match, Harry Brook described the surface as the worst he had played on, while Joe Root, who made 75 from 90 balls, said he did not think it was a great wicket for one day international cricket.
Asalanka responded ahead of the third match of the series by questioning that assessment.
“That was his opinion – mine might be a bit different,” Asalanka said. “If he says this is the worst pitch he’s seen, that’s something he feels. But between the two teams we hit 440 runs.”
Asalanka also referred to a previous meeting between the sides at the 2023 World Cup. In that match in Bengaluru, England were dismissed for 156 inside 34 overs before Sri Lanka completed an eight wicket win. Brook did not play but was part of the touring squad.
“If you looked at the 2023 World Cup – they’d only got 180 [actually 156] in that game, and no one said anything about the pitch,” Asalanka said. “I don’t know why he’s saying this now. I guess we’ll see what is said after the next match.”
While defending the Colombo surface to an extent, Asalanka acknowledged that he had hoped for better conditions for batting.
“I didn’t expect the pitch for the second match would be like that. We had got 270-280 in the first match and no one likes to get fewer runs than that, because you’ve got to give your bowlers something to defend. Unfortunately the pitch for the second match had changed from the first game. That said, it still wasn’t a 220-run pitch – my goal while batting had been to get to 250 or 260.”
Asalanka said he hoped the pitch for the third one day international would resemble the surface used in the opening match.
Sri Lanka are expected to recall Wanindu Hasaranga for the final game after resting the all rounder at the start of the series. England are unlikely to restore Zak Crawley, who continues to recover from a knee injury despite taking part in net sessions on Monday.
