Jason Roy and Alex Hales’ delivered a devastating and record-breaking double-century opening stand which has ignited the Royal London One-Day series vs Sri Lanka.
The boys love playing at Edgbaston, it feels like a real home fixture for us.
Chris Woakes
The opening pair not only knocked off the 255 runs required in 34.1 overs to guide their side to a 10-wicket victory in the second one-day international, they also recorded the highest partnership for any England wicket in ODI history.
The Edgbaston crowd were once again a major factor in creating the fortress environment which the England players love to play in.
The best atmosphere in the world. #ENGvSL ???
A video posted by Edgbaston (@edgbaston) on Jun 27, 2016 at 3:16am PDT
Chris Woakes said “The boys love playing at Edgbaston, it feels like a real home fixture for us. The crowd get behind you here and it definitely helps unsettle the opposition. I think it brings out the best in us as team.”
Woakes led an intelligent bowling attack which concentrated on starving the Sri Lanka run rate, bolwing on length and cleverly using bouncers to rattle the Sri Lankan order. England were also sharp in the field, Man on the Match Jason Roy snapped up a couple wickets with two sharp run outs.
Despite the excellent bowling, the real headline from the game was England’s opening batting performance as records tumbled once again at Edgbaston.
Records Broken
- This is the sixth time England have won an ODI by 10 wickets, three of which have come against Sri Lanka
- The 256 shared by Alex Hales and Jason Roy is the highest for England for any wickets in an ODI, beating the 250 of Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott against Bangladesh at Edgbaston in 2010
- It is also the fifth highest ODI opening stand of all time
- Roy and Hales are only the third opening pair for England to share three century stands in ODIs
- This is the first time both England openers have hit two or more sixes in an ODI
This kind of crushing defeat can be difficult to bounce back from, however Angelo Matthews believes that Sri Lanka must put the Edgbaston defeat behind them as quickly and possible and move on.
We have to try to flush it out of the system and forget about this game as quickly as possible
Angelo Matthews
Angelo Matthews said: “We have to try to flush it out of the system and forget about this game as quickly as possible – because we’ve got only one day to come back and play pretty well.”
Sri Lanka are far from a dead duck in this series and the tourists are only 1-0 down. There is still a long way to go and England should only write them off at their peril.
SEE PAKISTAN AT EDGBASTON
England will take on Pakistan on Wednesday 3 – Sunday 7 August at Edgbaston and tickets are available for just £6 for Under 16s and from £31 for Adults.
