Harry Brook smashes double-century for England in vain as Sri Lanka complete stunning chase

Harry Brook’s record-breaking 202 was overshadowed as Sri Lanka pulled off an unforgettable heist to leave England on the brink in the ODI tri-series in Pakistan.

Brook’s double-hundred was the first by an England batter in one-day internationals and the fastest ever in the format off 114 deliveries, three fewer than India’s Shubman Gill against the West Indies last month.

England’s white-ball captain took 13 off his first 24 deliveries before motoring through the gears to a 75-ball century and he made it an astonishing twin ton in the final over to underpin a mammoth total of 429 for four.

Yet their fourth-highest 50-over score and best overseas total against a Test-playing nation proved insufficient as a callow attack, missing double World Cup winner Adil Rashid, was put to the sword and left shell-shocked in a two-wicket defeat.

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Brook’s brilliance not enough

Sri Lanka recovered from 24 for two thanks largely to Pavan Rathnayake’s 130 off 106 balls, as well as crucial knocks of 97 from both Avishka Fernando and Dasun Shanaka, despite the asking rate being in double figures for most of the reply.

However, having whittled the target down to eight runs from the final over, Janith Liyanage belted Josh Tongue’s penultimate delivery for six as Sri Lanka recorded the second-highest ODI run-chase ever.

Two defeats from two puts England in last-chance saloon territory if they are to make next weekend’s final in Lahore, despite Brook’s brilliance after his side were asked to bat first in Rawalpindi.

Brook used the crease expertly to open up his favoured scoring areas as his inventive scoops, flicks and ramps alongside more orthodox drives, cuts and pulls led to runs all around the ground.

Seizing the moment

Only Dunith Wellalage escaped a sustained bashing – the left-arm spinner had Tom Banton caught in the deep for a fluent 50 and Ben Duckett lbw for a sketchy 29 to earn impressive figures in the circumstances of two for 56.

As Pakistan slow left-armer Arafat Minhas mauled England less than 48 hours earlier, Brook and Joe Root were initially circumspect, struggling for timing as they went 38 balls without a boundary.

But when Kamindu Mendis’ part-time left-arm spin was introduced, Brook seized the moment, lashing a floaty delivery straight for his first boundary before he made it back-to-back sixes from a drag down.

On 67, Brook got a thin edge to Dilshan Madushanka’s off-cutter but the ball bounced in front of Kusal Mendis.

Brutal ball-striking

Root became the first Englishman to 8,000 ODI runs before he miscued Asitha Fernando to Wellalage in the ring to depart for 69, ending a 159-run stand with Brook – although the promotion of Will Jacks to number five saw no let-up for Sri Lanka.

By this stage, Brook was into the 90s and he reached his fourth ODI hundred with another scoop over his shoulder for his ninth four.

Brook needed just 22 more deliveries to go from 100 to 150, with Jacks getting into the thick of it with three fours in an over off Madushanka before taking 24 runs from Shanaka in the 48th over.

Brook surpassed Ben Stokes’ England ODI-best 182 by whipping Madushanka high over the leg side and needing 14 from the final over, he got there from the penultimate ball with his 21st four to go with 10 sixes.

While he holed out from the last ball of the innings, he helped to add a staggering 156 in the last 10 overs alongside Jacks, who contributed 66 not out off 30 deliveries.

Sri Lanka refuse to surrender

Sri Lanka did not fold despite Tongue castling Kamindu Mendis before Kusal Mendis was run out at the non-striker’s end by Gus Atkinson without facing a single delivery.

Fernando rebuilt and he was within one hit of a century when a top-edge looped back to bowler Jamie Overton, ending a 166-run stand with Rathnayake.

Shanaka hared out of the traps to provide useful support for Rathnayake as England struggled to contain.

The evening dew was becoming a factor but Banton held on to see off Rathnayake before Shanaka belted Sam Curran for three sixes in an over that cost 20.

Curran leaked 103 in nine overs and while Shanaka was also caught in the deep, Sri Lanka refused to surrender as Liyanage took on the baton.

Tongue gave England hope in the last over as he bowled Wellalage and Eshan Malinga but Liyanage, who finished on 61 not out, had the final say, hitting high and handsome over long-off to seal a famous win.

In shades of the famous ODI clash between South Africa and Australia in Johannesburg 20 years, it was also the second occasion in less than a month that a score in excess of 400 was chased down in an ODI after India cruised to their target of 406 against West Indies in Guwahati.

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