143 Without Loss, and Still Sixteen Short: Kusal Mendis Builds It, Wellalage Turns It, and the Series Is Level

For nineteen overs on Thursday, this looked like a chase England would complete with something to spare. Ben Duckett and Tom Banton had fifty on the board in 5.2 overs and a hundred in 84 balls; at the 17-over mark England were 129 without loss, Sri Lanka at the same stage of their innings had been 82 for 1. Three hundred and twenty-two to win at Headingley was being made to look like a formality. And then, in the space of 14 runs, it wasn't.

Sri Lanka 321/6. England 305/9. A 16-run win built on Kusal Mendis's 121 from 100 balls, turned by Dunith Wellalage's three wickets in the middle overs, and sealed by a Sri Lankan attack that conceded only 46 runs in the last ten. England, who won at Chester-le-Street by 89 runs, were ahead of Sri Lanka's pace at 40 overs and still lost. That is the kind of defeat that stays with a dressing room for a few days — and the kind of win that gives a touring side something to believe in.

Sri Lanka's innings did not start quickly — 46 for 1 at the end of the first powerplay, Pathum Nissanka gone for 25 in the tenth over, lbw to Gus Atkinson on umpire's call after a review. What followed was patience with a purpose. Kamindu Mendis and Kusal Mendis added 137 in 120 balls for the second wicket, and it was the kind of partnership that looks unremarkable over by over and decisive by the end of it: 82 for 1 after 17, 182 for 1 when Kamindu fell for 54 in the 30th over, 203 for 2 after 32. Between the 10th and 40th overs Sri Lanka scored 191 for the loss of three wickets.

The finish was where the innings earned its 321. Kusal fell for 121 at 222 in the 36th over and Charith Asalanka went cheaply soon after, both to Rehan Ahmed — but Pavan Rathnayake (48 from 39, run out two short of a fifty) and Janith Liyanage (32 from 26) added 46 in 30 balls, and Wellalage and Colombage saw it home. 84 runs in the last ten overs, against England's 46 in theirs. That 38-run difference in the death overs is more than twice the final margin.

And then there was the ball. Dunith Wellalage bowled his ten overs for 49 and took the three wickets — Duckett, Banton and Brook — that changed the shape of the chase. Asalanka's six overs cost only 29. Dilshan Madushanka and Eshan Malinga shared four wickets, including Buttler and Jacks, and between them they held a side that had made 82 in its first ten overs to 46 in its last ten.

It would be unfair to call this a collapse in the usual sense. England's opening stand of 143 in 119 balls was as good a start to a 322 chase as one could ask for — Banton's 73 from 62 with three sixes, Duckett's 67 from 63 with nine fours, 82 without loss after the powerplay. The trouble was what came next: from 143 for 0, England were 157 for 3, the two set openers and Harry Brook (1 from 6, lbw on a Sri Lankan review) all gone to Wellalage. Joe Root made 15 and was caught at 203.

Even so, England reached 40 overs at 259 for 5 — 22 runs ahead of where Sri Lanka had been at the same point (237 for 4). What changed the arithmetic was Jos Buttler. He had reached fifty from 36 balls and was 67 not out when he retired hurt at 254 for 4, with Will Jacks for company in a 52-run stand. Without him, the lower order could not keep up the rate: Rehan Ahmed made 0, Atkinson 16 from 28, Overton 2. By the time Buttler came back at 295 for 7 the equation had grown steep, and he was caught for 69 in the final over at 303 for 9.

The lesson is not really about the top order. It is about what England do when a set batter leaves the field in the 30s and the required rate is still above six. Jacks's 52 from 61 kept one end secure; nobody could provide the pressure release at the other. Forty-six runs from the last ten overs, for four wickets, is not how a side that was 143 for 0 expects to finish.

This was a good batting surface for the new ball and the powerplay — England's openers went at better than a run a ball, and both sides passed 300. The middle and late overs told a different story. Wellalage's 10-0-49-3 was the most economical full spell of the match, and Asalanka's six overs at 4.83 an over were the tightest economy of the match. On England's side, the most economical bowler was Atkinson at 5.5 an over, and Rehan Ahmed's 8-0-48-2 took the key wicket of Kusal Mendis.

The phase scores are the clearest evidence of how the game changed: both sides scored heavily through the middle overs (191/3 and 177/5), but in the last ten Sri Lanka made 84/2 and England 46/4. On a surface where totals above 300 were available, it was the bowling at the death — and the wickets that came with it — that separated the teams.

There is a particular kind of hundred that is built rather than struck, and Kusal Mendis made one at Headingley. His fifty came from 47 balls, in the company of Kamindu, while the partnership was still laying foundations. His second fifty took only 35 more — 100 from 82 balls — and by the time he was caught by Banton off Rehan Ahmed he had 121 from 100 with 14 fours and 3 sixes.

What made it a match-winning innings was its timing. The 137-run stand with Kamindu turned 45 for 1 into 182 for 1; the 40-run stand with Rathnayake carried Sri Lanka to 222 before he fell in the 36th over, leaving enough momentum for the lower order to add 99 more. And his day did not end with the bat: it was Kusal, behind the stumps, who stumped Banton off Wellalage to break the opening stand, and who caught Rehan Ahmed off Madushanka. A hundred, a stumping and a catch — his fingerprints were on the whole match.

Honest accounting. Both our preview article and our match page leaned towards England, citing home advantage, the T20I sweep and the depth of their bowling. England lost by 16 runs, so the call was wrong.

The players we flagged fared poorly. Our preview article named Harry Brook as England's player to watch at his home ground; he made 1 from 6. Our match page picked Joe Root; he made 15. Our Sri Lanka pick on both was Wanindu Hasaranga, who did not play, and we also built a section around Adil Rashid controlling the middle overs — he did not play either. We said that if Jofra Archer took early wickets England would control the match; his only wicket was Liyanage in the 49th over, and he went for 68. We said Nissanka needed to survive the new ball and bat for thirty overs; he was out for 25 in the tenth.

What we did get right: the match page flagged Wellalage's left-arm spin as part of a threat England's middle order would have to face, and both pieces said Headingley would reward spin from the middle overs — Wellalage's 3 for 49 did exactly that. We also noted that bowling first had the better record at the ground and that the toss winner might choose to chase; Sri Lanka won the toss, batted, and won.

The series is level at 1-1. England won at Chester-le-Street by 89 runs; Sri Lanka answered at Headingley by 16. The decider is the 3rd ODI at The Oval on September 27.

England will take encouragement from a top order that put on 143 in 119 balls, and questions from a lower order that made 46 in the final ten overs. Buttler's fitness will be the first thing to check. Sri Lanka, for their part, now know that their batting can post 321 in English conditions and that their bowlers can defend it under pressure. Kusal Mendis and Dunith Wellalage have given them the belief; The Oval will ask whether they can do it twice.