The Decider That Never Was: Banton's Hundred and Dawson's Guile Give England a 223-Run Win and the Series at The Oval

Series deciders are supposed to be tense. They are supposed to go to the last hour, to the last over if the cricket gods are feeling generous. This one was settled some time around the 35th over of the first innings, when Tom Banton and Harry Brook had put on 150 together and England were already looking at a total Sri Lanka had not come close to in this series. Everything after that was confirmation.

England 355 for 7. Sri Lanka 132 all out in 29.1 overs. A 223-run win, a 2-1 series, and a performance that asked every part of the England side to contribute and got an answer from nearly all of them — Banton's 126 from 105 balls, Brook's 77, Jordan Cox's 76 from 52 and four dismissals behind the stumps, Liam Dawson's 3 for 26. Will Jacks collected the Player of the Series award for 123 runs and six wickets across the three matches.

It did not start like a 355 innings. Ben Duckett was bowled by Dilshan Madushanka for a five-ball duck with six on the board, and Joe Root spent 37 balls over 18 before Janith Liyanage trapped him lbw — Sri Lanka's review upheld in the 16th over. England were 68 for 1 after 15 overs, a perfectly respectable score and nothing more.

The innings changed shape through Banton. He reached fifty from 51 balls, survived a Sri Lankan review at 24.5, and then accelerated in a way that never looked hurried. With Brook he added 150 from 117 balls, and even that stand arrived in two gears: England were 175 for 2 after 32 overs, and by the time Brook was caught off Asitha Fernando in the 35th, they were 218. Banton's hundred came from 95 balls; he fell in the 38th over for 126, having hit 16 fours and five sixes — 94 of his runs in boundaries.

Then came the part of the innings that turned a good total into an unreachable one. Jacks and Cox added 45 from 36 balls, and after Jacks fell at 287, Cox and Jamie Overton took 68 from the last 36 balls of the innings. Cox's 76 from 52 ended with the fifth ball of the final over. England scored 180 runs from their last 18 overs with the platform Banton and Brook had built — the classic shape of an ODI innings, executed without a wobble.

With the ball, England shared the work. Gus Atkinson took the two Mendises, Sonny Baker removed Pathum Nissanka with one run on the board, and Dawson did the rest in eight overs of control. Root and Jacks each chipped in with a wicket. Six different bowlers took wickets and a seventh, Jofra Archer, ran out Pavan Rathnayake.

Chasing 356, Sri Lanka needed a big start and something close to a perfect innings from their top order. Nissanka was caught by Cox off Baker for 1 with one run on the board, and that set the tone. Kusal Mendis played the one innings with conviction — 35 from 26 balls with three sixes — but when Atkinson had him caught by Banton at 53, the scale of the task was already overwhelming.

From 36 for 1, Sri Lanka lost five wickets for 46. Charith Asalanka made 7 from 19 before Root had him caught, and the 77 for 3 became 77 for 5 without a run being added. Liyanage's 19 and Eshan Malinga's 14 were brave lower-order resistance rather than any kind of chase, and Dawson finished it in the 30th over. No Sri Lankan batter reached 40.

With the ball, the problems were earlier and harder to diagnose. Fernando's 3 for 64 was the best return, and his two late wickets briefly slowed the finish. But Eshan Malinga went for 65 in nine wicketless overs, Dunith Wellalage conceded 62 without a wicket, and Sachindu Colombage's 2 for 71 came at a cost. Once Banton and Brook were set, Sri Lanka had no way of stopping the runs.

The first-innings total tells you this was a good pitch to bat on once the new ball had passed: England were 68 for 1 after 15 overs and scored at better than eight an over thereafter. Every Sri Lankan bowler conceded at least six an over, spinners and seamers alike, which points more to England's batting than to any particular help in the surface.

The second innings is harder to read, because Sri Lanka's collapse had as much to do with the scoreboard as the pitch. Still, England's slower bowlers — Dawson, Root and Jacks — bowled 14.1 overs for 49 runs and took five wickets, while the quicks took four for 78 in 15. On the evidence of the figures, England's slow bowlers found more in the second innings than any Sri Lankan bowler managed in the first.

There are hundreds that win matches and hundreds that settle arguments. Banton's did both. He opened the batting, saw Duckett go at 6 for 1 with a series on the line, and batted until the 38th over, giving England first the steadiness they needed and then a momentum Sri Lanka could not interrupt. Fifty from 51 balls, a hundred from 95, 126 from 105 — the innings sped up exactly as the match demanded.

What made it special was its composure. He survived a review, watched Root labour at the other end, and never forced the pace. When he did go, he had built the platform from which Cox and Overton could swing freely. Some centuries are made in a hurry. This one was made on time.

Our preview leaned, marginally, towards England, citing home advantage, Jacks on his county ground and the depth of England's bowling. The result went our way, and by a margin — 223 runs — that made the word marginally look unnecessarily cautious.

The detail was mixed. We named Will Jacks as England's player to watch and imagined him bowling with the old ball in the final overs; he bowled only 3.1 overs (1 for 8), made 25, and still finished as Player of the Series. Our Sri Lanka pick, Kusal Mendis, top-scored with 35 from 26 balls, but his innings never became the defiance we expected. The key battles we built the preview around did not happen as written: Wanindu Hasaranga, Adil Rashid, Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler — all central to our analysis — did not play in this match, and Archer's new-ball spell was three overs for 15. Our note that chasing sides have a slight edge at The Oval did not survive a 223-run win for the side batting first. The one conditions call that did hold up was spin mattering late: Dawson, Root and Jacks took five of the ten wickets.

England take the series 2-1, having lost at Headingley and responded with their most complete performance of the tour. The questions they leave with are good ones: Banton's case for a permanent top-order place, Cox's value as a keeper who can finish an innings, and how Jacks's all-round work fits into their best eleven.

Sri Lanka go home with the Headingley win and Kusal Mendis's century to remember, but also with the knowledge that their attack could not contain England once the game opened up. Chasing 356 was always going to need their best batting day, and the Oval showed how far they remain from producing it on demand.