Colombo [Sri Lanka], January 27 (ANI): England’s white-ball skipper Harry Brook produced a panoramic knock to register the best particular person rating by a non-Asian batter in ODIs towards Sri Lanka on their house turf, slamming an unbeaten 136 through the third match of the continued bilateral sequence on the R Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday.
Brook walked in at quantity 5 and launched a shocking counter-attack, reaching his third ODI century in simply 57 balls. His explosive innings got here off solely 66 deliveries and featured 9 towering sixes and 11 fours, leaving the Sri Lankan bowlers with little reply to his power-hitting.
With this effort, Brook surpassed South Africa’s Quentin de Kock, who had scored 128 in Hambantota in 2014.
The general highest particular person rating towards Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka stays with Afghanistan’s Ibrahim Zadran, who struck 162 in November 2022, additionally the best ODI rating by an Afghan batter.
Brook’s century was the fourth-fastest ODI hundred towards Sri Lanka and joint-sixth quickest by an Englishman, equalling former captain Eoin Morgan’s feat, in keeping with ESPNcricinfo. The knock was additionally Brook’s career-best in ODIs.
Throughout 38 ODI matches, Brook has now amassed 1,354 runs at a powerful common of 39.82 and a strike charge of 105.28. Taking part in his maiden ODI sequence towards Sri Lanka, he completed with 192 runs.
In the meantime, England stalwart Joe Root (111 not out off 108 balls) achieved a major milestone through the match, changing into the eighth-highest run-getter in worldwide cricket historical past. Root surpassed West Indies legend Brian Lara, who had amassed 22,358 runs throughout codecs.
Root now has 22,413 runs from 384 matches and 506 innings, averaging 49.69, with 61 centuries and 116 half-centuries to his identify. He trails solely legends equivalent to Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Mahela Jayawardene, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara, Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar on the all-time listing.
Powered by Brook’s fireworks and strong contributions from Joe Root and Jacob Bethell (65), England posted a formidable complete of 357 for 3 of their 50 overs, placing Sri Lanka below immense strain within the sequence decider. (ANI)
