Sri Lanka skipper Charith Asalanka has gently challenged Harry Brook’s stinging verdict on the R Premadasa pitch used for the second one-dayer, pointing to the combined 440 runs that came off it.
“That was his opinion – mine might be a bit different,” Asalanka told reporters on the eve of the deciding ODI. Brook, fresh from England’s five-wicket win, had called the surface “the worst pitch” he had ever played on. Team-mate Joe Root, who anchored the chase with a steady 75 from 90 balls, went only a fraction softer, saying he didn’t think “it was a great wicket for ODI cricket”.
England still knocked off 220 with 22 deliveries in hand to square the series at 1-1, which is why Asalanka feels the criticism is a touch harsh. “If you looked at the 2023 World Cup – they’d only got 180 [actually 156] in that game, and no one said anything about the pitch,” he noted, recalling Sri Lanka’s eight-wicket win in Bengaluru. “I don’t know why he’s saying this now. I guess we’ll see what is said after the next match.”
The left-hander isn’t pretending the Colombo strip was perfect. He had hoped for something closer to the surface that produced 270-plus scores in the series opener. “I didn’t expect the pitch for the second match would be like that. We had got 270-280 in the first match and no one likes to get fewer runs than that, because you’ve got to give your bowlers something to defend. Unfortunately the pitch for the second match had changed from the first game,” he said. “That said, it still wasn’t a 220-run pitch – my goal while batting had been to get to 250 or 260.”
Sri Lanka, whose spinners traditionally relish Premadasa’s grip and bounce, will request a surface closer to the first ODI for Wednesday’s finale. England, meanwhile, are unlikely to lobby for anything radically different; they adapted more quickly in game two, particularly with the ball as Reece Topley and Adil Rashid shared five wickets.
There is, of course, an element of subjective taste in all this. Batters generally fancy a true wicket; bowlers enjoy a bit of assistance. Brook voiced one side of that debate, Asalanka the other. Whatever the ground staff produce next, both sides now know runs don’t come cheaply – and arguments about pitches come cheaper still.
