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Sri Lanka's rapid recent descent hit a new low during their current England tour as they lost the 2nd ODI comprehensively on Thursday (July 01). So far, England have been ruthless against their opponents and have won all five games of the tour (three T20Is and two ODIs).
Sri Lanka will now come into the 3rd ODI on Saturday (July 03) in the hope of finishing the series on a high and avoiding a clean sweep.
There was some improvement in the second ODI as the Islanders managed to post a decent total of 241/9. Dhananjaya de Silva's magnificent run-a-ball 91 gave Sri Lanka some hope in a dire situation and helped them cross 200 for the first time in the series. Sam Curran (5/48) starred with the ball for England as he managed to pick up his maiden fifer in ODI cricket.
But the target was always going to be insufficient against a daunting English batting line-up. As expected, the World Champions completed the chase in clinical fashion. England were home by the end of the 43rd over to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Eoin Morgan (75*), Joe Root (68*) and Jason Roy (60) dominated the Sri Lankan bowling line-up, with all three batsmen scoring fluent half-centuries. England eventually won the match by eight wickets.
Morgan's side will look to continue in the same vein in their upcoming match on Saturday. Completing the series by clean-sweeping this fragile Lankan side will prove to be excellent preparation for England ahead of the ICC World T20 later this year.
England have never whitewashed Sri Lanka in an ODI series that comprised of more than one match
So far, England have entirely blanked Sri Lanka only once in ODI cricket. It was a one-off match for the Texaco Trophy in 1988 when Sri Lanka toured the UK.
Later during Sri Lanka's England tour in 2016, the hosts came close but could not achieve a clean sweep. The Eoin Morgan-led side won the five-match series by a 3-0 margin. One of the games was abandoned due to rain, while the other one ended in a tie.
England's authoritative 5-0 series victory at home against Australia in 2018 is the most recent instance of an English team blanking their opponents in an ODI series.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have white-washed England thrice in ODI cricket. The first instance was in 1992 when the Arjuna Ranatunga-led side won both matches in the two-match series. England were led by Alec Stewart back then. Later in 2001, Sri Lanka, under Marvan Atapattu's leadership this time, white-washed the English in a three-match series.
In 2006, Mahela Jayawardene shepherded his troops to a splendid series victory by defeating the hosts England 5-0. The stylish right-hander scored 328 runs across five matches at an astonishing average of 109.33 to lead his team from the front.
World champions England will be hoping to register a win on Saturday and achieve their first ever clean sweep against Sri Lanka in ODI cricket.
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