Buttler injury derails England chase and sends Sri Lanka series to decider

 A hobbling Jos Buttler put his body on the line in an attempt to drag England to victory at Headingley, but Sri Lanka levelled the series to win the most entertaining one-day match of the summer.

Buttler was controlling the run chase, cruising to 65 from 43 balls when he appeared to tear his left hamstring completing a second run and the injury sapped the life out of England who suddenly froze.

They needed a relatively comfortable 68 off 75 with only four wickets down at 254 for four when Buttler retired hurt, but Sri Lanka bowled some superb, accurate seam, mixing up yorkers and reverse swing to concede only two more boundaries in the remaining 14 overs. Rehan Ahmed made a duck, Gus Atkinson a painful 16 off 28, and Jamie Overton skied to mid-off for two, forcing Buttler back out the dressing room door again.

England needed 27 off 14 and with Will Jacks still there, Buttler could have made the difference. He managed to wince his way through two singles to give Jacks the strike. He brought up his fifty with a six, but could not turn it into a match-winning score, holing out to long on with 19 needed.

It left Buttler on one leg to try to summon some magic. He shuffled across his stumps and connected beautifully with the first ball of the penultimate over, but the shot just did not have the power to go over the rope and Buttler was caught at deep midwicket, the result more or less done and dusted. Sri Lanka won by 16 runs to set up an end-of-summer decider at the Oval on Sunday.

“Jos being the player he is getting injured at that moment isn’t ideal. You can’t dwell on that too much,” Harry Brook, the England captain, said. “I don’t think he ever had any doubt in his mind [about going back out]. It was a matter of when we were going to send him out really. A player of his ability is going to have an effect [even injured] because we know what he can do in a run chase. You can’t just point it out as it was the main reason we lost. There are other areas why we lost that game as well.”

A thrilling game on a great pitch for batting, and on a gloriously sunny September day, ebbed and flowed as Sri Lanka posted 321 for six with captain Kusal Mendis’s 121 giving their tour a huge lift. England set off well in their attempt to make their biggest successful run chase against Sri Lanka, and had the game in their palms. Openers Ben Duckett and Tom Banton pounced on some poor new-ball bowling to put on 143 from 119 for the first wicket.

But a string of poorly executed strokes, as left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage provided Sri Lanka some control, undid the good work. Duckett was bowled driving, Banton stumped trying to hit over the top and Harry Brook was beaten on the inside edge defending. 

Enter Buttler to play a wonderful counter-attack, whacking Wellalage for four and six and dumping leg-spinner Sachindu Colombage over the rope twice as he raced to 41 off 22 balls.

Buttler was at a crossroads after the T20 World Cup in February. Despite England making the semi-finals, he averaged just 10 in the tournament to complete a third poor World Cup in a row. A break with his family, and a very good Indian Premier League, where he made a crucial technical correction, changed his fortunes.

Matthew Hayden, the batting coach at the Gujarat Titans, asked him whether he was watching the ball closely enough. Buttler discovered that, now 36, he is a right-eye dominant batsman, so with Hayden’s help he opened up his stance to give himself a better view of the ball. A summer rich in runs has followed with an average of 51 for England and a strut back in his body language. The injury has surely ended Buttler’s summer and there are worries that he could be out of the Pakistan ODI triangular tournament next month as well, just to add to the night’s woes.

This was not a vintage England performance. Atkinson made a crucial error on the boundary, dropping a straightforward chance off Kusal Mendis on 17. It kickstarted Mendis, who went on the charge smashing 51 in 24 balls. He put on 137 in 120 balls with Kuminda Mendis. Josh Tongue had an off day going at seven an over and Jofra Archer was given similar treatment, although he bowled better than figures suggest, as anything wayward with pace on the ball was hit away. 

Overton was more effective with his cutters and slower balls, while Ahmed did at least bag a couple of wickets, credit for keeping his head after some early rough treatment. Kusal Mendis was given out leg before on 99 but overturned the decision and stroked a four next ball for a deserved hundred.

When Kuminda Mendis fell, the innings went through a sticky patch and Sri Lanka started to wobble when Kusal Mendis fell slog-sweeping Ahmed to deep midwicket. But Pavan Rathnayake made a crucial 48, as Sri Lanka added 84 in the last 10 overs.