Kusal Mendis century drives Sri Lanka to 321 for 6

Kusal Mendis' seventh ODI hundred headlined Sri Lanka's first real concerted batting effort on tour, as they racked up 321 for six in the second ODI on a good batting track in Headingley. More promisingly for the Sri Lankans was that it was not exactly a one-man show, with cameos from Pathum Nissanka (25), Kamindu Mendis (54), Pavan Rathnayake (48) and Janith Liyanage (32), making for a well-rounded batting effort.

For the visitors there wasn't much to crow about, on a surface that offered true bounce and little lateral movement, though they will be pleased to have kept the Lankans within touching distance after they had seemed at one point to be targeting a total 20-30 runs higher. There were two wickets apiece for Gus Atkinson and Rehan Ahmed, while the tireless Jofra Archer belatedly picked up one.

Sri Lanka's best white-ball batting efforts in recent times have invariably coincided with significant input from either Nissanka or Kusal, and that trend wasn't about to change here. Nissanka had looked promising during 33-ball 25, but his time in the middle was cut short by a fuller one from Atkinson that nipped back and trapped him lbw - a tight call that was held up upon review after replays showed umpire's call on wickets hitting.

This brought Kusal to the crease, and he along with his namesake, Kamindu, proceeded to put on a 137-run stand from 120 deliveries, an innings-defining partnership that set the platform for Sri Lanka's highest first-innings total against England in ODIs since 2018.

But it was one that might have been snuffed out before it had ever found its legs had Atkinson held on to a skier off Kusal when the Lankan skipper was on 18. Sri Lanka ensured they would exact the full toll for that drop, as Kusal proceeded to dine on a much more welcoming surface than the one at Chester-le-Street in the first ODI.

In the 20 overs between the 10th over - when Kusal entered - and the start of the 30th over - when Kamindu was caught at long-on - 11 of them saw Sri Lanka manage at least one boundary. And it meant that Sri Lanka's 200 came up in the 32nd over, at which point a score in the region of 340 was on the cards.

The near seven-an-over scoring between the two Mendises owed much to one particularly expensive over taken off Josh Tongue, in which Kusal banished him for three fours and a six. Nineteen came off it - it was Sri Lanka's most fruitful of the entire tour, such has been the dour nature of their batting efforts.

It was also a boundary that brought up Kusal's century, a sumptuous drive through the covers off a luckless Jamie Overton, off whose bowling it was that Kusal had been dropped.

Following Kamindu's dismissal there was a run-a-ball stand of 40 between Kusal and Pavan Rathnayake, but the former was unable to see the game through to the death overs, finding deep midwicket instead with an attempted slog sweep off Rehan. This brought about Sri Lanka's first real lull in scoring, as they trudged to 237 for 4 by the end of the 40th over.

The innings seemed at a crossroads at this point, but Rathnayake and then Liyanage ensured that Sri Lanka would not completely squander the platform their skipper had helped set. The visitors managed 84 runs in the final 10 overs, and it ensured Sri Lanka put up total that was around par for the course.

For England to win, they will have to complete their highest-ever successful chase against Sri Lanka.