Tom Banton added to England squad for final ODI against Sri Lanka
Jul 01, 2021
London [UK], July 1 : Wicket-keeper batsman Tom Banton was on Thursday added to the England squad for the third and final ODI against Sri Lanka.
England and Sri Lanka will lock horns in the second ODI on Thursday while the third and final match is slated to be played on Sunday.
Banton replaces Dawid Malan, who is currently absent from England ODI squad for personal reasons.
"Tom Banton has been added to our ODI squad for the 3rd Royal London ODI with Sri Lanka," England Cricket tweeted.
Last week, Jos Buttler was ruled out of the remainder of the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka. Buttler sustained a right calf injury in England's first T20I victory at Sophia Gardens on June 23.
In the first ODI, Chris Woakes scalped four while David Wiley picked three wickets before Joe Root smashed a classy fifty to help England register a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka.
England first bundled out Sri Lanka for 185 and then chased down the target inside 35 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Five wickets fell in the chase, but Jonny Bairstow's sparkling start and Root's class took England home.
Chasing 186, England got off to a flying start with the visitors scoring 54 runs in the first five overs. Sri Lanka did dismiss Liam Livingstone and Bairstow but Root played a gutsy 79-run knock to lead England's charge.
England was reeling at 80/4 with Eoin Morgan and Sam Billings going back cheaply, but Moeen Ali and Root stitched a 91-run stand to revive the visitors' innings. During the match, Joe Root also became the joint fourth-fastest batsmen to 6,000 ODI runs.
