Harry Brook took no consolation from his record-breaking 202 as Sri Lanka incredibly overhauled a target of 430 to leave England staring down the barrel in the tri-series in Pakistan.
Brook’s double-hundred was the first by an England batter in one-day internationals and the fastest ever in the format off 114 deliveries as his side piled up a seemingly insurmountable 429 for four.
However, in an unforgettable chase, Pavan Rathnayake’s 130 plus Avishka Fernando and Dasun Shanaka both adding 97 was followed by Janith Liyanage sealing a famous two-wicket win in Rawalpindi.
“I always say I want to make match-winning contributions and have a match-winning impact,” Brook said. “Unfortunately I’ve got 200 and it’s not been match-winning. In my eyes, it doesn’t matter.”
Josh Tongue needed to defend eight from the final over and he castled Dunith Wellalage and Eshan Malinga with successive pinpoint deliveries but Liyanage thumped the penultimate ball for six down the ground to get Sri Lanka over the line.
Liyanage finished unbeaten on 61 off just 27 balls as Sri Lanka recorded the second highest ODI run-chase ever.
Without Jofra Archer, who has been rested for this tour, and fellow World Cup-winner Adil Rashid, dropped for tactical reasons, a callow England attack struggled to contain their opposition.
Brook refused to blame the absence of Rashid, pointing out his replacement Liam Dawson was his side’s most economical bowler, but England’s white-ball captain admitted they were slipshod with the ball.
Sam Curran took the worst of the punishment, conceding 103 runs to break his own England record, and Brook said: “It’s extremely disappointing. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to defend 430 runs.
“We brought Daws in for Rash and I think Daws was probably the pick of the bowlers. He kept the stumps in play for the majority of the game and he was probably our best bowler.
“But we didn’t execute where we were trying to bowl as well as we could have done, we probably played into their hands a little bit too much but on the flip side, they played exceptionally well.”
England have slipped to two losses from two matches in this tri-series, which gives them valuable tournament experience ahead of the next 50-over World Cup in southern Africa in 12 months’ time.
With the top two teams contesting the final next weekend, England need to regroup quickly and face having to beat Pakistan on Sunday to avoid an early exit.
“We can take a lot of learnings from that game,” Brook added. “We definitely didn’t execute what we were trying to do for long enough. We were trying to keep the stumps in play as much as we possibly could, we were probably erring on the short side which played into their hands.
“But to be involved in a game like that is incredible and hats off to Sri Lanka, they’ve played an absolute blinder there.”
Read MoreSri Lanka stun England with second highest ever run chase in ODI tri-series
Harry Brook sets new records with astonishing 202 from 116 balls against Sri Lanka
Jimmy Anderson set to retire from cricket at 44 years old after Lancashire snub
England’s Jamie Overton not ruling out a return to Test cricket
Harry Brook pinpoints exactly where England went wrong in Pakistan loss
England collapse to heavy defeat against Pakistan in nightmare start to tri-series
