Jacks delivers a career night with bat and ball
Forty six not out. Five wickets for 22. Three of them in the final over alone. Will Jacks produced the complete all-round performance as England thrashed Sri Lanka by 89 runs in the first one-day international at Durham on Tuesday.
England posted 265 all out in 48.1 overs after being sent in, with captain Harry Brook top-scoring on 67 from 69 balls and Joe Root adding 44. Jacks then ripped through the Sri Lanka order with the ball, finishing with career-best figures of 5-22 as the tourists folded for 176 in 37 overs.
“We communicated very well,” Brook said afterward, pointing to how his side adapted to tricky conditions at the Riverside.
Try it for $0.99.
A statement series opener
Sri Lanka never found rhythm chasing a target well below what looked achievable on paper. Debutant Sachindu Colombage was the one bright spot with the ball, taking 3-44, but his side’s batting collapsed under pressure from Jacks and the rest of the England attack.
The win hands England a 1-0 lead with matches still to play, and it continues a breakout year for Jacks, who has increasingly become a genuine all-round option in the white-ball side rather than just a top-order hitter. His five-wicket haul is now the best of his ODI career, eclipsing anything he had managed with the ball before Tuesday.
What’s next
England will look to wrap up the series early when the second ODI gets underway at Headingley on Thursday, with coverage starting at 12:30pm on Sky Sports. Root, who has quietly built one of the more consistent middle-order returns in the squad this year, will again be central to England’s hopes of building on a fast start against a Sri Lanka side searching for answers.
Discover the rest of our sports news on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply