England wrap up tour with second 50 over win

England wrapped up their tour of Sri Lanka with a second 50 over win over an inexperienced Sri Lanka team. They won by 47 runs, having posted 241/4 thanks in the main to a fine 140 not out from skipper Tammy Beaumont. In reply Sri Lanka always looked likely to fall short as they lost wickets regularly but they plugged on gamely with the final pair scoring 54 runs between them.

Beaumont & Carr enjoying their century stand

England openers - Beaumont and Amara Carr (46) set England on course to a decent score with an opening stand of 105, although it did take almost 35 overs. Beaumont and Fran Wilson (28) added another 81 for the second wicket, but by this time there were just over five overs left. Having reached her hundred Beaumont finally cut loose and England added 36 in the last four overs for a reasonable score of 241/4.

Sri Lanka got off to a good start with 36 coming off the first five overs, but Madashani then lobbed Georgia Holmes to Carr at extra cover and three overs later her fellow opener Hansika drove Georgia Hennessy (3/33) to the same fielder at mid-off, where she completed a tumbling catch. Sri Lanka were 56/2 in the 9th over. Runs continued to come easily to the Sri Lankans, but they lost their third wicket in the 13th over when Hennessy bowled Sri Lanka skipper Ranasinghe, and Hennessy claimed the fourth wicket in her next over bowling Sanjeewani playing am ambitious pull shot to a full ball and missing. Sri Lanka were 97/4. Alex McDonald (2/7) and Jodie Dibble (2/27) effectively dried up the Sri Lankan scoring as they bowled a 13 over spell for just 20 runs and took four more wickets. At 141/8 Sri Lanka were on borrowed time, but they stretched the game out into the 44th over with their final two wickets, claimed by Hollie Armitage and Steph Butler.

Sri Lanka's focus has clearly been on the T20 format of the game during this series and the sides put out in the two 50 over games were not that strong. England won both games, but only after a batting scare in the first game and with a bit of a drawn-out struggle in the second. This is a young Academy side and they will all have taken something from the tour - the first to Asia for many of them. The experienced Tammy Beaumont has pulled the batting through in most games and the bowlers have worked hard in very hot conditions. Now it is back to rainy England and the domestic season which starts in about 11 weeks.

scorecard - http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/710587.html

MD
11/II/14