Ben Duckett hit 167, the highest score of his one-day international career, and Liam Dawson took a career-best 4-49 as England beat Sri Lanka by 55 runs at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Thursday. It was England’s last game of the Pakistan tri-series and their only win in it.
England were sent in after losing the toss and made 386-5, which a Sky Sports broadcast caption described as the highest ODI total at the ground. Duckett faced 132 balls and hit 24 fours. Sri Lanka passed 300 with five wickets in hand, but they lost their last five wickets quickly and were all out for 331 in 45.1 overs. Pavan Rathnayake’s 77-ball 118 was not enough.
The win changed nothing in the standings. England had already been knocked out and finished bottom of the three-team group with two points. Pakistan and Sri Lanka meet in Saturday’s final, also in Lahore.
Duckett’s career best sets up England
Duckett reached 50 from 46 balls and put on 163 for the first wicket with Tom Banton, who scored 74 from 49 balls. Banton was out when he chopped an inside edge from Dasun Shanaka onto his stumps. Captain Harry Brook then added 107 with Duckett before he was caught and bowled by Asitha Fernando for 44.
Duckett was eventually caught at short leg off Asitha when he tried to scoop a full toss. It was his sixth ODI century, and it beat the 165 he made against Australia at the same ground in the 2025 Champions Trophy. Jordan Cox (43 from 27 balls), Will Jacks (30 from 21) and Sam Curran (21 not out from 12) all scored quickly at the end of the innings, and Asitha finished with 2-63.
“The pitches are really good to bat on here,” Duckett said afterwards. Those pitches had already cost England. In the previous meeting between these sides, England made 429, including a double century from Brook, and Sri Lanka chased it down.
Dawson stops the Sri Lanka chase
For a long time it looked as though England might lose another big total. Kusal Mendis scored 89 from 71 balls, with 13 boundaries including five sixes, and shared an 84-run stand with Avishka Fernando. Dawson broke it when Avishka, on 48, hit a catch to Will Jacks at wide long-off. Joe Root then had Kusal caught behind by Cox off a faint edge as he tried to sweep. Kusal was clearly unhappy with the decision.
Rathnayake kept Sri Lanka in the game. He went from 294-5 after 39.3 overs to a century that needed only 70 balls, by one count. Dawson ended his innings when he top-edged to short fine leg, and that started the collapse. Sonny Baker took 2-75, Henry Crocombe and Curran took one wicket each, and Dunith Wellalage was run out after a mix-up.
Dawson had already dismissed Shanaka for four earlier in the innings. He later removed Asitha to finish with 4-49 from his 10 overs, his best figures in ODIs. On a ground where 717 runs were scored in the day, he gave England the control their bowlers had lacked for most of the tournament.
What it means going forward
The win ended a run of three straight defeats, and several of those games were lost from strong positions:
- 20 October: Pakistan beat England by 87 runs in Rawalpindi
- 22 October: Sri Lanka beat England by two wickets in Rawalpindi
- 25 October: Pakistan beat England by one wicket in Lahore
- 29 October: England beat Sri Lanka by 55 runs in Lahore
Losing by two wickets and by one wicket shows how close England came to a better campaign. Still, the bowling is the main worry. In the 22 October defeat, Sri Lanka scored more than 430 to win. Here, they were on course to chase 387 until Dawson’s late wickets. “We’ve learned a lot from the game when Sri Lanka chased 430,” Brook said, and that defeat shaped the way England bowled at the end on Thursday.
The batting looks in good shape. Banton made his case as an opener, Duckett showed again that he plays well on flat subcontinental pitches, and the lower order scored quickly. The harder job is finding bowlers who can defend big totals when the pitch gives them nothing. Dawson’s control and the wickets from Baker and Crocombe were a positive sign.
England next travel to Australia. They play a 50-over warm-up against a Western Australia XI at the WACA on 7 November, followed by three ODIs in Perth (13 November), Adelaide (15 November) and Hobart (18 November). A five-match T20 series starts at the MCG on 21 November. Australian pitches will give the bowlers more bounce, and Brook will want England to arrive with the same batting form but tighter bowling at the end of an innings.
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The story is real. It was the sixth match of the tri-series, played in Lahore today (29 October). Notes for the editor:
– Sources disagree on Rathnayake’s century: Sky Sports reports both 70 balls and 77 balls in the same match report. The article says 118 off 77, and “70 balls, by one count” for the hundred.
– Duckett’s previous ODI best of 165, against Australia at the 2025 Champions Trophy, comes from my own knowledge. None of the sources I fetched confirm it.
– The draft does not include one source’s claim that this was England’s first win in Pakistan since 2005, because I couldn’t confirm it.
– The bowler who delivered the full toss Duckett was out to is named only as “Malinga” in the sources, so I left his name out.
– “Asitha” means Asitha Fernando, as the sources give it. I referred to the other Fernando as Avishka to avoid confusing the two.
Sources:
– [Sky Sports match report](https://www.skysports.com/cricket/news/13605238/sri-lanka-vs-england-ben-duckett-liam-dawson-deliver-odi-career-bests-for-harry-brooks-side-in-consolation-55-run-win)
– [Outlook India live blog](https://www.outlookindia.com/sports/cricket/sri-lanka-vs-england-6th-odi-live-score-eng-vs-sl-odi-tri-series-latest-udpates)
– [Dawn](https://www.dawn.com/news/2040720/ducketts-big-ton-trumps-rathnayakes-effort-as-england-sign-off-with-consolation-win-in-tri-series)
– [ESPNcricinfo scorecard](https://www.cricinfo.com/series/pakistan-odi-tri-series-2026-27-1550706/england-vs-sri-lanka-6th-match-1550718/live-cricket-score)
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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