Brook and Root lead England to Series win

HARRY Brook smashed a blistering 136 and Joe Root made another flawless century as England beat Sri Lanka by 53 runs to clinch a much-needed ODI series victory.

- BY SCOTT HUNT

Harry Brook (left) and Joe Root walk back to dressing room after their impressive knocks in the ODI win

(SAMEERA PEIRIS/GETTY IMAGES)

The Yorkshiremen combined for an extraordinary 191-run partnership in Colombo to lift England to a mammoth 357 for three, the highest total on this ground since October 2018.

Root steered the innings with an unbeaten 111, laying the platform for skipper Brook to issue a stunning reminder of his firepower as he blasted Sri Lanka to all parts of the ground in an ODI-best 136 not out from just 66 balls.

On a ground where scores above 300 are rare, it was a total always likely to be beyond the hosts and so it proved despite a wonderful maiden international century from Pavan Rathnayake.

For England it was just a second ODI series win in their last eight and provided a morale boost after the 4-1 Ashes drubbing as well as aiding their ODI ranking, with automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup far from certain.