SL VS ENG - 3rd ODI, England tour of Sri Lanka, 2018

Phew! It was a long day in the office for the players and us. Wasn't it? But, don't forget the important contribution from today's unsung heroes - the groundsmen here at Pallekele - without whom play wouldn't have taken place. The covers were brought on and off innumerable times and they toiled really hard to make conditions appropriate for the players. England can't lose this ODI series and the top-ranked side don't look like losing a game either. What can Sri Lanka do to the upset the apple cart? Join us on Saturday for the fourth ODI. Until then, it's goodbye.

Morgan: We have certainly improved on our last game. I can't find fault with our bowlers. Tom Curran coming in fresh. Stokes, who didn't bowl much in the series did a magnificent job. Rashid - picking four wickets in a 21-over-game, that did hold SL's progress, on a track which was so good to bat on - was a fantastic job. Full credit goes to our bowlers. We learned what worked and what didn't as the game progressed. We bowled slower balls and the cutters really well. We have an aggressive opening partnership. They have full licence to do that. That's the way they play. The wicket was very very good. Really good headaches. Competition for the places is extremely high, which is a healthy atmosphere. The challenge for us is setting challenges for ourselves. The outfield was wet, as regards to clean catches - we set good standards.

Thisara Perera: We got good start, but we couldn't continue including myself. We were thinking we have only 21 overs. We were 30-35 runs short. Last few matches, bowling partnership has been good. We got to blame the batsmen. I think he (Chandimal) will be okay for the next match

Adil Rashid, Man of the Match: It was nice. It felt good. We bowled exceptionally as a team. It (wrong 'un) came out nicely today. We get used to it. You have to find a way and I found it. He (Morgan) backs each bowler. He backs me in any situation. He saved me for a couple of overs.

23:34 Local Time: Morgan sports a big smile as he walks back towards the dressing room. It was a stroll in the park for England. They outperformed Sri Lanka in all three departments. Sri Lanka, batting first in a 21-over game, got off to a flier scoring 55 in five overs. However, Tom Curran and Adil Rashid applied the brakes and restricted them to a under-par score of 150. In reply, the visitors scored 17 off Malinga's opening over. Although Bairstow and Root were dismsissed cheaply, Jason Roy played an exciting knock scoring 41 off 26, which brought the asking rate close to 6 RPO. Following Roy's departure, England hardly put a foot wrong - courtesy an unbeaten 73-run partnership between the in-form Morgan and Stokes. England go 2-0 up with two matches to go.

Aponso to Stokes, SIX, Stokes finishes it off in style. Aponso gave a bit of air, Stokes used his feet by dancing down the pitch. Got to the pitch of the ball and bludgeoned it straight down the track. It's a six and England win by 7 wickets

Aponso to Morgan, 1 run, 91kph, flat ball on leg, bunted to long-on

Aponso to Morgan, FOUR, full toss, Morgan moves leg-side and carves it through cover. Easily done. Just 5 needed now

Amila Aponso [3.0-0-16-2] is back into the attack

Perera to Morgan, leg byes, 1 run, slower delivery on the pads, Morgan misses the flick/clip and the ball rolls towards fine leg off his pad

Perera to Stokes, 1 run, similar ball, smashed down to long-off

Perera to Stokes, no run, slower ball from a short of length, Stokes was a touch late to read it and punches it to extra cover

Perera to Morgan, 1 run, full on leg, flicked away to deep square leg

Perera to Morgan, FOUR, back-to-back fifties for Eoin Morgan! His 41st in ODIs. Saw the line outside off and wafted his bat hard at it. Might have come off the outside half of the bat, but it flew away through the gap between backward point and short third man. Just a raise of the bat from the skipper

Perera to Morgan, 2 runs, back of a length delivery outside off, late-dabbed to deep backward point

Thisara Perera, right-arm fast medium, comes into the attack

Malinga to Morgan, 1 run, slow and low dipping full toss, Morgan pushes it to long-off with ease and is happy to collect the single

Malinga to Morgan, 2 runs, wide yorker, Morgan opens his bat-face at the point of impact and squeezes the square-drive through backward point

Malinga to Stokes, 1 run, 121kph yorker on off, Stokes stays leg-side of the ball and jams it to extra cover for a quick single. Brings up the 50-run stand

Malinga to Stokes, wide, hurls a full ball down leg, Stokes lets it be