Key events
46th over: England 362-3 (Brook 168, Jacks 35) Brook uses his rubber wrists to whip Fernando behind square on the leg side for four. Yeah, fours are good but languid sixes down the ground are better. Brook launches his eighth six before taking a single to keep strike.
Wherever he is in the world, I hope Kevin Pietersen is watching this.
“I do remember the 1979 World Cup final, I’m afraid,” says John Stedman. “Wasn’t that the one when Clive Lloyd, one of the finest fielders to have ever played the game dropped Geoff Boycott, with disastrous consequences – for England?”
In defence of Sir Geoffrey, England would have lost that game 10 times out of 10 once West Indies reached 286-9. (Also, it was Beefy who encouraged Boycott and Mike Brearley to continue at the same tempo, but that’s another story.)
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45th over: England 351-3 (Brook 158, Jacks 34) Brook deliberately opens the face to slice an attempted wide yorker Malinga over short third for six. I mean, why wouldn’t you? It’s the oldest shot in the book.
Sri Lanka, their collective brain utterly fried, waste their last review when Jacks chased a wide yorker and is beaten.
Five overs remaining, 25 needed for Brook to beat Stokes’ record.
“Hello Rob,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “Should we change the name from Brook to Flood or Torrent?”
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The highest ODI score by an England batter is Ben Stokes’ 182 not out against New Zealand in 2023. It’s toast.
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Updated at 07.30 EDT
Brook races past 150!
44th over: England 338-3 (Brook 151, Jacks 29) Fernando knocks Brook off his feet with a terrific yorker outside off stump. Brook dusts himself down and responds with the jauntiest of reverse laps for four.
Fernando nails another yorker to make it two dot balls in three, so Brook charges his next delivery and slashes it deliberately for four. Brook’s skill, audacity and imagination often overshadow the brilliance of his placement.
Oh good lord, stop this now. Brook moves past 150 with a reverse lap over short third for yet another boundary. He’s 151 not out from 97 balls, with 16 fours and seven sixes. Oh, and at one stage he was 13 from 24.
When Brook plays like this, he makes Stick Cricket look like a 1960s Ashes Test.
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43rd over: England 323-3 (Brook 138, Jacks 29) Brook scoops Malinga for his seventh six. Yawn, another six. A single down the ground takes him past his previous ODI best, a coruscating 136* (from 66 balls) against Sri Lanka in January.
If Brook wasn’t batting like Stan McCabe circa 1938, we’d be raving about Will Jacks’ innings. He flicks four more and has raced to 29 from 12 balls. Sri Lanka – who won the toss, remember – are in a world of pain.
Harry Brook scoops Malinga for six! Photograph: Akhtar Soomro/ReutersShare
Updated at 07.29 EDT
Sri Lanka’s fifth bowler, a combination of Shanaka, Kamindu Mendis and Liyanage, has figures of 8-0-83-0. If you’re an England fan who remembers the 1979 World Cup final, you have permission to wince.
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42nd over: England 309-3 (Brook 130, Jacks 24) Sri Lanka are haemorrhaging boundaries. Jacks larrups three in four deliveries off Madushanka – don’t ask me to describe them, I can’t keep up – in an over that costs 16. Never mind 350; England will want at least 400 from this position.
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Updated at 07.14 EDT
Breaking news: Harry Brook is on one
41st over: England 293-3 (Brook 129, Jacks 9) Brook shapes to ramp Shanaka, who bowls a low full toss well wide of off stump. Brook adjusts his hands and tickles it past short third and away to the boundary. That’s absolu… is that even legal? It’s an extraordinary shot.
And that’s just for starters. Brook flips six over square leg, panels four over extra cover and smears a straight hit for four more. Twenty from the over.
I vividly recall standing at a bus stop in Orkney in the summer of 2018, listening to a Test Match Special podcast, when Michael Vaughan said there was a kid at Yorkshire who would play for England. I’d never heard of Harry Brook, but Vaughan spoke with such certainty that I made a point of following his career. In the next two seasons he averaged 25 and 21 in first-class cricket, and I thought Vaughany has sold us a pup. Wrong!
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40th over: England 273-3 (Brook 109, Jacks 9) Brook repeats the ramp stroke next ball. A rattled Fernando bowls a front-foot no-ball and, though England can’t take advantage of the free hit, it’s another big over: 14 from it.
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A sensational hundred from Harry Brook!
Brook ramps Asitha Fernando for four to reach another magnificent century: 75 balls, nine fours, five sixes. It’s his fourth hundred in ODIs, all as captain. He was 13 not out from 24 balls, which means he’s hit 88 from the last 51.
Harry Brook celebrates his century. Photograph: Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 07.17 EDT
39th over: England 259-3 (Brook 97, Jacks 8) An utterly brilliant stroke from Brook, who steers a near-perfect wide yorker from Madushanka for four. He did that a few times during the Hundred as well. First they came for the yorker, these batting geniuses; now they’re going after the wide yorker. No delivery is safe.
Jacks bullies his first boundary to make it 11 from the over. Never mind 300; England will want at least 350 from this position.
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38th over: England 248-3 (Brook 92, Jacks 2) Will Jacks, the best finisher in this England team, is promoted to No5. Another good over from Asitha Fernando, who has become a pretty reliable attack leader for Sri Lanka. His figures today are 7-1-29-1. Yep, one: a maiden.
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WICKET! England 244-3 (Root c Wellalage b Fernando 69)
Root tries to chip Asitha Fernando over the leg side and spoons a simple catch to midwicket. He’ll be annoyed to miss out on a century but he’s given England a superb platform with a quietly charming innings of 69 from 66 balls.
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37th over: England 244-2 (Root 69, Brook 90) Brook manhandles Malinga back over his head and away to the boundary. Fours are good, sixes are better: the next ball is a low full toss that Brook pings beautifully over backward square and into the crowd. An expensive over ends with a short ball that Brook wallops for four.
He and Root had to take their medicine at the start of their partnership, when it was tough to rotate strike never mind hit boundaries. It was worth it: they found their rhythm and have pillaged 111 from the last 12 overs.
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Travis Head is one of the best big-game players in cricket history, and he’s doing it again in Gqeberha.
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Joe Root reaches 8000 ODI runs
36th over: England 228-2 (Root 69, Brook 75) Yawn, another milestone for Joe Root. He chips Wellalage over extra cover for four, then works two into the leg side to become the first England player to score 8000 ODI runs.
Root is suddenly all over Wellalage. He sweeps four more off the final ball of Wellalage’s spell to move to 69 from 65 balls. That includes five brilliant boundaries from his last 13 balls. Unobtrusive, you say?
Joe Root on his way to yet another career landmark. Photograph: Sameer Ali/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 06.58 EDT
35th over: England 217-2 (Root 59, Brook 75) Root drags Malinga through backward square leg for four, an expertly placed stroke that was angled just enough to beat the man on the boundary. In their distinctive ways, Root and Brook are a life-affirming watch.
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Fifty for Joe Root
34th over: England 209-2 (Root 52, Brook 74) Respect my foot. Root races to his 49th ODI fifty with back-to-back boundaries off Wellalage. A jaunty reverse sweep prompted Wellalage to pull his length back, so Root clobbered another boundary over the leg side. It’s been a typical, almost cliched Root innings: 54 balls, five fours, zero obtrusiveness.
A reminder that Root needs 64 today to become the first Englishman to make 8000 ODI runs. Oh, and he’s averaging 109 in ODIs this year.
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33rd over: England 198-2 (Root 43, Brook 72) Brook’s ability and imagination are borderline offensive. He makes room to lift a slower short ball from Malinga over the fielder at short third and away for four.
A good over from Malinga includes the first suggestion of reverse swing. From memory, Sri Lanka used reverse swing very effectively when they beat England at Headingley last month.
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32nd over: England 193-2 (Root 42, Brook 68) England continue to play Wellalage with nuff respect, taking three singles from his eighth over. Wellalage has outstanding figures of 8-0-34-2.
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31st over: England 190-2 (Root 40, Brook 67) Breaking news: Harry Brook is on the rampage. He smokes Madushanka for 16 in three balls: a flash through backward point for four, a straight drive on the charge for four and a devastating back-foot slap down the ground for six.
Madushanka almost has the final word with a slower short ball that Brook top-edges fractionally short of the keeper. After a mini-orgy of 57 runs in six overs, it’s time for drinks.
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30th over: England 174-2 (Root 39, Brook 52) Sri Lanka reintroduce the left-arm spinner Wellalage, hoping the horse hasn’t bolted. England are in a strong position, meaning Root and Brook can play low-risk cricket: two singles apiece.
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Fifty for Harry Brook
29th over: England 170-2 (Root 37, Brook 50) Brook dabs Asitha for a single to reach a punishing fifty from 42 balls, including 37 runs from the 18. And it continues his superb form in ODIs since he took over from Jos Buttler.
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Captain 1081 runs at 51.47; strike-rate 115; three hundreds, six fifties.
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Not captain 504 runs at 25.20; SR 89; no hundreds, three fifties.
Root looks at his bat in confusion after mistiming a chip that only just clears midwicket.
(Edit: I forgot that those Brook stats include some games as stand-in captain in 2024. Since he took over full-time in 2025, he averages around 45 with a strike-rate of 111.)
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Updated at 06.26 EDT
28th over: England 167-2 (Root 35, Brook 49) Liyanage is hooked after conceding 16 from his first over. Shanaka replaces him and bowls a poor ball that Root touches off the hip for four. He is also starting to rotate strike again after a quiet few overs.
A brusque pull from Brook races through midwicket for four. The fielder on the boundary made a diving stop but was touching the sponge as he did so. England have scored 34 from the last three overs.
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Updated at 06.09 EDT
27th over: England 155-2 (Root 29, Brook 44) Asitha Fernando replaces Kamindu Mendis. Nowt much to report: one bye, five singles.
More importantly, play is belatedly underway in Gqeberha.
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26th over: England 149-2 (Root 26, Brook 42) The new bowler Janith Liyanage is clattered down the ground for four by Brook, who then jumps across to scoop an extravagant six.
Brook has taken a short cut from first gear to fifth. After struggling to 13 not out from 24 balls, he has blistered 29 from the last 11. One day, when we’re old and doddery, we’ll realise how lucky we were to watch Joe Root and Harry Brook bat.
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25th over: England 133-2 (Root 25, Brook 28) After a fast start, Root is struggling to rotate strike. It makes no sense, but the same thing against Pakistan on Tuesday. This has certainly been an innings of two halves: 20 from the first 15 balls, 5 from the last 15.
“Greetings from Barcelona!” says Gary Naylor. “I can’t find a bar showing the cricket. Mind you, I suspect the same would be true in London #MakeCricketGreatAgain.”
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24th over: England 130-2 (Root 24, Brook 26) Something has given. Brook breaks the shackles by hitting consecutive balls from Kamindu Mendis for six. The first was an effortless drive over extra cover, the second a withering pull when Mendis pulled his length back. And with that, his strike rate jumps to 96.
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23rd over: England 117-2 (Root 24, Brook 13) Brook fails to put away a full toss from Madushanka, then misses a dab outside off stump. Brook has a strike-rate of 57, and something is surely about to give.
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22nd over: England 115-2 (Root 23, Brook 12) A change of left-arm spinner, with Kamindu Mendis on for Wellalage. Four from the over. It’s a bit of a struggle for England just now, Brook in particular; he has 12 from 19 balls with no boundaries. What hell kinda Harry Brook innings is this?
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21st over: England 111-2 (Root 22, Brook 9) The left-arm quick Madushanka returns. He goes round the wicket in an attempt to cramp the two right-handers, a tactic that works effectively to Root in that over.
Madushanka also has an unsuccessful LBW review when Root flicks across the line. The angle meant it was always going to miss leg stump, so Sri Lanka lose a review.
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