England Beat Sri Lanka by 55 Runs as Duckett Hits 167

England finally have a win to take home from Pakistan. Ben Duckett's career-best 167 powered England to 386 for 5, and Liam Dawson's career-best 4 for 49 broke Sri Lanka's brave chase, as England beat Sri Lanka by 55 runs in the final league match of the Pakistan ODI Tri-Series 2026 at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, on Thursday, October 29. The result was a dead rubber in terms of qualification — both finalists were already known — but it was anything but meaningless: it ended England's three-match losing run, denied Sri Lanka a third straight win, and gave Pakistan one last scouting report before Saturday's final.

The trophy match is now set in stone. Pakistan, who finished top of the group with three wins, meet Sri Lanka in the final at the same ground on Saturday, October 31, at 1:00 PM PKT. England, despite scoring 386 and 429 in two of their four games, finish bottom of the three-team table with a single win — a sobering footnote to a series full of runs.

Scorecard: England 386 for 5 beat Sri Lanka 331 all out

Team	Score	Overs	Top scorer	Best bowler
England	386 for 5	50	Ben Duckett 167 (132 balls)	Asitha Fernando 2 for 63
Sri Lanka	331 all out	45.1	Pavan Rathnayake 118 (77 balls)	Liam Dawson 4 for 49

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bowl first, backing a chasing record that had already produced two wins in this tournament. This time, though, the target grew too big, and the chase died in the 45th over when Dawson removed the man who had kept it alive.

Duckett's Lahore masterclass: 167 off 132 balls

Ben Duckett loves batting at Gaddafi Stadium, and he proved it again. His 167 off 132 balls, with 24 fours, is the highest score of his ODI career, beating the 165 he made against Australia at this same venue in last year's Champions Trophy. He reached his fifty off 46 balls and never really slowed down, driving, cutting and sweeping with the control that has made him England's most reliable batter on this tour.

The opening stand set the tone. Duckett and Tom Banton put on 163 for the first wicket, with Banton making 74 — his fifth fifty-plus score in seven innings on this tour — before dragging an inside edge from Dasun Shanaka onto his own stumps. Banton had survived a scare off the very first ball of the innings, edging Asitha Fernando just short of slip, but after that the pair took England to 62 without loss from the powerplay and never looked back.

Captain Harry Brook then joined Duckett for a second-wicket stand of 107 off just 75 balls. Brook, promoted to number three, made a rapid 44 off 34 balls before being caught and bowled attempting a scoop off Asitha Fernando. Duckett finally fell in the 42nd over, picking out Asitha at short leg while attempting to scoop a full toss from Eshan Malinga. By then England were already past 300, and the late order finished the job: Will Jacks made 30 off 21 balls, Jordan Cox thrashed 43 off 27 before being caught off the final ball of the innings, and Sam Curran finished unbeaten on 21 off 12 deliveries. England added 92 runs in the last ten overs — the kind of finish that had been missing from their earlier defeats.

For Sri Lanka's bowlers it was a punishing day. Asitha Fernando took 2 for 63, but Eshan Malinga's only wicket cost 101 runs from his ten overs, the most expensive figures of the match. On a flat Lahore pitch under lights, there was nowhere to hide once Duckett was set.

Sri Lanka's chase: Rathnayake and Mendis keep it alive

If England's innings was about one man dominating, Sri Lanka's reply was about two men refusing to let the game go. Pavan Rathnayake, who had already made 130 in the famous 430 chase against these same opponents in Rawalpindi last week, made 118 off 77 balls — his third ODI hundred — with 15 fours and a six. He reached his century off 70 balls and lifted Sri Lanka past 300 with five wickets still in hand, at which point another miracle chase looked genuinely possible.

Skipper Kusal Mendis gave him superb support with 89 off 71 balls, including five sixes and eight fours, after recovering from his bat snapping early in his innings. Mendis added 84 for the second wicket with Avishka Fernando, who made a quickfire 48, and then 80 off just 59 balls for the third wicket with Rathnayake. When Mendis fell to Joe Root, caught behind off a faint touch on a sweep, Sri Lanka were still well in the game at 177 for 3.

Rathnayake then added a 72-run stand for the fifth wicket with Janith Liyanage, and with 87 needed from the last ten overs, Sri Lanka were on course for another upset. But this England side had learned the lesson of Rawalpindi, where they watched 430 defended by nobody. This time they held their nerve — and their catches — when it mattered.

Dawson's turning point: 4 for 49, career best

Liam Dawson was the bowler who changed the match. The left-arm spinner finished with career-best figures of 4 for 49 from his ten overs, and his wickets read like a list of Sri Lanka's hopes: Avishka Fernando, caught on the boundary to end the 84-run second-wicket stand; Dasun Shanaka, trapped lbw for four after a successful review; and, decisively, Rathnayake himself, top-edging a miscued sweep to short fine leg in the 45th over.

Sonny Baker, England's only change from the previous game after replacing Jamie Overton, played his part too, finishing with 2 for 75. Baker had dropped Avishka on five off a tough diving chance, but redeemed himself immediately by bowling Kamindu Mendis for four in the following over, and later broke the Rathnayake-Liyanage stand. Henry Crocombe, Joe Root and Sam Curran took one wicket each, and Sri Lanka's tail folded fast: after Rathnayake's dismissal, the last three wickets fell in six deliveries, with Dunith Wellalage run out in a calamitous mix-up that saw him sacrifice himself to save his partner. Sri Lanka were all out for 331 in 45.1 overs, with 29 balls unused.

Player of the match Duckett was typically understated afterwards, crediting the Lahore pitches and Banton's freedom at the top of the order for taking pressure off him. Captain Harry Brook praised an "exceptional" finish, saying his side had learned from the Rawalpindi defeat: "We had a clear plan and a lot of clarity with the bowlers. The lads have learned a hell of a lot and to finish off the game like we did there was an exceptional effort." Brook was honest about the wider picture too: England had wanted to be in Saturday's final, but would take confidence from the series despite ending on the wrong side of three results.

What this means for Saturday's final: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka

For Pakistan fans, today's game matters most for what it reveals about Saturday. First, the good news for the hosts: Sri Lanka are beatable when a team posts a big total and holds its nerve in the field — England have just shown it, on the same ground where the final will be played. Second, the warning: Rathnayake is now the form batter of the tournament, with two hundreds against England in eight days, and Kusal Mendis is striking the ball beautifully. Pakistan's bowlers, who dismissed Sri Lanka for just 110 at this ground on Tuesday only to watch them post 331 today, know both versions of this Sri Lankan side.

Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson, speaking to PCB Digital at the team's training session at the LCCA Ground in Lahore on Thursday, struck a confident note ahead of the decider. "It's been a pretty good couple of weeks. We have played some decent cricket without being perfect. To get three wins in a row without contributions from a few of our key players is a good sign," Hesson said. "I still don't think we have played our best game yet. Hopefully, we are saving that for the final." He backed the senior players to stand up in the high-stakes fixture, calling the side's ability to win without big top-order contributions an encouraging sign.

The head-to-head in this series is now perfectly poised at one win each: Pakistan won the opener by 37 runs in Rawalpindi on October 18, thanks to Salman Ali Agha's century, while Sri Lanka won the Lahore rematch by eight wickets on October 27 after bowling Pakistan out for 110. The final is a fresh game, but the psychological edge has swung twice in two weeks — and Saturday will decide which swing mattered.

Final group table and full series results

Team	Played	Won	Lost	Points
Pakistan	4	3	1	6
Sri Lanka	4	2	2	4
England	4	1	3	2

Series results so far: October 18 — Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 37 runs (Rawalpindi); October 20 — Pakistan beat England by 87 runs (Rawalpindi); October 22 — Sri Lanka beat England by two wickets, chasing 430 (Rawalpindi); October 25 — Pakistan beat England by one wicket (Lahore); October 27 — Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by eight wickets (Lahore); October 29 — England beat Sri Lanka by 55 runs (Lahore).

Final: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, Saturday, October 31, 1:00 PM PKT, Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

England's takeaway: a win, but a tour to forget

England leave Pakistan with one win from four games, and that will sting. They scored 429 and lost, scored 241 and lost, lost a game they had all but won against Pakistan in Lahore, and finally won a game that could not change their fate. But Brook's side can point to genuine positives: Duckett's form, Banton's emergence at the top of the order, Brook's own double century in Rawalpindi, and a bowling attack that finally defended a total under pressure. Next up for England is a 50-over warm-up against a Western Australia XI in Perth on November 7, before ODI and T20 series against Australia — and the lessons of this tri-series, about defending totals and closing out chases, will travel with them.

For Sri Lanka, the defeat changes nothing about Saturday but plenty about how they approach it. They cannot afford to treat the final as a repeat of Tuesday's stroll: Pakistan will not be bowled out for 110 twice in a week, and a final brings its own pressure. What they can take from today is that their middle order fights — Rathnayake and Mendis again proved that — and that their bowlers, after one bad day, need to rediscover the discipline that destroyed Pakistan two days earlier.

And for Pakistan, the equation is beautifully simple. Win on Saturday, in front of a home crowd in Lahore, and the tri-series is theirs — the perfect answer to the 110 collapse, and the perfect end to a home series that has already given fans a 37-run win, an 87-run win, and a one-wicket miracle. Lose, and Sri Lanka will have beaten them twice in five days to lift the trophy. Everything is on the line at Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Images are illustrative Wikimedia Commons photographs of Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore — not photographs of today's match. Credits: Gaddafi Stadium at Night (CC BY-SA 4.0, Younisjunejo); Gaddafi Stadium during PSL 2026 (CC0); Pakistan vs Australia at Gaddafi Stadium 2022 (CC BY-SA 4.0). Sources: Sky Sports, The News (AFP), CricTracker, ESPNcricinfo scorecard, Geo Super.