Mendis ton powers Sri Lanka to level ODI series against England 1-1

Sri Lanka beat hosts England by 16 runs in the second ODI, levelling the three-match series 1-1. England had won the first match, but Sri Lanka staged a strong comeback in the second game to seal the win.

Batting first, Sri Lanka piled up 321 runs in their 50 overs. Wicketkeeper-batter Kusal Mendis struck a century to power the team to the big total, smashing 121 runs off just 100 balls. His innings gave Sri Lanka a total that proved too much for England to chase down.

Chasing 322, England's batters fought hard and did not give up easily, but they fell short in the end, losing the match by 16 runs.

Mendis's century puts him in an elite list of wicketkeeper-batters with top performances for Sri Lanka in international cricket. He became only the eighth wicketkeeper-batter in the world to score an ODI century against England on English soil, meaning only seven players had achieved the feat before him.

Australia's Adam Gilchrist was the first wicketkeeper-batter to score an ODI century against England in England, doing so at The Oval in 2005. Australia's Tim Paine followed with the feat at Nottingham in 2009. Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara has done it twice, first at The Oval in 2013 and then at Lord's in 2014. Pakistan's Sarfaraz Ahmed achieved it at Lord's in 2016, while Australia's Alex Carey did so at Manchester in 2020. India's Rishabh Pant scored a century against England at Manchester in 2022. Kusal Mendis's name has now been added to that list after his century at Leeds in 2026.

With both teams having won one match each in the series so far, the third and final match will now be the decider, with the winner taking the series.