Top 5 Sri Lanka vs England encounters

#3 Lord's 2014, Sri Lanka won by 7 runs

England v Sri Lanka - 4th ODI: Royal London One-Day Series

It was a year where England were confused. Shell-shocked from the disaster of the 2013/14 Ashes, not quite recovered from the thunderbolts of Mitchell Johnson, they went into their shell as a means of over-compensation. While Sri Lanka were on one of the best runs of their cricketing history, England were batting Gary Ballance at number three and tossing the ball to Joe Root as their first change bowler.

Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan set things up brilliantly for Sri Lanka, the former scoring an imperious 112(104) at the Home of Cricket, having previously scored his first Test hundred there earlier the summer. A late comeback by England thanks to now forgotten pacer Harry Gurney restricted Sri Lanka to 300.

England, in their chase, were thrown into the abyss by Lasith Malinga whose fiery opening spell made sure they lost their way early in the pursuit, crawling to 5/111 in 28 overs. Out came Jos Buttler, and with him the pyromaniacs. He blinded the Sri Lankan bowlers with an all-out attack, scoring the then fastest hundred by an Englishman (61 balls), taking them to 12 runs shy of victory in the last over.

As if for a brilliant script's anti-climax, Malinga sent in dipping yorkers at ease, giving only four off the last over, ensuring another heartbreak for England.