Key on England captain Morgan: "It's probably the best I have seen him play for a long time."
Wednesday 24 October 2018 18:54, UK
Rob Key grades England's players out of 10 after the 3-1 victory in Sri Lanka, their ninth bilateral ODI series win in a row.
The rain severely hampered Eoin Morgan's men with all five one-day internationals affected - but there were still some star turns, from the skipper, in particular, who ended the series with an average of 195, following two half-centuries and three not-outs from four innings.
Read Rob's ratings below...
I'm giving Morgan 8.5 out of 10 as it's probably the best I have seen him play for a long time. He seems to be calm and composed and is playing spin better than he has done for a while. Joe Root gets 7/10 as he always seems to get in and post a score.
I'll give Jason Roy and Bairstow 7/10 each. They haven't had much of a go because of the rain but Roy looked good without going on to get that one big score. He also looked like he could play left-arm spin at times.
Alex Hales gets 5/10 as it wasn't easy for him coming in for the injured Bairstow. He hadn't played since the Vitality Blast quarter-final for Nottinghamshire against Somerset in August.
Ben Stokes is getting 7/10 - no one works harder than him at the moment. He was probably working too hard considering the heat and conditions in Sri Lanka and how he struggled in the final game. It's 6/10 for Jos Buttler. He kept pretty well but only faced 27 balls all trip.
Moeen Ali was very decent with the ball and gets 7/10. Most of the time he out-bowled the Sri Lankan spinners but, again, he did not get much of an opportunity with the bat. It's 7/10 for Chris Woakes, as well, who was excellent with the new ball.
High marks for Adil Rashid with 8/10 - he is at the top of his game and England will have a mystery spinner at the World Cup full of confidence.
I've given Olly Stone 7/10 - he started with a bang, is very promising and I think he will learn quickly - and Tom Curran 7/10 also as he impressed with his slower ball and death bowling.
Liam Plunkett, Mark Wood and Sam Curran only got one game so I am giving them all 5. Hopefully Wood's longer run-up gets him back bowling how he was a couple of years ago as he has really struggled with injuries.
Liam Dawson also gets 5/10 - he had just the two games before he had to go home injured.
England return to action in Colombo on Saturday for a one-off Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka. Watch live from 2pm on Sky Sports Cricket (channel 404).
