Harry Brook feels the pressure of facing Sri Lanka in a decider will help England, after they lost by 16 runs at Headingley to leave their three-match ODI series poised at 1-1.

England were hoping to wrap up a series victory with a match to spare on Thursday, but instead, they failed to chase down a target of 322 to win.

The hosts had looked to be cruising towards that total following big scores from openers Tom Banton (73) and Ben Duckett (67), as they were left needing 68 from 75 balls.

But Jos Buttler, who was also scoring highly, then appeared to injure his hamstring and made way for Rehan Ahmed (0), Gus Atkinson (16) and Jamie Overton (2), none of whom were able to make a real dent in the target.

Buttler eventually re-emerged with England requiring 19 from the final over, but he was hardly able to move and from his first ball back, he smacked Kusal Mendis' delivery straight to Dilshan Madushanka at deep midwicket, hobbling off for 69 from 49 balls.

Visiting skipper Mendis had earlier plundered 121 off 100 deliveries – his seventh ODI ton and his fourth-highest score in the format – to help set a defendable total for Sri Lanka, who got three wickets for the loss of 49 runs from Dunith Wellalage during the England chase, which was stunted at 305-9.

The teams will now reconvene at The Oval on Sunday, with the series in the balance, but England captain Brook was in no mood to rue a missed opportunity.

"It was an outstanding game, a lot of fun to be a part of," he said afterwards. "There are so many areas we could look back on and dwell on, but that's not what this team does. 

We fall short at Headingley, focus now shifts to Sunday pic.twitter.com/LNVTz7QTfd

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 24, 2026

"We go back to the drawing board for The Oval. We put up a good fight with the ball, they got off to a decent start. To pull it back to 320 and have a chance to chase that down was a good effort. 

"The lads got off to a flyer, the way Bants and Ducky played, you couldn't ask for more. In the middle we stalled a bit, but the fight we showed, and the way that Jos came back out, it was brilliant. 

"You always want to win games but it [the decider] a great opportunity, in pressure situations, you see where you are as a team."