LONDON (AP) — Opener Tom Banton’s first international century paved the way for England to cap a turbulent summer of cricket with a series-clinching thrashing of Sri Lanka on Sunday.
Banton hit 126 in 105 balls to set his side on course for a huge 223-run win at The Oval, sealing a 2-1 victory in the one-day international series.
Click to Gallery
England mentor Kevin Pietersen is interviewed ahead of the third one day international cricket match between England and Sri Lanka, at The Kia Oval, in London, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (Nigel French/PA via AP)
England's Sonny Baker catches out Sri Lanka's Dunith Wellalage during the third one day international cricket match between England and Sri Lanka in London, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (Nigel French/PA via AP)
Sri Lanka's Janith Liyanage celebrates taking the wicket of England's Joe Root during the third one day international cricket match between England and Sri Lanka in London, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (Nigel French/PA via AP)
England's Tom Banton celebrates hitting a century during the third one day international cricket match between England and Sri Lanka in London, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (Nigel French/PA via AP)
A general view of England players and staff during a nets session in London, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. (Ben Whitley/PA via AP)
“To score a hundred for England is the best feeling on earth, I don’t think anything is going to beat it," Banton said.
England won the series-opening ODI at Chester-Le-Street on Tuesday by 89 runs. Sri Lanka evened the series two days later in Leeds with a 16-run victory that made this season-ending clash a decider.
England finished on a high Sunday to conclude a campaign that will be otherwise remembered for Ben Stokes ’ shock retirement and Brendon McCullum’s removal as test head coach.
Banton scored 70 of the first 108 runs to outshine more experienced teammates, cementing his claims to be part of the new chapter of English cricket that is now unfolding.
The same is true of Jordan Cox, stepping in for the injured Jos Buttler, who saw England to an imposing total of 355-7 with a 52-ball knock of 76 in his first one-day appearance in two years. Captain Harry Brook, who won the toss and chose to bat, scored 77 in 66.
Sri Lanka slid to 132 all out with 20 overs unused after its dangerous top three folded, including captain Kusal Mendis (35). Banton played his role in that dismissal, catching Mendis off a delivery from pacer Gus Atkinson (2-26 in five overs).
England made three changes from its defeat at Headingley, with Cox replacing Jos Buttler while Liam Dawson and Sonny Baker came in for Josh Tongue and Rehan Ahmed.
Sri Lanka were unchanged.
See AP’s full cricket coverage here
England mentor Kevin Pietersen is interviewed ahead of the third one day international cricket match between England and Sri Lanka, at The Kia Oval, in London, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (Nigel French/PA via AP)
England's Sonny Baker catches out Sri Lanka's Dunith Wellalage during the third one day international cricket match between England and Sri Lanka in London, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (Nigel French/PA via AP)
Sri Lanka's Janith Liyanage celebrates taking the wicket of England's Joe Root during the third one day international cricket match between England and Sri Lanka in London, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (Nigel French/PA via AP)
England's Tom Banton celebrates hitting a century during the third one day international cricket match between England and Sri Lanka in London, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (Nigel French/PA via AP)
A general view of England players and staff during a nets session in London, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. (Ben Whitley/PA via AP)
CHICLAYO, Peru (AP) — If the “popemania” that has taken over Peru’s capital is any indication, Pope Leo XIV is in for quite a welcome party when he arrives in his beloved former diocese of Chiclayo on Friday.
Chiclayo, population 700,000, is the commercial hub of Peru’s northern Pacific coast. But much of the world heard about it on the night of Leo’s election, May 8, 2025, when he gave Chiclayo a shoutout, in Spanish, from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.
And on Friday, Chiclayo is welcoming its former shepherd home.
“I’m so glad he’s returning,” said Rolando Antonio Mendoza, who was selling posters bearing the pope's image in front of the cathedral where Leo used to celebrate Mass. “Even though he’s now Pope Leo XIV, he hasn’t forgotten about his homeland.”
Church organizers say as many as a million people could turn out for Leo’s first big Mass in Peru, being held Friday morning on a massive field outside Chiclayo.
The former Robert Prevost spent two decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru and credits the place and its people with teaching him how to be a shepherd. Pope Francis sent the Chicago-born Augustinian to take over as bishop of Chiclayo in 2014 and he stayed until Francis summoned him to Rome in 2023 to run the Vatican's bishops' office.
In hindsight, the 2023 transfer to Rome signaled that Francis saw in Prevost a potential successor, since the job is one of the most important in the church and would give Prevost the Vatican experience that many consider necessary to be a viable contender for the papacy.
But Prevost's heart is in Chiclayo, where he remains beloved for championing social justice issues and for his closeness to the people, especially poor people, during times of crisis. And he had quite a few during his tenure: COVID-19, devastating floods, and a surge of Venezuelan migrants as the humanitarian situation worsened there in 2018.
“Chiclayo is a party,” said Rocio Zena, who remembered how Prevost helped her when she lost her family home in the 2023 floods. “We’re overjoyed to welcome the Holy Father with so much faith. He arrives, no longer as Prevost but as Leo XIV. And he’s coming home.”
In town, the El Trebol restaurant proudly calls itself the restaurant of the pope and his image is displayed in framed photos of Prevost riding a horse, wading through the mud in rubber boots and celebrating his birthday with a cake.
A sign on his favorite table — No. 3 — with a view of the cathedral, reads: “mesa bendita” – Spanish for blessed table. Like many other places around the city, the restaurant sells “Papaletas” or “Pop(e)sicles with Leo's image in white chocolate.
Just a few steps from the restaurant, a life-size cardboard cutout of the pope now welcomes visitors to his former residence at the diocese, where an exhibit displays the amaranth purple, scarlet and white zucchettos, or skullcaps, that he wore as bishop, cardinal and now pope.
“I feel so happy about my work because the pope is Chiclayano,” said Cynthia Charrary, who was sweeping the streets near the city’s main square ahead of Leo’s arrival. “We want our city to be cleaner than ever.”
Ever since Leo touched down on Peruvian soil on Wednesday, the world has seen a very different pope.
Normally reserved and placid, the 71-year-old Leo has seemed at turns positively giddy and overwhelmed with emotion to the point of tears.
That was certainly the case on Thursday night when some 60,000 young Peruvians sang for him in the Lima stadium. It was also the case when he sang the national anthem at the presidential palace upon his arrival on Wednesday.
Leo has also sung along with popular songs and hymns, tapping his fingers to the beat on an armchair.
On other occasions, he has shown himself so relaxed and comfortable as to joke about his health. Speaking to Peruvian bishops, he joked about how some “doubting Thomases” didn’t think he’d make it because of his recent lung cancer surgery.
After the Mass, Leo's other main events of the day include a meeting with Chiclayo clergy and seminarians and a speech to the Catholic university where he served as chancellor during his years as bishop. The university is named for the 16th-century first archbishop of Lima, St. Turibius de Mogrovejo.
Leo is particularly devoted to Mogrovejo and in many ways modeled his ministry on his.
Mogrovejo is revered for having traveled long distances on horseback to be with his flock and for having defended the rights of Indigenous and enslaved peoples. He studied Quechua and Aymara and oversaw the printing of church teaching in these Indigenous languages, because he believed the faith had to be transmitted in a language people could understand.
The Rev. John Lydon, an Augustinian who lived with Leo in Peru for over 10 years, says his commitment to Peruvians, human rights and involving the lay faithful in the running of church initiatives was born during his stints first as a young missionary priest in Chulucanas, then Trujillo and finally as bishop in Chiclayo.
Lydon recalled that when Leo first arrived in Peru in the mid-1980s, during the period of the Shining Path terror campaign and the authoritarian Fujimori regime’s crackdown, then-Rev. Prevost led a campaign to collect signatures to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“These are the kind of things that just mark his identity,” Lydon recalled.
———
Winfield reported from Lima, Peru
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
A cutout of Pope Leo XIV is displayed outside a restaurant in Chiclayo, Peru, where the pontiff served as bishop, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
People take a selfie with a sign of Pope Leo XIV in Chiclayo, Peru, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Faithful cheer during a prayer vigil led by Pope Leo XIV at the National Stadium in Lima, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV leaves at the end of a prayer vigil at the National Stadium in Lima, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV catches a stuffed lion as he arrives to lead a prayer vigil at the National Stadium in Lima, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
