Harry Brook made the fastest double century in the history of one-day international cricket on Thursday and ended the evening bottom of a three-team series.
England's captain, 27, reached two hundred from 114 deliveries, passing the previous mark of 117 balls set by India's Shubman Gill. He finished on 202 from 116 balls, the highest individual one-day score by an Englishman, eclipsing the 182 held until now by Ben Stokes. The match was reported by Reuters, in an account carried by ABC News.
England posted 429 for 4. Sri Lanka chased 430, and got there with two wickets and one ball to spare.
That chase is the second highest in the history of the format, behind only South Africa's pursuit of 435 against Australia in 2006.
Pavan Rathnayake top-scored for Sri Lanka with 130 from 106 deliveries. The opener Avishka Fernando and Dasun Shanaka both fell three runs short of centuries.
Needing six runs from the final two deliveries, Sri Lanka won when Janith Liyanage hit Josh Tongue over long-off for six.
"Unfortunately, it [the record] doesn't matter now. I thought we were going to be in a good position but, unfortunately, it doesn't even count," Brook said afterwards.
"You don't see many teams chase down 430 and hats off to Sri Lanka. They've played exceptionally well. We couldn't execute our skills enough with the ball and, again, they've just played an absolute blinder there," he added.
The defeat leaves England bottom of the standings, having lost both their matches. Brook said they need to win their next two games to reach the final in Lahore.
The captain's assessment deserves to be taken at its word, because it is the one claim of the evening that the records contradict.
The record does count. It is the fastest double century in the format and will be printed as such for as long as the format exists. The defeat also counts, and will be printed for as long as the table does. Both entries were made on the same afternoon, by the same scorers, and neither is conditional on the other.
Cricket keeps two ledgers. One records what players did. The other records who won. They are compiled from the same hours of play, they are both permanent, and they do not consult each other at any stage.
There is no column in which an innings may be marked as not counting. A scorecard offers runs, balls, boundaries and the manner of dismissal, and nothing else. The field for whether it mattered has never been printed.
The Department of Unnecessary Research accepts that the two ledgers may disagree, and notes that the only method known to keep a record out of the book is for somebody else to score more runs, which Sri Lanka achieved by scoring one.
The fastest double century in one-day cricket is therefore held by a man who says it does not exist, and the book has no way to record his objection.