SL vs ENG

England tour of Sri Lanka · 1st T20I

Recent overs

Ov 15
021W11
5 runs
Ov 14
014000
5 runs
Ov 12
010610141211
18 runs
Ov 11
210010
4 runs

Commentary

11:45 PM local time and IST: Right then, that is the end of this first T20I with England claiming a 1-0 lead with two matches to go. We will be back at the same venue after a day's gap for the second match. Make sure you join us for that. For now, this is Sourabh Agrawal signing off from Team Sportskeeda. See you soon!
MATCH SUMMARY

England (125/4 in 15 overs) beat Sri Lanka (133 all-out in 16.2 overs) by 11 runs via DLS method

Phil Salt 46(35) | Adil Rashid 3/19(4)
Kusal Mendis 37(20) | Eshan Malinga 2/24(2)

The rain has had the final say but that has not prevented England from taking the honors in this first match of the 3-match T20 series as the visitors kick off their T20 WC preperations with a comfortable win.

This win was bulit up on the base of a strong all-round bowling performance from England who bundled out the hosts after rain forced the contest to be shortened to a 17-overs a side affair.

Adil Rashid spun a web around Sri Lanka's batters but the headlines will belong to Sam Curran who became just the second Englishman to take a T20I hat-trick as he came back at the death after being smashed around in the powerplay to claim a stunning hat-trick which saw the conclusion of Sri Lanka's incredible slip-up from 75/1 to 133 all-out.

Once that was done, England never really had any problems in the run chase. Salt started the chase with a six off the first ball, got 14 from Theekshana's first over which was also the first over of the chase.

Buttler hit Malinga for four fours in a row before getting undone by a slower ball but by then England had raced to 36 inside the 3rd over. Banton (29 off 15) played a breezy cameo while Salt held the innings together after his rapid start. In the end, Brook remained not out on 16* with Curran (1*) who had just arrived before the heavens opened up.

For Sri Lanka, Matheesha Pathirana was the pick of the bowlers and he bowled thunderbolts with precision which troubled the English batters but he neither had enough support nor enough runs to make a match out of this.
11:32 PM local time and IST: That finished pretty quickly, the players are shaking hands which means that it will be the end of the contest and England have won by 11 runs on the account of DLS. The whole ground has been covered with those blue covers again and the umpires have deemed that we do not have more time to wait for the rain to stop and then do the mop-ups all over again.
11:27 PM local time and IST: Well, well, the rain has made an appearance again. It is coming down pretty hard here and the players are coming off the field. England batters are more than happy to trudge off, the DLS par score at this stage is 114/4 which means England are 11 runs ahead which means England will be the winners if there is no more action.
Just 9 more needed now for England, 12 balls remaining!
15Ov125/4Score
021W115 runs
Sam Curran*2 (2)
Harry Brook15 (17)
Dasun Shanaka1/12
14.6 Dasun Shanaka to Harry Brook, another slower one, back of a length at the pads, clipped away to deep mid-wicket for a single
14.5 Dasun Shanaka to Sam Curran, full and slow, Curran drives down past the stumps at the other end with a straight bat. Gets off the mark with one
Sam Curran batting at 6th position
Phil Salt has been dismissed for 46 runs off 35 balls
14.4 Dasun Shanaka to Phil Salt, FINALLY TAKEN, Salt's innings comes to an end but that could be too little too late for Sri Lanka! Pace off from Shanaka, full around off, Salt wanted to smack that downtown over the fence but could not get enough on it. Wellalage, the sub fielder, ran in from long-on and completed the catch diving to his front.
14.3 Dasun Shanaka to Harry Brook, pace off, 105 kph, on a length at the stumps, Brook moves away to the leg side and punches this one away to deep cover for one
14.2 Dasun Shanaka to Harry Brook, banged into the surface, pulled between deep square leg and deep mid-wicket for a couple of runs
14.1 Dasun Shanaka to Harry Brook, full slower ball outside off dips in front of Brook, he gets the outside edge towards short third man. No run
Dasun Shanaka [1.0-0-7-0] is back into the attack
14Ov120/3Score
0140005 runs
Phil Salt*46 (34)
Harry Brook12 (14)
Matheesha Pathirana1/18
13.6 Matheesha Pathirana to Phil Salt, OHH, very close to the leg stump again. Salt moves a long way across again exposing the leg stump and this time Pathirana targets it with the pace off delivery, goes past the pads and just about escapes the target
13.5 Matheesha Pathirana to Phil Salt, slowe short ball outside off, Salt looks to get up and under that one, gets no bat on it
13.4 Matheesha Pathirana to Phil Salt, backs away to off again, this time Pathirana targets the leg pole with the searing yorker. Just misses it and it in not a wide
13.3 Matheesha Pathirana to Phil Salt, SALT RUBS WOUNDS INTO SRI LANKA'S WOUNDS! Gets a full ball, gets a touch across and drills it to long-on's left who had no chance