Ball dominates bat as England claim the series in rain-affected match

Sri Lanka’s batting line-up failed to impress once again as England survived a potential scare to win the T20I series 2-0 in Cardiff.

With Mickey Arthur’s side only putting 129 runs on the board in the series opener, it couldn’t get any worse for the Sri Lankan batsmen, could it? Kusal Perera opted to bring in Niroshan Dickwella in place of Dhananjaya de Silva and replace Nuwan Pradeep with Binura Fernando for a first T20I appearance in six years for the latter.

They once again failed to make use of the powerplay with a combination of soft dismissals and mistimed shots contributing to a modest total of just 111/7 from 20 overs. As a matter of fact, only two of the visitors’ batsmen found the rope.

Danushka Gunathilaka’s dismissal was a sign of things to come. The opener attempted to steal a single that was never really available, with Sam Curran producing a right-footed effort which crashed into the stumps to take the first wicket of the game. Curran has now staked a claim for a place in Gareth Southgate’s squad for Tuesday’s Euro 2020 clash with Germany.

Sri Lanka had to wait until the seventh over before Kusal Mendis hit their first boundary, with his 39 runs the only respectable knock from his side’s innings.

Skipper Perera failed to get going and fell after attempting to reverse sweep Adil Rashid. Mendis was the next man out as he top-edged into the hands of Jonny Bairstow who took an impressive catch off the bowling of Mark Wood.

Wood found himself on a hat-trick as he drew Niroshan Dickwella into a leading-edge which found Eoin Morgan at cover, and he almost became the first Englishman in T20I’s to take three wickets in as many balls after Wanindu Hasaranga almost feathered through to Bairstow.

Following his half-century last time out, Dasun Shanaka failed to pick up from where he left off as he picked out David Willey at long-on. Sri Lanka only managed to pass the 100 mark thanks to a pair of boundaries in the final over from Isuru Udana.

Morgan was forced to move Bairstow into an opening role after Buttler suffered a calf injury during his Man of the Match performance on Wednesday night. The Yorkshireman failed to make the most of the opportunity as he was bowled by the impressive Fernando for a second-ball duck.

England continued to stutter with Dawid Malan the next to go with Hawkeye suggesting that Dushmantha Chameera inswinging delivery was hitting leg-stump. The England captain, Eoin Morgan, is usually so convincing when playing shots on the off-side, but with width on offer, he found the hands of Hasaranga at backward point.

Hasaranga continued to impress with the ball and he put England in serious bother by tempting Jason Roy into a slog down the ground which was comfortably caught by Shanaka at long-on.

That wicket brought Sam Billings – who replaced Buttler – and Liam Livingstone together at the crease. Two men who are looking to seal their place in the squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup later this year.

They went about their business in a professional manner with a number of well-placed shots allowing for quick one’s and two’s, which eventually put England in a position of comfort before the rain began to come down.

Thankfully, only two overs were lost to the bad weather with DLS calculating that the hosts were to make 34 runs from 36 balls. The contest was somewhat put to bed when the skilful Livingstone produced a remarkable ramp shot that cleared the rope and put his side within 17 runs of victory.

Billings would have been disappointed to not finish the job off after he dragged on to give Hasaranga a second wicket, but a six from Curran brought proceedings to a close with England inevitably chasing down a score that was never big enough no matter how well Sri Lanka bowled.

It was an another important night for Livingstone who showed maturity and quality with the bat after proving his capabilities with the ball on Wednesday. He was deservedly named Man of the Match and looks set to keep Moeen Ali out the side which is a testament to the Lancashire all-rounder’s form.

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