By Leonard Ratnayake in Cardiff, Wales
Picture courtesy : Sesatha UK
England cruised to victory by 8 wickets to make the needed 130 runs in the 18th over of their first encounter of the three match Vitality T20 series against Sri Lanka by wickets at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff Wales on Wednesday.
Adding glamour to a spectacle, there were fireballs in every over of the English innings as their openers Jason Roy and Jos Buttler scored boundaries to partner for 80 runs for the first wicket. Roy was brilliantly caught by Danushka Gunatillake at mid-off for 36 off Dushmantha Chameera who took the first wicket to fall in the English camp.
Buttler scored his fifty although not his quickest but in 38 balls as England’s total surpassed 100 in the 12th over. Isuru Udana’s second spell was a bit aggressive and accurate as he removed Dawid Malan for seven. Chameera was denied of his second wicket, when skipper KJP dropped an easy catch to let the Englishmen have the winning run. Buttler was unbeaten on 68 with 8 fours and a six. English innings saw as many as 16 fireballs in 17 overs against Sri Lanka’s 10 in 20 overs
Electing to bat first on a grassy wicket at Sophia Gardens Cricket stadium in Cardiff, Wales, the Sri Lankan batters failed to show any responsibility of playing a good game of cricket against a strong English out-fit. It was rather an array of poor shot selections from Sri Lankan top order batsmen except for skipper Kusal Perera who was trying to build up a decent total in a solitary battle.
Opener Avishka Fernando lofted a delivery from Sam Curran onto mid-off fielder Chris Jordan for a duck in the second over. Danushka Gunatillake who launched well with the bat initially, undid all his good work by misjudging a ball for a hasty shot to the fine leg fielder. He made 19 out of 16 balls with three boundaries.
Deputy Kusal Mendis joining his captain in the middle for the third wicket when the score was at 32 was no exception as he was out LBW trying to sweep a straight ball off Liam Livingstone. Dhananjaya de Silva lived short and spooned the ball to the hands of third man fielder Adil Rashid Ali off Mark Wood.
Skipper Perera followed next trying to accelerate the innings as fell to Rashid for lack of forza to make it to the long on boundary.
Sri Lankans were able to make only 129 in their 20 overs aided by a superb stroke play from Dasun Shanaka, made 50 runs in 44 balls with five boundaries including two sixes before out caught off Sam Curran who finished with two for 25.
Wanindu was the sixth man out caught for seven. Rashid took 2 for 17 with Wood, Livingstone and Jordan chipping in with one each.
Sri Lanka will take on England in their second encounter on Thursday 24th June at the same venue.
England take one-nil lead in the three match series against Sri Lanka.
Be the first to comment