England spinners set up dramatic win as Sri Lanka collapse
In the space of five days, Sri Lanka have suffered two alarming batting collapses as they finish their last series before the T20 World Cup with a 3-0 defeat to England. For large parts of the game on Tuesday, Sri Lanka were primed to deny England a clean sweep as they restricted the visitors to 128/9. The batters however, didn't turn up well enough to push for that finish as they fell from 62/2 to 116 allout.
On a worn out pitch in Pallekele, where this was the third T20I of the series, England were perhaps not out of contention despite their small total. Luke Wood gave England just the start they needed, by dismissing opener Kamil Mishara for a duck in the opening over. A 14-run fourth over from Jamie Overton got the ball rolling for Sri Lanka though, as Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis looked to move on. Liam Dawson put an end to that in the fifth over when a ball turned away sharply to get Nissanka to toe-end a shot to cover.
Mendis and Pavan Rathnayake finished the PowerPlay well with a nine-run over but were both tied down by Adil Rashid and Jacob Bethell at the start of the middle-overs. Rashid then bowled a fabulous googly to beat Rathnayake and rattle his stumps to kickstart a dramatic collapse. Harry Brook looked to maximise the turning conditions and brought on Will Jacks next, who struck on the first ball. That however, came with a stroke of luck as Mendis top-edged a sweep against a ball bowled down the leg.
Sri Lanka pushed to 90/4 in 13 overs and still looked favourites to pull the chase off, but Jacks kept England interested by trapping Kamindu Mendis leg before and then had Janith Liyanage slog sweep to the deep square leg fielder in his next over, reducing the hosts to 97/6. Dunith Wellalage and Dasun Shanaka dragged the team past the 100-run mark but a triple-wicket over from Bethell turned the tide violently. First, Jos Buttler took a good low catch to send Wellalage packing, next Dushmantha Chammera mistimed his drive to Brook at cover and then Shanaka was stumped off a big-turning ball. Bethell picked his fourth wicket of the evening in the 20th over, off Maheesh Theekshana, to complete England's incredible victory.
Before Bethell and Jacks could spin their side to a win, it took a fighting fifty from Sam Curran to push England to a total that looked remotely defendable. It got to Curran because the top-order had been wiped out early and the middle was wobbly too. Dushmantha Chameera, who finished with a fifer, picked a wicket in the first over, getting the ball to shape in sharply to trap Ben Duckett leg before.
It needed a bowling-side review to send the opener packing for a duck. Matheesha Pathirana made use of the conditions to deceive Jacob Bethell with a slower one that the batter edged to Kusal Mendis behind the stumps. Dunith Wellalage picked the third wicket of the PowerPlay, cleaning up Tom Banton by bowling slower through the air while Pathirana wrapped up a solid start with a fourth wicket in the sixth over - Harry Brook didn't see the off-cutter coming and mistimed a big shot to extra cover. England struggled to 35/4 in 6 overs, and continued to hurtle downwards in the middle-overs.
Buttler attempted to pull his side out of the rut but was bowled by Theekshana. Curran began to fire-fight from this point on, even as he continued to run out of batting partners. Chameera returned in the 11th over to dismiss Jacks. Curran and Dawson swung for the fences, getting a few fours, and added 47 runs for the seventh wicket to take the team past 100 runs.
They were still primed to get to a bigger total. But once again Chameera came back to dent England, this time with a double-wicket over - with wickets of Dawson and Overton. Curran carried on, got his fifty in the 19th over and peeled off a couple more fours before becoming Chameera's fifth wicket. A 10-run final over dragged England to 128/9, which surprisingly proved to be enough on the day.
Brief Scores: England 128/9 in 20 overs (Sam Curran 58; Dushmantha Chameera 5-24, Matheesha Pathirana 2-27) beat Sri Lanka 116 in 19.3 overs (Kusal Mendis 26; Jacob Bethell 4-11, Will Jacks 3-14) by 12 runs
