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Sri Lanka vs England, 3rd T20I, England tour of Sri Lanka 2026 - Commentary

ENG
128/9(20)
SL
116(19.3)
PLAYER OF THE MATCH
PLAYER OF THE SERIES
England has completed a perfect 3-0 series sweep, marking their 11th consecutive T20I victory against Sri Lanka. That's a wrap from this series! Both teams will now shift their focus towards the World Cup starting in just a few days. Thank you for watching and goodbye!
Harry Brook: Yeah, that was awesome. It was a great group to be a part of one of the most fun wins I’ve ever had. The way the boys kept fighting and gave everything right until the end was incredible. It was brilliant to be part of such a comeback. I think we’ve shown that we can adapt to different surfaces. Tonight was obviously a tricky wicket to bat on, but the way Sam battled through and got us to a target we felt we could defend was outstanding. Then the way the boys backed the spinners bowling 16 overs of spin against Sri Lanka in their own conditions was an awesome effort. Yeah, definitely. And with the World Cup going to be here as well, every opportunity we get to play in these conditions is really valuable. Hopefully we can take these experiences and carry them forward. Yeah, definitely. It’s been an awesome tour, and hopefully I’ll be able to come back here a few more times.
Dasun Shanaka: Of course, we’re very disappointed. I think we probably could have taken it a bit deeper that’s the one area where we could have done slightly better. Yeah, it was a good contest. There were a lot of positives again today, Chameera bowled really well, Theekshana bowled well too. There are still areas where we didn’t bowl as well as we’d like, but those are things we need to address moving forward. Hopefully, we can get those right ahead of the World Cup. We understand that confidence can be affected, but we can still take positives from this series. At the same time, as a captain, it’s my responsibility to address where we fell short and make sure we improve before the World Cup.
Sam Curran | Player of the Match and Series: Yeah, it was different. Obviously, we knew it was the third time playing on the same wicket, so I always felt that something around 130–135 would be a decent score. We’ve got some amazing spinners, and they made it really tricky. It turned into a really fun game, and we take a lot of confidence from it. Yeah, it was always nice. It shows why we play this game and why we love it—it’s very up and down. Most importantly, though, it’s a fantastic series win. We’re off to Mumbai tomorrow, so the team will be very excited. Yeah, it’s been great. Obviously, it’s nice to be back in the side and contributing. Most importantly, I think we’ve played really well as a team. The confidence is really good, and we’ve all had different roles. We’ve played on very different surfaces—the first two T20s were great wickets, and today was a slower, turning one. We’ve been challenged in so many areas, and I think we should be proud of winning 3–0.
22:31 Local Time, 17:01 GMT, 22:31 IST: England have completed a comprehensive 3-0 series sweep, a clinical performance that leaves Sri Lanka searching for answers. It was a modest score of 128 but England have defended it brilliantly. They managed to win the match because of amazing bowling performances from Jacob Bethell and Will Jacks. Sri Lanka's batters could never build the big partnerships they needed, as England’s bowlers kept chipping away with wickets every time a stand started to look dangerous. The pitch was very dry, which helped the ball grip and spin a lot, making it very hard for the Sri Lankan batters to hit. Will Jacks took 3 wickets for only 14 runs to break the middle of the batting lineup, while Jacob Bethell took 4 wickets for 11 runs to finish off the game. A key moment was Jos Buttler’s incredible diving catch, which showed how hard England fought for every run. Even though Sri Lanka’s Dushmantha Chameera bowled great to take 5 wickets and England's Sam Curran saved his team with a brave 58 runs. Sri Lanka fell 12 runs short. The game ended when Theekshana hit a high catch to short third, giving England a famous victory and a dominant series win.
19.3
W
Jacob Bethell to Theekshana, out Caught by Dawson!! England has wrapped up the victory! Maheesh Theekshana tried a massive sweep shot, but he only managed to get a thick top edge. The ball flew high into the air and went straight to the fielder at short third, who held onto the catch easily. Sri Lanka are all out, and England has won a thrilling match by 12 runs. Theekshana c Dawson b Jacob Bethell 2(6)
Jacob Bethell to Theekshana, THATS OUT!! Caught!!
19.2
Jacob Bethell to Pathirana, 1 run, Pathirana defends it to the right of Bethell for a quick single
19.1
Jacob Bethell to Pathirana, no run, Sri Lanka have reviewed a LBW decision. Given out onfield. UltraEdge shows there is a clear spike as the ball passes the bat. Pathirana looked to go for the sweep, gets a feather on the bat as the ball rolls to point off the pads
Sri Lanka have reviewed a LBW decision. Given out onfield.
19
1 0 1 0 0 0 (2 runs)
SL 115-9
Maheesh Theekshana
2(5)
Matheesha Pathirana
1(2)
Liam Dawson
4-0-25-1
18.6
Dawson to Theekshana, no run, defended off the front foot
18.5
Dawson to Theekshana, no run, flatter on middle, Theekshana goes for the pull. Mistimes it to the on-side
18.4
Dawson to Theekshana, no run, goes in the air again and it falls short of point fielder this time. Theekshana gets a top edge that drops just inches away from diving fielder
18.3
Dawson to Pathirana, 1 run, in the air and just short of the bowler. Pathirana closed the bat face early and gets leading edge back to the bowler, who dives but fails to get his hands underneath
18.2
Dawson to Pathirana, no run, Pathirana gets forward and defends
18.1
Dawson to Theekshana, 1 run, clips it to mid-wicket for a single
Liam Dawson [3.0-0-23-1] is back into the attack
Matheesha Pathirana, right handed bat, comes to the crease
What an over from Bethell! Three wickets and 5 runs off it! He has led his side into the driver's seat
18
B4 W 0 W 1 W (5 runs)
SL 113-9
Dasun Shanaka
4(6)
Maheesh Theekshana
1(1)
Jacob Bethell
3-0-10-3
17.6
W
Jacob Bethell to Shanaka, out Stumped!! Another wicket falls as the ball spins sharply away from Shanaka. He tried to push it across the line but missed completely and lost his balance, allowing the keeper to quickly whip off the bails for a stumping. Sri Lanka is now nine wickets down and just one mistake away from losing the match. Shanaka st Buttler b Jacob Bethell 4(6)