Openers, bowlers help England take early lead

The gulf in class between England and Sri Lanka in the game’s shortest format was clearly visible in Cardiff on Wednesday as the hosts cruised to an eight-wicket win. Opting to bat first with a rejigged batting order, Sri Lanka managed to post only 129 for seven in their allotted 20 overs. A target of 130 was never going to trouble a batting line-up that is revered as one of the best in limited-overs cricket as they swatted the Sri Lankan bowlers aside with ease.

Nothing changed for Sri Lanka in terms of their performance with the bat. They have been struggling for a while in white-ball cricket and the story that unfolded on Wednesday was something their fans have been accustomed to. It took nine balls for England to strike as Avishka Fernando skewed one straight to Chris Jordan. It took them 17 balls to find the boundary in the powerplay and they eventually lost their other opener Danushka Gunathilaka as well before the sixth over.

Skipper Kusal Perera tried to inject some momentum but just when his side needed him to bat deep into the innings, he miscued one as well to depart for 30 with seven overs still left.

Mickey Arthur’s decision to send Kusal Mendis at number four and Test specialist Dhananjaya de Silva at number five backfired.

Mendis struggled from the word go and was trapped leg-before-wicket by Liam Livingstone, who managed to keep Moeen Ali out of the side. Four balls later, de Silva followed him to the pavilion as he upper cut one straight to Adil Rashid at third man. By the end of the ninth over, Sri Lanka’s run rate was still below six and they had already lost four wickets.

Dasun Shanaka, batting at number six, once again showcased why he is rated high in this format as he single-handedly dragged Sri Lanka past the 120 mark. He didn’t make the greatest of starts to his innings and at one stage was struggling at 13 off 19 balls but back-to-back boundaries off Mark Wood in the 14th over helped him break the shackles.

A six over Jordan over wide long on in the penultimate over was the highlight of his innings and he managed to clear the ropes once again in the final over en route a hard-fought fifty.

Sri Lanka made 39 for two in the powerplay. England needed just 3.3 overs to score the same without a loss of a wicket. Jos Buttler and Jason Roy need no invitation to go berserk and with a modest target in front of them, they went all guns blazing. They fetched three fours off Dushmantha Chameera in the fourth over and backed it up with a 17-run over off Nuwan Pradeep. Even though de Silva bowled a tidy over, Buttler ensured the powerplay finished on a high with back-to-back boundaries off Isuru Udana.

Brief scores:

Sri Lanka 129/7 in 20 overs (Dasun Shanaka 50, Kusal Perara 30; Adil Rashid 2-17, Sam Curran 2-25) lost to England 130/2 in 17.1 overs (Jos Buttler 68*, Jason Roy 36; Dushmantha Chameera 1-24) by 8 wickets.