Sri Lanka’s catastrophic tour of England 2016 ended with yet another bleak performance as the hosts’ won the only T20I convincingly by 8 wickets on Tuesday night at The Ageas Bowl in Southampton.
Sri Lanka won all three formats in 2014 but failed to notch up a single win this time as the first-ever super series score line read 20-4 to England as they bagged all the trophies available.
Jos Buttler, opening the batting for the first-time cracked his highest T20I score of 73 off 49 deliveries with 3 fours and 4 sixes as he and skipper Eoin Morgan guided the home team to victory with 15 balls to spare.
Their 117-run unbroken third wicket partnership left Sri Lanka stranded, who had been dismissed for 140 off their 20 overs earlier in the night.
After opting to bat first, Sri Lanka lost wickets at regular intervals even though some of the batsmen, Danushka Gunathilaka (26), Kusal Mendis (21) and Dinesh Chandimal (23) got off to solid starts with the bat.
Left-arm spinner Liam Dawson completed excellent figures of 3 for 27 on his debut as he had Gunathilaka caught in the deep in his first over, caught and bowled Mendis in his second and cleaned up Angelo Mathews in his third as Sri Lanka slumped to 82 for 5 from 58 for 1.
Chandimal and Ramith Rambukwella, who was drafted into the squad in the eleventh hour tried to rebuild the innings but the latter was a victim of another excellent piece of fielding by the Englishmen. The visitors lost three late wickets to the bowling of Chris Jordan as they were bowled out in the final ball of the innings.
In-form Jason Roy was bowled by Mathews for no score when he unsuccessfully played a paddle sweep while James Vince was stumped cleverly by Chandiamal off Mathews as they were restricted to 30 for 2 at one stage before Morgan-Buttler happened.
Buttler was given a lifeline when Snicko confirmed that he had edged one through to Chandimal off Mathews but not out was the umpire’s decision. Morgan regained his form through a responsible 47 off 39 balls before hoisting Rambukwella over the mid-wicket region to seal the deal.
