The Sri Lankan bowlers fought hard and dragged the game to the last over but just did not have enough runs on the board to defend as England chased down 141 with 2 deliveries to spare.
Dasun Shanaka won the toss and elected to bat and things got off to a great start for Sri Lanka as Pathum Nissanka flicked one off his legs over the fine-leg boundary for six off just the 2nd delivery of the 1st over.
In fact, both Nissanka and Kusal Mendis showed some great intent early in the innings, looking to take on the bowlers. A tactic unused by Sri Lanka earlier in the tournament, where they had often look to build during the 1st 10 overs and then launch with wickets in hand. The tournament’s quickest bowler, Mark Wood, bore the brunt of that early onslaught, with his 1st over going for 17 runs as both Mendis and Nissanka cleared the boundary once each.
Mendis fell in the 4th over, but Nissanka continued on, with Sri Lanka sitting pretty on 52/1 after 5 overs. England learned very quickly that taking pace off the ball seemed to be the way to go about things and some clever bowling saw them dismantle Sri Lanka’s modes of attack piece by piece.
A collision with Charith Asalanka seemed to slow Nissanka down, but he still looked in good touch, finding the boundary occasionally to get to his 5th T20 World Cup half century, also becoming the 10th Sri Lankan to cross the 1000-run mark in T20Is along the way.
However, none of the other batters seemed to be able to get going, with the middle order, who haven’t fired regularly in the tournament, looking flat and lacking intent. Just 25 runs came in the last 5 overs, with Wood, who had been punished earlier, finishing with 3 wickets in his final over and figures of 3/26. Bhanuka Rajapaksa looked particularly out of sorts, ending with a run a ball 22.
Alex Hales and Jos Buttler looked like they wanted to get things done pretty quickly in the chase as they raced to 70 off the power play, targeting Sri Lanka’s quicks, Kasun Rajitha, in particular. However, Wanindu Hasaranga managed to pull things back, as he so often does, picking up Buttler and then Hales off consecutive overs.
With the openers gone, England looked to ease their way to the target, but kept losing wickets regularly as Dhananjaya de Silva picked up Mooen Ali and Harry Brook to put England under some pressure.
However, the result was inevitable and England Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes ultimately got the Englishmen home with two deliveries to spare. With the win, England go through to the semis as the 2nd seed in the group, knocking out hosts and defending champs Australia.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | c Chris Jordan b Adil Rashid | 67 | 45 | 2 | 5 | 148.89 |
| Kusal Mendis | c Liam Livingstone b Chris Woakes | 18 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 128.57 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | c Ben Stokes b Sam Curran | 9 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 81.82 |
| Charith Asalanka | c Liam Livingstone b Ben Stokes | 8 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 88.89 |
| Bhanuka Rajapaksa | c Sam Curran b Mark Wood | 22 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Dasun Shanaka | c Jos Buttler b Mark Wood | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 37.50 |
| Wanidu Hasaranga | run out (Jos Buttler) | 9 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Chamika Karunaratne | not out | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Maheesh Theekshana | c Alex Hales b Mark Wood | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 5 (b 0 , lb 3 , nb 0, w 2, pen 0) |
| Total | 141/8 (20 Overs, RR: 7.05) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Stokes | 3 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 8.00 | |
| Chris Woakes | 3 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 8.00 | |
| Mark Wood | 3 | 0 | 26 | 3 | 8.67 | |
| Sam Curran | 4 | 0 | 27 | 1 | 6.75 | |
| Adil Rashid | 4 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 4.00 | |
| Liam Livingstone | 2 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 8.00 | |
| Moeen Ali | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jos Buttler | c Chamika Karunaratne b Wanidu Hasaranga | 28 | 23 | 2 | 1 | 121.74 |
| Alex Hales | c & b Wanidu Hasaranga | 47 | 30 | 7 | 1 | 156.67 |
| Ben Stokes | not out | 42 | 36 | 2 | 0 | 116.67 |
| Harry Brook | c & b Dhananjaya de Silva | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 80.00 |
| Liam Livingstone | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Lahiru Kumara | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Moeen Ali | c Dasun Shanaka b Dhananjaya de Silva | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Sam Curran | c Kasun Rajitha b Lahiru Kumara | 6 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 54.55 |
| Chris Woakes | not out | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 133.33 |
| Extras | 8 (b 0 , lb 4 , nb 1, w 3, pen 0) |
| Total | 144/6 (19.4 Overs, RR: 7.32) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maheesh Theekshana | 4 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 5.50 | |
| Kasun Rajitha | 3 | 0 | 39 | 0 | 13.00 | |
| Lahiru Kumara | 3.4 | 0 | 24 | 2 | 7.06 | |
| Wanidu Hasaranga | 4 | 0 | 23 | 2 | 5.75 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 4 | 0 | 24 | 2 | 6.00 | |
| Charith Asalanka | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8.00 | |
