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Sri Lanka's batting woes continue as England take unassailable 2-0 lead in the series

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England continued the form in the three-match series against Sri Lanka in Cardiff on Thursday after winning the second encounter by 5 wickets in a rain-curtailed match. The home side were initially handed a task to chase down 112 in 20 overs but the match was later reduced to 18 overs per side with the revised total being 103 runs after the rain at the end of England’s 12th over.

The Sri Lankan bowlers gave the home side some hard times after they got some early breakthroughs in the innings. Binura Fernando first removed Jonny Bairstow for a duck while Dawid Malan was trapped in front of the stumps by Dushmantha Chameera for 4 soon after. 

The hosts then lost a couple of more wickets in quick succession and were left struggling at 36/4 before Sam Billings and Liam Livingstone stitched a stand of 54 runs for the fifth wicket. 

While Billings was eventually undone for 24 by Wanindu Hasaranga, Livingstone remained unbeaten at 29 off 26. Sam Curran who came in at number seven also remained not out for 16 as the two batsmen took the side home and gave the team an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. 

Hasaranga scalped a couple of wickets for the visitors while Chameera, Fernando and Isuru Udana bagged one wicket each. 

Earlier, Sri Lanka’s batting woes continued after they were restricted to 111/7 in the allotted 20 overs. The Kusal Perera-led side had a disappointing start to the proceedings after openers Gunathilaka and Avishka Fernando were sent back in the hut early. 

Sri Lanka were 18/2 when captain Perera and Kusal Mendis provided the visitors with some resistance as the two batsmen put up a partnership of 50 runs for the third wicket. The skipper eventually departed for 21 off 25 while Mendis was next to follow for 39 off 39. 

Mendis’ dismissal saw a flurry of wickets for the Sri Lankan batting line up and they were left tottering at 90/7 before Udana chipped in with an unbeaten 14-ball 19. For England, it was Mark Wood and Adil Rashid who returned with two wickets each while Curran and Chris Jordan had one scalp to their name apiece. 

Sri Lankan captain Kusal Perera hailed the side’s bowling efforts but admitted that the batting was a bit of a concern. 

“Not ideal to be on the losing side, but our bowling was good. The concern is the batting. The conditions are not an excuse, and we need 140-150 to give our bowlers a chance. Our intent is positive cricket, but we haven't executed too well. We need to get back up soon,” he said after the match. 

England captain Eoin Morgan expressed delight and said that the wicket was good to bat on but the early hiccups had them on the backfoot. 

“With the WC in mind, this is a good challenge. It's normally a good wicket to bat on, but with the hiccup we had early, we tried to force the equation with the bat, but Sam and Liam showed the depth we had,” Morgan said. 

The two teams will now meet in the third and final encounter in Southampton on Saturday.

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