Wyatt and Jones blow away Sri Lanka attack to seal the series

Clinical all round performance by England helped them seal the T20I series against Sri Lanka with a game to spare as they win comfortably by 8-wickets.

Following England’s comfortable victory over Sri Lanka in the 1^st T20I on Sunday, both sides met for the 2^nd of the 3 match T20I series in Colombo.

Both the teams made changes to the playing XI from the previous game. The hosts replaced Sanjeewani with Surangika and Kulasuriya made way for Ranaweera. England made one change from the previous match as they brought in Brunt back as Shrubsole was rested.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first.

The skipper Atapattu opened the innings with Mendis and both the openers started confidently. They added 45 runs for the first wicket in 7 overs but Sciver broke the partnership. She clean bowled Atapattu for 24 (30b). Sriwardene made a fast start to their innings but in the 11^th over Dunkley claimed her first international wicket as she was trapped lbw for 15 (13b) and the hosts lost their 2^nd wicket for 65.

The skipper Knight brought herself on in the next over and on the very first delivery she dismissed Mendis for 15 (21b). Madavi and Karunaratrne added 18 runs for the fourth wicket but Brunt bowled Madavi for 8 to restrict hosts 83-4 in 17^th over. Marsh bowled Karunaratne in the next over and Brunt picked up her second wicket in the 19^th over to send Ranasinghe back in the pavilion.

Atapattu (24) was the highest scorer for Sri Lanka who ended their inning on 108-6 after their 20 overs. Brunt was pick of the bowlers with 2 wickets and she was supported by Marsh, Sciver, Dunkley and Knight who took a wicket each.

Chasing 109 for victory, England changed their opening combination as Jones was promoted to open the inning with Wyatt and Beaumont was dropped to one-down position. The opening pair made a blistering start to the inning and reached 40 runs after 4 overs. They brought up 50-run partnership in the 5^th over as Wyatt smashed Siriwardene for a six.

The pair smashed 22 runs in the next two overs and quickly raced to 75-0 in 7 overs. The partnership was broken in the 8^th over as Wyatt got stumped on a wide ball bowled by Siriwardene. She made 37 (25b, 3x4, 1x6). Siriwardene struck again as Jones was caught at deep mid-wicket for 36 (24b, 6x4). At 90-2 Sciver joined Beaumont scored the remaining 19 runs without any more setbacks.

England won the match by 8-wickets with 37 balls to spare and won the series 2-0 with one game to spare.

This was England’s 9^th consecutive win in the subcontinent in all formats. As both sides will meet for the final T20I on 28^th March as England will be gunning to complete 10 wins whereas Sri Lanka will be playing for the pride.

 

Brief Score:

Sri Lanka 108-6 (20 overs) (Atapattu 24, Brunt 2-31) lost to England 109-2 (13.5 overs) (Wyatt 37, Jones 36, Siriwardene 2-26) by 8 wickets