Key events
Sri Lanka 135 all out (England win by 119 runs)
Chameera clears the front leg and smears Liam Dawson for SIX after Adil Rashid advised his fellow spinner to toss one up above the eyeline… Rashid has a chuckle afterwards. ‘Sorry mate’.
Bowled! Dawson cleans Chameera up with the next ball to cap a thumping victory for England.
18th over: Sri Lanka 129-9 (Chameera 2 , Malinga 13) Malinga! Sri Lanka’s last man shows the others how to do it – he charges Will Jacks and dispatches for SIX over the leg side. On we go.
17th over: Sri Lanka 118-9 (Chameera 0, Malinga 4) Eshan Malinga is Sri Lanka’s last man. He edges Overton for four to finish the over. Sri Lanka only need 137 runs from 18 balls. Ahem.
WICKET! Dunith Wellalage c Cox b Overton 33 (Sri Lanka 114-9)
Excellent catch by Jordan Cox at deep third! Wellalage’s entertaining but futile cameo comes to an end.
16th over: Sri Lanka 107-8 (Wellalage 27, Chameera 0) Rashid returns with England needing two wickets to go 1-0 up in the series. Wellalage is going down swinging though, he clubs two fours through the leg side.
15th over: Sri Lanka 95-7 (Wellalage 18, Theekshana 2) Baker finishes with 3-12 from his four overs. “It’s been the three Bs” says Nasser Hussain on commentary, “Buttler, Brook and Baker”.
WICKET! Maheesh Theekshana b Baker 4 (Sri Lanka 97-8)
Sonny Baker returns for his final over, three dots followed by a compact drive for two by Theekshana… BOWLED HIM! Baker hits the off stump like a freight train! He celebrates with arms outstretched, that’s his third of the night.
14th over: Sri Lanka 95-7 (Wellalage 18, Theekshana 2) Overton is pumped down the ground for four by Wellalage. The next ball sees Jos Buttler nearly cling on to a sharp chance off the cue end after being completely wrongfooted by Wellalage’s aborted ramp shot. Overton has 1-9 off his two overs.
13th over: Sri Lanka 88-7 (Wellalage 13, Theekshana 1) Tongue has his figures blotted a little by Wellalage, two sixes smeared off his final over sees him finish with 1-25 off his four. Wellalage spotted the slower ball and pinged it over the leg side before latching onto a full paced delivery wise of off stump and cutting it over the fence.
12th over: Sri Lanka 76-7 (Wellalage 1, Theekshana 0) Just two runs and the wicket from Overton’s first. Tongue is back to bowl out.
WICKET! Wanindu Hasaranga b Overton 4 (Sri Lanka 76-7)
Overton foxes Hasaranga with a slower ball and the stumps go splat. This is a proper mauling by England.
11th over: Sri Lanka 71-5 (Hasaranga 3, Wellalage 0) Wellalage joins Hasaranga in the middle. The former’s name reminds me of the brand of questionable luminous hair gel I wore to spike my teenage barnet. Anyone? Anyway, here’s Jamie Overton.
WICKET! Kamindu Mendis c Brook b Tongue 2 (Sri Lanka 74-6)
Captain Brook clings on to a skier!
We don’t really link to the socials anymore but Ben Stokes has just typed out one of his specials on the website formerly known as Twitter:
I don’t even think the genius of KP could come close to what Harry Brook has talent-wise.
Is it really that hard to just sit back and admire these players for what they are, on the good days and the bad days, and stop berating them for doing things that we would never, ever, ever even think of doing because we simply aren’t on their level to think that way?
You are an absolute freak, Harry.
You’re mint to watch. 💪🔥”
10th over: Sri Lanka 71-5 (Mendis 2, Hasaranga 2) Hasaranga joins Mendis and works for two to finish Rashid’s over. Josh Tongue is coming back for his third over.
WICKET! Dasun Shanaka c Buttler b Rashid 24 (Sri Lanka 57-5)
Rashid wins the war against Shanaka! He gets wiped for consecutive sixes but then responds with a beauty that takes a feather of an edge through to Buttler.
9th over: Sri Lanka 56-4 (Shanaka 12, Mendis 1) Kamindu Mendis arrives in the middle and pats two dots back to Dawson. Have a word. Dawson nearly pins Shanaka a few balls later but an inside edge saves the batter. Close! Dawson dives for a return catch and gets a finger on it but can’t cling on. Has to go down as a drop but the non striker got in his way a little.
WICKET! Charith Asalanka c Banton b Dawson 10 (Sri Lanka 52-4)
Asalanka tries to go big but can’t beat Banton on the fence at cow corner.
8th over: Sri Lanka 51-3 (Asalanka 10, Shanaka 10) Rashid twirls his golden web. Flight and spin mixed in with the one that skids on. No boundaries for Sri Lanka who now need 17 actual runs per over for the rest of the innings. Not happening.
7th over: Sri Lanka 44-3 (Asalanka 6, Shanaka 7) Twelve runs off Liam Dawson’s over but Sri Lanka have already faced as many dots (22) in six overs as England did in their entire innings. Problems. Here comes Adil Rashid for England. More problems.
6th over: Sri Lanka 32-3 (Asalanka 1, Shanaka 0) Shanaka is the new man. Sonny Baker has 2-9 off three overs. Here comes Liam Dawson.
WICKET! Lahiru Udara c Rashid b Baker 5 (Sri Lanka 32-3)
That was Baker’s first white ball international wicket, he’s felt the burn of the bat early on in his career and so no wonder he celebrated with relish. Just like that… he has two! Udara tries to scoop but doesn’t get enough on it, Rashid takes the tumbling catch behind square.
WICKET! Kamil Mishara b Baker 10 (Sri Lanka 31-2)
Full, straight, fast. Out. Sonny Baker touches 90mph and makes a mess of Mishara’s middle peg.
5th over: Sri Lanka 31-1 (Mishara 10, Udara 5) DROP! Will Jacks spills Mishara at square leg with Buttler converging on him with the gloves enough to put him off. Tongue turns away ruefully, his well disguised slower ball should have bagged him a wicket.
4th over: Sri Lanka 25-1 (Mishara 9, Udara 1) Mishara slaps Jacks for four after Lahiru Udara joins him in the middle with a flip of a lot to do.
WICKET! Pathum Nissanka c Overton b Jacks 12
Will Jacks gets an early bowl and gets the breakthrough with his fourth ball! Nissanka can’t clear the large form of Overton at mid on.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 15-0 (Nissanka 8, Mishara 4) Sri Lanka face seven dots in a row before Nissanka finally gets hold of one and clips off his hip elegantly for SIX. They need plenty more where that came from!
2nd over: Sri Lanka 6-0 (Nissanka 1, Mishara 3) Josh Tongue is straight into the action after his stacked Test summer. Mishara is swinging like the proverbial rusty gate but can’t connect, dot balls are killing the visitors already.
1st over: Sri Lanka 1-0 (Nissanka 0, Mishara 0) Excellent first over from the bustling Sonny Baker. Plenty of movement on offer, he zips it in and moves it away late. Only a leg bye off his first over, the run rate up at thirteens already.
No time to catch our breath as Sonny Baker comes out to bowl the first over for England. What can Sri Lanka do in reply?