WICKET! SL 116 all out, England win the series 3-0
Theekshana c Dawson b Bethell 2 Bethell the hero! Denied a fourth wicket by a review, he soon induces a top edge which is safely held by Dawson at backward point. England win the match by 12 runs and complete a clean sweep. It’s a white-ball whitewash!
Key events
Match report
“That was awesome,” says Harry Brook. “One of the best wins I’ve ever had… Sixteen overs of spin – to do that to a Sri Lankan team in their own country is awesome… It’s been an awesome tour.”
He receives the trophy, which, as in the ODI series, is much the same size as the one for the Champions League in football. The England players, full of smiles, pose with it behind a giant sign saying CHAMPIONS. They wave to the travelling supporters, who respond with a genteel round of applause.
Time for me to get some fresh air. Thanks for your company and correspondence, and we’ll see you for the T20 World Cup. Both these teams will be in action on Sunday – England against Nepal at 9.30am GMT, Sri Lanka against Scotland at 1.30pm.
The Sri Lankan captain, Dasun Shanaka, is philosophical in defeat. “Lot of positives,” he says. “Chameera bowled very well.” He certainly did: on a day when the winning captain used only four overs of seam, Chameera bowled four overs on his own and took five for 24.
Time for the presentations. The player of the match is not Bethell, it’s not Jacks … it’s Sam Curran! Rightly so, if you ask me, as this surface was a spinner’s paradise and a batter’s nightmare. He’s the Man of the Series too, after taking a hat-trick way back in the first game. “It’s been great,” Curran says as he poses with a large trophy and various pieces of cardboard. “Great to be back in the side.”
That was a triumph for England as a team, for Brook as a beleaguered captain, and for five other players. Bethell finished with four for 11 and all four wickets came at the death, in his last eight balls: not bad for a fourth-choice spinner. What a temperament he has. Jacks, the third-choice spinner, took three for 14, so between them they bagged seven for 25 while their elders and betters, Rashid and Dawson, took only one for 25 apiece.
But let’s not forget the batting, to which Bethell and Jacks contributed very little. England’s innings was held together, just, by Buttler for the first seven overs and Curran thereafter. Curran’s 58, on a slow turner, was worth a hundred on a flat deck. Dawson gave him vital support with one of the most influential 14s you will ever see. One of the commentators said that if England made 125 they would have something to bowl at, and so it proved.
Not only have England won two white-ball series, and three T20 games, in a row. They’re also through to the Under-19 World Cup final, after seeing off a late charge from Australia in Bulawayo. Ashes, what Ashes?
WICKET! SL 116 all out, England win the series 3-0
Theekshana c Dawson b Bethell 2 Bethell the hero! Denied a fourth wicket by a review, he soon induces a top edge which is safely held by Dawson at backward point. England win the match by 12 runs and complete a clean sweep. It’s a white-ball whitewash!
19th over: Sri Lanka 115-9 (Theekshana 2, Pathirana 1) Brook still has one over from his elders. Dawson bowls it and the last pair do their best to get out to almost every ball, only to find that they’re not good enough. So this contest goes to the last over with SL needing 14 and Bethell preparing to bowl.
18th over: Sri Lanka 113-9 (Theekshana 1, Pathirana 0) Dear Mr Bethell, I take it all back. Not only are you a superb fielder, you also have it in you to bowl at the death and take three wickets in an over.
Buttler did very well too, with an inspired catch and a crisp stumping. He had been one of the guilty men when England failed to take that review, but he’s atoned for that now.
WICKET! Shanaka st Buttler b Bethell 4 (SL 113-9)
Third one in the over! Bethell turns one past Shanaka’s shimmy and Buttler whips off the bails.
WICKET! Chameera c Brook b Bethell 0 (SL 112-8)
And another! Bethell gets one to grip and turn, and Chameera does what so many England batters did earlier: he pops it up into the ring, as if giving catching practice to the Under-9s.
WICKET! Wellalage c Buttler b Bethell 13 (Sri Lanka 112-7)
What a catch! As an inside edge loops up off Wellalage’s ankle, Buttler flings himself forwards and scoops it up, inches from the ground. In his 403rd England appearance, the mental strength that won the ODI World Cup is still there.
17th over: Sri Lanka 108-6 (Wellalage 9, Shanaka 4) Rashid returns for his last over. The Sri Lankans play a lot of sweeps and pick up five. So, 21 needed off 18 balls. SL are clear favourites, but there could be a twist.
16th over: Sri Lanka 103-6 (Wellalage 7, Shanaka 1) Liyanage went for a big slog-sweep and sent it straight to Bethell in the deep. That’s the place for Bethell in a tight run chase. Well done, Will Jacks: before today he had four wickets in 31 T20 internationals. now he has seven. And he’s been economical too: he finishes with 4-0-14-3.
SL need 26 off the last four overs… and England need four wickets.
WICKET! Liyanage c Bethell b Jacks 17 (Sri Lanka 97-6)
Another one for the demon Jacks!
15th over: Sri Lanka 97-5 (Liyanage 17, Wellalage 2) Juggling his four spinners, Brook goes back to Bethell. He doesn’t get as much turn as the others and the batters milk him. Six off the over, which is all SL need: 32 required off 30 balls.
13th over: Sri Lanka 91-5 (Liyanage 13, Wellalage 1) One left-hander gives way to another as Dunith Wellalage comes in. And England miss a trick! They go up for LBW as Wellalage misses Jacks’s arm ball. Brook decides not to review and the replay shows that it was hitting leg stump.
The third umpire, incidentally, is a woman – Nimali Perera, who is 35 and has stood in 80 women’s white-ball internationals.
WICKET! Kamindu Mendis LBW b Jacks 14 (Sri Lanka 90-5)
Ebb and flow! No sooner have SL got on top than England peh them back. A fine delivery to the left-hander pitches on middle-and-off-ish, straightens and is rightly given out. Mendis reviews, but to no avail, so Jacks strikes again with the first ball of a spell.
12th over: Sri Lanka 90-4 (Kamindu Mendis 14, Liyanage 13) Brook decides to keep one over of Rashid up his sleeve, so Dawson returns. Liyanage plays him confidently too, dancing down to loft him for four. And then Kamindu comes to the party – same shot, but even bigger, that’s six! And suddenly SL are well on top.
12th over: Sri Lanka 77-4 (Kamindu Mendis 6, Liyanage 8) As Jacks bowls his second over, Kamindu shovels him to long-on, where Overton does well to save two with a dive and a flick to his nearest team-mate. SL need 52 off eight overs, which, if England don’t keep taking wickets, should be a cakewalk.
11th over: Sri Lanka 73-4 (Kamindu Mendis 3, Liyanage 7) Rashid continues and gets swept for four by Janith Liyanage – good shot.
“This looks like a cakewalk for England,” says Andrew Benton. “I’ve no idea what a cakewalk is, but it seems to fit perfectly. Fruity and substantial or light and fluffy, bring on those cakes, yesss!”
10th over: Sri Lanka 65-4 (Kamindu Mendis 1, Liyanage 1) So, two new batters at the crease. Time for a slip and a short leg, surely? Brook sticks with the ring for Liyanage, but for the left-handed Kamindu, he does bring a slip in. I hope he’s realised that the only way England can realistically win this is by taking six more wickets. At the halfway stage, SL are halfway there.
WICKET! Kusal Mendis c Rashid b Jacks 26 (Sri Lanka 62-4)
Two in two! With his first ball, Will Jacks tempts Kusal into a top-edged sweep, which loops up invitingly for Rashid at short fine leg. Game on!
9th over: Sri Lanka 62-3 (Kusal Mendis 26, Kamindu Mendis 0) Rashid dishes up a long hop to Kusal, who helps himself to a pull for four. But then Rashid finds his immaculate best, deceiving Rathnayake with a googly. Game on?
WICKET! Rathnayake b Rashid 13 (Sri Lanka 62-3)
Curse of the commentator!
8th over: Sri Lanka 54-2 (Kusal Mendis 20, Rathnayeke 11) Brook brings on his third spinner, Jacob Bethell with his slow left-arm. Slow through the air, quick through the over. Just four singles from it.
7th over: Sri Lanka 50-2 (Kusal Mendis 18, Rathnayeke 9) You know those young men and women who take the stage in international sport and instantly look like a senior player? Pavan Rathnayake is one of them. Adil Rashid comes on, gets loads of turn – and Rathnayake reads him so well that he can play a slog-sweep with fast hands. It only gets a single, to long-on, but it oozes class.
6th over: Sri Lanka 46-2 (Kusal Mendis 16, Rathnayeke 7) Another change as Sam Curran, England’s star with the bat, takes the ball. He very nearly gets a wicket as Rathnayeke wafts at a slower ball. If Jamie Overton had been at backward point, that would have been out, but it’s Luke Wood and he can’t quite reach it. Kusal gets four in the same direction, more deliberately, with a late cut. The powerplay ends with SL ahead of the rate but England not out of the game.
Curran is asked to take a plaster off one of the fingers on his left hand. He was hit there in the field the other day, and the rules, as Steve Harmison helpfully explains, don’t allow you “to have anything on your bowling hand”.
5th over: Sri Lanka 37-2 (Kusal Mendis 12, Rathnayeke 2) That was well bowled by Dawson, who found enough spin to turn Nissanka’s big swing to leg into a slice and stopped the Sri Lankans in their tracks after a burst of 20 runs in five balls. Cedit to Brook too, for bringing Dawson back so quickly – he may have only taken him off to let him change ends.
WICKET! Nissanka c Jacks b Dawson 23 (Sri Lanka 34-2)
After being slog-swept for four, Dawson takes revenge next ball! He gave it some air and Nissanka could only sky it to Will Jacks in the covers.
4th over: Sri Lanka 27-1 (Nissanka 16, Kusal Mendis 11) Brook takes Dawson off straightaway and surely regrets it as Jamie Overton takes some tap. Nissanka whips him over midwicket for six, then Mendis cuts him for four. Fourteen off the over!
3rd over: Sri Lanka 14-1 (Nissanka 9, Kusal Mendis 5) Wood keeps it tight too … until the last ball of his second over. Nissanka picks it up off his legs and it sails towards the boundary. Jacob Bethell is ready for it, catches it, throws it up, steps over the rope … and can’t hold onto the rebound! So that’s the first six of the innings.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 6-1 (Nissanka 2, Kusal Mendis 4) Harry Brook may have been an idiot this winter, but he does make some bold decisions. He opens the bowling now with spin, in the form of Liam Dawson, who repays his faith with a superb over – five dots, only one single.
“Please change the scorecard to properly reflect the status of those who haven’t batted,” says Michael Conrad. “They are not ‘Not Out’, they are at best ‘Yet to bat’ or best left blank. It makes a mockery of the scorecard and tarnishes an otherwise decent article.”
It is bizarre, isn’t it? But the scorecard is automated, so I’m afraid I can’t do anything about it. Also, “otherwise decent”? Nice backhand!
1st over: Sri Lanka 5-1 (Nissanka 1, Kusal Mendis 4) It’s a good over from Wood, the only boundary a thick inside edge off a yorker.
“Excellent fightback by England,” says Colum Fordham, “and hats off to Sam Curran for making a match of this ‘dead rubber’ which is actually a useful warm-up ahead of the T20 World Cup. An excellent knock. England have strength in depth when it comes to batting, as Dawson showed. Let’s hope the spinners, Rashid first and foremost, can capitalise.” Good to see those quote marks. In cricket, no rubber is ever really dead – the sub-plots see to that.
WICKET! Mishara c Duckett b Wood 0 (Sri Lanka 1-1)
Luke Wood strikes with his third ball, taking tha pace off and luring the dangerous Mishara into a chip to mid-on. And something finally goes right for Ben Duckett, who takes a good low catch.
Post-collapse reading
Something from our Sydney office.
England close on 128
20th over: England 128-9 (Rashid 7, Wood 1) England finish with their lowest T20 total against Sri Lanka – but quite a few more than looked likely just after drinks, when they were 60-6. Sam Curran was England’s best batter by far. hitting a career-best 58 with a mixture of grit and flair. Liam Dawson kept him company for long enough to ensure that England at least used all their overs. But the star of the show was Dushmantha Chameera, who took five for 24 in his four overs.
WICKET! Curran c Nissanka b Chameera 58 (England 127-9)
After driving for four, Curran tries to waft for six! And only succeeds in presenting third man with an easy catch. But he has held England together.
England beat Australia!
We interrupt this final over to inform you that England U-19s have beaten Australia by 27 runs in their World Cup semi-final. It was a tale of two captains: Thomas Rew of England made 110, Oliver Peake replied with 100, but Rew had better support and how biolers held their nerve as Peake launched a late onslaught.
19th over: England 118-8 (Curran 54, Rashid 2) Curran celebrates with a flick for four. His 50 came off 44 balls with four fours and a six. And he got a hat-trick earlier in the series … as Ed Smith used to say, he makes things happen.
Fifty to Sam Curran!
Curran pushes a single down the ground to reach an excellent fifty – and equal his highest score in T20 internationals. In September 2023 his batting average in this format was 11; since then it’s been 34.
18th over: England 109-8 (Curran 48, Rashid 0) So, after that solid partnership of 47 between Curran and Dawson, the collapse resumes with two wickets in the over. And Chameera already has 4-14, with one over still to come.
WICKET! Overton c Liyanage b Chameera 2 (England 109-8)
Well, Overton did bring a big hit – but it went straight up in the air, before descending into the safe hands of Liyanage at backward point.