England proved to be too good and too powerful for Sri Lanka as the Eoin Morgan-led side displayed a dominant performance in the first T20I. Sri Lanka could never get going with the bat and scored just 129 in their 20 overs. Jason Roy’s 36 and Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 68 helped England to the target with 2.5 overs to spare.
There was absolutely no match between England and Sri Lanka in the first T20I. England showed why they are arguably the best white-ball side going around in the world as they thrashed Sri Lanka and outplayed them in every department to take a 1-0 lead in this three-match T20I series.
SL had made as many as six changes from the last T20I that they played. They won the toss and batted first. But their innings never really took off. The England bowling attack displayed great control, and that, along with the variety in the attack, never allowed the opposition to get any momentum in the innings.
Sam Curran got the early breakthrough as he dismissed Avishka Fernando in the second over of the game. Danushka Gunathilaka looked fluent but fell on 19 as Chris Jordan got his first wicket. The powerplay yielded 39 runs, but after the field spread out, the England bowlers applied the choke. Sri Lanka could muster just 45 runs in the next nine overs and lost three wickets.
Dasun Shanaka struggled in the first half of his innings as he scored just 13 off 19 balls. At the 14-over mark, Sri Lanka were 84/5. But Shanaka struck a few boundaries and got to a half-century which helped Sri Lanka to huff and puff their way to 129/7.
In reply, England just dominated. Sri Lanka were never in the game. England smashed 61 runs in the powerplay as Jason Roy blasted his way to 28 off 13 balls while Buttler scored 29 off 23 in the powerplay.
Chameera got the wicket of Roy for 36 in the 10th over and it was courtesy of a stunning catch by Gunathilaka at mid-off. The 80-run opening stand was broken, but Buttler continued and finished off the chase with 17 balls to spare. He struck a solid 68, his 13th half-century in T20I cricket.
Sri Lanka have less than 24 hours to bounce back as the second T20I is scheduled to be played at the same venue (Sophia Gardens, Cardiff) on the very next day.
Brief Scores
Sri Lanka 129/7 (Shanaka 50, Perera 30, Rashid 2/17, Curran 2/25) lost to England 130/2 (Buttler 68*, Roy 36, Chameera 1/24) by eight wickets
