The Three Lions dominated their way through yet again and came out victorious by a margin of 89 runs in the third and final game at Rose Bowl.
Batting first, England posted a daunting total of 180/6 in their allotted 20 overs in conditions that did offer a bit to the fast-bowlers. An opening stand of class and substance between Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan took England past the 100-run mark in just over 11 overs.
While Bairstow’s innings (51 from 43 balls) was slightly subdued by his standards, Malan made his opportunity at the top count and struck a magnificent 76 off 48 balls.
In search of quick runs, England’s middle-order – missing injured Jos Buttler and a rehabilitating Ben Stokes – did stutter along, yet a brilliant start from Bairstow and Malan meant that they had enough on the board by the end for a struggling opposition.
In response, Sri Lanka stitched together one of their worst batting performances at the international stage in recent years, collapsing to a mere 91 all out and not even batting their full quota of 20 overs.
As David Willey and Chris Woakes made the ball swing and seam at the start, the Sri Lankan innings never got going, and they ended up creating an embarrassing scorecard. Lower-order batter Binura Fernando top-scored for the Lankans with a 20, with only two of the other batsmen reaching double digits.
Willey ended with figures of 3/27 to his name, and Woakes (1/9) also hardly gave away a thing besides picking up a wicket in reward. Sam Curran (2/14) added two scalps to his kitty, while Chris Jordan (1/13), Liam Livingstone (1/8) and Moeen Ali (1/3) also got a wicket each.
For Sri Lanka, it was as disheartening as any, reinforcing deeper problems in their game as an international side that is going through a horrible decline.
Their only real positive for the day was the spell from fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera (4/17), who finally seems to be producing the level of discipline and consistency expected of him along with express pace.
Brief scores
England 180/6 in 20 overs (Malan 76, Bairstow 51, Chameera 4/17) beat Sri Lanka 91 in 18.5 overs (Fernando 20, Willey 3/27, Curran 2/14) by 89 runs
