Rashid, Wood stars for England to clinch T20 series in 2 of 3 matches against Sri Lanka

Rashid, Wood
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Mark Wood and Adil Rashid star for England to defeat Sri Lanka in the second T20 match at Cardiff by 5 wickets and 11 balls to spare despite suffering a collapse. 

Batting second, the hosts chased down the revised DLS target of 103 in 17 overs.

Unlike their first game, England did not start well as their top order completely collapsed, lost four wickets inside 7 overs of play. Binura Fernando brought in the swinger to get rid of Jonny Bairstow. Dushmantha Chameera then trapped Dawid Malan in an lbw.

While England was struggling at that time, Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy kept hitting a few boundaries to keep the scorecard moving.

However, Morgan cuts short and outside off where Wanindu Hasaranga takes a sharp catch off Isuru Udana, while Roy tries to go over mid-on where Dasun Shanaka takes an easy catch off Hasaranga to leave England on 36/4. Jos Buttler was absent in the match following an injury.

After that, Sam Billings and Liam Livingstone shared a 54 runs stand to steady the ship for England. The duo kept rotating the strike after one’s, two’s, and occasional boundaries to take England on 69/4 when rain interrupted the play.

When the play resumed after rain, England still needed 34 runs in 6 overs as per the DLS method. The pair went after Dushmantha Chameera after Billings smashed him for a boundary and Livingstone scooped him for a six in the same over.

Just when it was looking that the pair would finish the job for England quite easily, Hasaranga bowled out Billings to get another twist in-game. Livingstone and Sam Curran then witnessed the winning moments of the match.

Earlier, on a track that offered some movement to the pacers, Sri Lankan batsmen found it difficult to get going and ended on a total that was never enough.

Kusal Mendis was the top scorer with 39 off 39 balls. The skipper, Kusal Perera managed to went across 20 before Adil Rashid picked him up. Isuru Udana, in the tail, hit a four and a six in the final over to get past Sri Lanka over 100.

From England, Mark Wood bowled with a serious pace to keep things under control. He was finally rewarded in the 14th over when he forced Mendis to pull one towards square leg where Bairstow took a fine catch. 

Niroshan Dickwella became his victim on the very next ball. However, the right-hand pacer missed the hat-trick after beating on Hasaranga. Adil Rashid played his part with a couple of shots.

“Our bowling was right on point, both batting sides struggled to take aggressive options which is a shame, but it ended up being a tight game. Took risks and lost wickets, which is disappointing, but Liam showed the class he’s shown for Lancashire and Sam for Kent. Juggling DLS, and being challenged by the Sri Lanka bowlers,”

said the winning captain, Eoin Morgan.

“DLS crept upon us, it was clear all morning. We were thankful we managed to reduce Sri Lanka so that it didn’t jump upon us. Two big areas for us are fielding, you play on smaller grounds with a high value on boundaries – out, or dropped catch and six – and our death bowling away from home is an area to improve on.”

Brief scoresSri Lanka 111/7 in 20 overs (Kusal Mendis 39; Mark Wood 2-18)lost to England108/5 in 16.1 overs (Liam Livingstone 29*; Wanindu Hasaranga 2-20)by five wickets via the DLS Method.

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