Pallekele [Sri Lanka], February 22 (ANI): England defeated Sri Lanka by 51 runs in Pallekele to start the Super Eights with a comprehensive win, and England captain Harry Brook was happy with the win on his birthday.
Celebrating his 27th birthday on Sunday, Brook led his side to the 12th straight victory over Sri Lanka in T20I cricket.
During the post-match presentation, England captain Harry Brook said, “A beautiful birthday present. I thought we played exceptionally there, and to get over the line and bowl them out for less than 100 is an awesome effort.
Asked to bat first, England made 146/9 in 20 overs with the help of Phil Salt’s 62 off 40 balls, including six fours and a couple of sixes.
Will Jacks (21 off 14 balls), Brook (14 off seven balls) and Sam Curran (11 off 11 balls) also contributed well to the total.
For Sri Lanka, Dunith Wellalage was the top wicket-taker with three scalps. Maheesh Theekshana and Dilshan Madushanka took a couple of wickets each.
Speaking about the pitch, he said, “I didn’t think there were really any demons on the pitch. I think the spinners on both sides used the pace really well, and that’s what brought a lot of wickets. We saw how it was behaving in the first innings, and the lack of pace was creating chances. So we had a good chat about that before going out, and we adapted to the surface really well. It was just slow.”
Will Jacks took three wickets and made 21 runs, which helped him get his third Player of the Match award in the tournament.
“Jacksie was pretty annoyed with the way he got out, so he said to me he always bowls better when he’s angry, and thankfully he got off to a cracking start,” he said about the Player of the Match, Will Jacks.
While chasing the challenging target, Sri Lanka lost their top-five wickets inside the powerplay.
Captain Dasun Shanaka (30 off 24 balls) tried his best to take his team past the line, but Adil Rashid dismissed him to dash the Lankan hopes.
Kamindu Mendis (13 off 11 balls) and Wellalage (10 off 10 balls) were the only batters for Sri Lanka to score in double digits.
The co-hosts were bundled out for 95 runs, losing the match by 51 runs as Jofra Archer, Liam Dawson and Rashid shared two wickets each among them, with Jacks taking a three-fer.
Speaking about Phil Salt, who played a 62-run knock, he said, “It was hard to time, and I thought Salty played an exceptional innings there to get 60 with everybody fumbling around him as well. Not the fluent Phil Salt that everybody knows, but he managed to get us to a very good score there and a couple of partnerships at the end as well. It was a hell of a performance.”
Asked if he is concerned about Jos Buttler’s form with the bat, he said, “Not concerned at all. He’s a powerhouse of world cricket. He has been for many years. He’s arguably the best white-ball player to have ever played the game. He’s just lacking a little bit of confidence at the minute, but I’d rather him start the competition like this and finish with a flourish. Looking forward and really excited to see how he goes in the next couple of games.”
Now, Sri Lanka will clash with New Zealand in Colombo on Wednesday, whereas England will take on Pakistan on Tuesday at the same venue. (ANI)
