Chamari leads Sri Lanka to historic T20I series win

 Sri Lanka women cricketers led by Chamari Athapaththu celebrate their historic 2-1 Wt20I series win over England at Derby on Wednesday

The winning moment as Sri Lanka’s Harshitha Samarawickrama wheels past England’s Kate Cross after making the winning hit – a boundary

Sri Lanka’s Kavisha Dilhari and Hasini Perera celebrate an England wicket.

• England suffer shock first-ever 2-1 series defeat

DERBY: England suffered a shock first-ever series defeat (2-1) by Sri Lanka as the tourists won the third T20I by seven wickets at Derby on Wednesday.

It is only Sri Lanka’s second series victory from their last 15 bilateral series. Sri Lanka’s players were visibly emotional, running on to the pitch and embracing the batting pair as the winning runs were struck.

England were bowled out for 116 in 19 overs after another impressive Sri Lankan performance in the field.

Chamari Athapaththu top-scored with 44 from 28 balls as Sri Lanka reached their target with three overs to spare. Athapaththu was dismissed by Alice Capsey with 52 runs still required but Harshitha Samarawickrama and Hasini Perera played sensibly to withstand England’s economical bowling to complete the chase.

It is England’s second successive batting collapse after their 104 all out in the second T20 at Chelmsford, with Heather Knight’s side looking fatigued and short of answers to Sri Lanka’s spinners.

Few were expecting Sri Lanka to win a game in this series, given the teams’ rankings and England’s impressive Ashes performance, but they were inspired by their captain Athapaththu after a heavy defeat in the opener at Hove. It was going to take something special to inflict a first series defeat on England by a team other than Australia since 2010, and the captain managed it.

Athapaththu, by far Sri Lanka’s most experienced player having played in their first ever T20 in 2009, took 3-21 in England’s collapse and swaggered to the crease with a purpose to begin their chase. She backed up her half-century at Chelmsford, getting her side off to a flyer with a six off Kate Cross in just the second over.

Breaking the back of the chase was important in allowing the side’s less experienced middle order to do the rest with simple, risk-free cricket - and they played with a smartness that England didn’t.

Sri Lanka looked the more professional side particularly in the field, bowling to their strength with spin, taking all their catches and playing as a unit, sharing each other’s joy as wicket after wicket tumbled.

For Sri Lanka though, this marks history. They will look to improve in the ODI series but they are playing with nothing to lose after already exceeding expectations.

Athapaththu won the Player of the Match and Player of the Series awards.

Former England spinner Alex Hartley said: “We all said it would take something very special for Sri Lanka to come here and win one game, so to come out and win a series is testament to how they have stayed positive after the first defeat and put England under so much pressure. Was there a bit of complacency from England? I’m not sure. They did rest their big guns, but they have got a lot of lessons to learn.”

Meanwhile, England will look to fight back in the three-match one-day international series, which starts in Durham on Saturday.

Scores: 

England Women 116 (19) (Maia Bouchier 23, Amy Jones 20, Danielle Gibson 21, Udeshika Prabodhani 2/16, Chamari Athapaththu 3/21, Kavisha Dilhari 2/16)

Sri Lanka Women 117-3 (17) (Chamari Athapaththu 44, Anushka Sanjeewani 20, Harshitha Samarawickrama 26*, Sarah Glenn 2/23)