England make it nine wins in a row to seal series vs. Sri Lanka

Wednesday, 27 March 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

England Women’s bowlers once again came to the fore, restricting Sri Lanka Women to 108/6 in the second T20I in Colombo, before their openers struck quick thirties to help complete the chase in just 13.5 overs, with eight wickets to spare.

It was England’s fifth successive win on the tour, and their ninth limited-overs win on the trot since the pair of defeats at the hands of India Women in Mumbai. The win also gave England the series with a game to spare. The visitors had also swept the three ICC Women’s Championship one-day internationals that preceded this series.

Having won the toss, Sri Lanka batted first, and although their openers built a somewhat solid platform, with a 45-run stand, the others weren’t quite able to capitalise, with England’s bowlers making regular inroads. That hampered Sri Lanka’s run-rate, and eventually, they were just about able to get past the 100-run mark.

Things began unravelling once Captain Chamari Athapaththu was dismissed for 24 by Natalie Sciver. Shashikala Siriwardana struck two fours in her 13-ball 15, but was soon trapped in front by Sophia Dunkley. Mendis fell soon after as Heather Knight bowled her for 15, and Sri Lanka slipped from 45/0 to 65/3.

Wickets continued to fall and Sri Lanka were simply unable to score boundaries. Only one four – off Oshade Ranasinghe’s bat – was struck in the last 9.4 overs.

Katherine Brunt finished with a couple of wickets, but was a tad expensive, conceding 31 runs from her four overs. Lauren Marsh, Sciver, Dunkley and Knight all claimed a wicket each, none of them conceding over five runs an over.

The middling chase caused England few troubles as Danielle Wyatt and Amy Jones set off to a rollicking start, putting on 79 runs within eight overs, before the former was stumped for a 25-ball 37 off Siriwardana’s off-spin.

Jones, too, perished to the same bowler a short while later, for a 24-ball 36, but the damage had already been inflicted by then. Tammy Beaumont (16* off 21) and Sciver (10* off 13) then took take their side over the line with plenty to spare.