England 204/2 (20)
Danielle Wyatt 51 (33), Amy Jones 57 (38) Oshadi Ranasinghe 28-2 (4)
Beat
Sri Lanka 108/6 (20)
Hansima Karunaratne 44* (53), Dilani Manodara 17 (20) Kate Cross 20-2 (4)
By 96 runs
e
England swept the board on winning the third T2OI against Sri Lanka at the P Sara Oval, Colombo. An emphatic victory, it was also their sixth consecutive T20I win. The match saw England post their second highest T20I total, their highest of 250 coming against South Africa last year.
With the tossed coin obliging them once again, Sri Lanka decided to chase this time. Little would they have known what was in store.
England raced off the blocks. The Powerplay fetched 61 runs. Debutant Madushika Methtananda’s second over, the fourth of the Powerplay, went for 16 runs helped by three successive boundaries struck by Amy Jones.
Halfway into the innings England were 95-0, Danielle Wyatt bringing up her fifty off just 30 balls. The next over brought about her dismissal by Oshadi Ranasinghe for 51 runs from 33 deliveries. Jones reached her fifty with a six. Then she perished too to Ranasinghe who was the pick of the bowlers conceding just 28 runs in 4 overs. But, there was no let-up by England.
Sri Lanka must have grown weary of the sight of Tammy Beaumont (42* from 25) and Natalie Sciver (49* from 24) at the crease in this series. The duo had remained unbeaten in the previous T20Is. And, this match was no different.
They flayed the Sri Lankan bowlers to share an unbeaten stand of 88 runs. They drove England to the highest T20I total posted in Sri Lanka – 204. Along the way, Sciver reached the 1000-run milestone in T20I cricket. Sri Lanka’s chase was scuppered from the get-go. They lost 3 wickets inside the Powerplay and four in 7 overs. Opener Umesha Thimashini was the first to go. She was trapped lbw by Linsey Smith for 1 run from 3 balls.
Captain Chamari Athapaththu (10 runs from 9 balls) edged behind off Freya Davies. Shashikala Siriwardene fell to Kate Cross for 5 runs from 7 balls. Oshadi Ranasinghe was bowled by Laura Marsh for 9 runs from 14 balls. In the 9th over, Harshitha Madavi was cleaned up by skipper Heather Knight. Hansima Karunaratne remained unbeaten on 44 runs from 53 balls at the other end, a lone star for the hosts. She forged a 36-run partnership with Dilani Manodara (17 runs from 20 balls). Cross pinned Manodara lbw in the 18th over. But, the chase had fallen by the wayside long ago. It was yet another insipid batting performance by the Sri Lankans. Curiously, they scored the exact total (108-6) as in the previous match – a sign of some sort no doubt.
Heather Knight speaking on her side’s victory said, “I’m a very happy captain at the moment. I’ve been delighted with how ruthless we’ve been. We talked about imposing ourselves on Sri Lanka and being clinical and we’ve done that throughout the ODI and the T20I series.”
“It’s been so pleasing that a number of different players have stood up at different times. Amy Jones has been fantastic, but everyone has contributed throughout the trip and that bodes well as we look to increase competition for places and strength in depth,” she added.
