Cricket : Malan, Bairstow, Willey hand Sri Lanka a thrashing as England sweep T20I series 3-0

ESPNcricinfo
England completed a 3-0 clean sweep over Sri Lanka in the T20I series with a crushing 89-run victory at the Ageas Bowl. It was the fourth-largest victory margin in terms of runs England have achieved in the format.

Despite the loss of both regular openers to injury, England posted a century stand for the first wicket to grasp a firm hold on the match which they were never to relinquish. Dawid Malan was named Player of the Match for a fluent inning of 76 that belied the slow nature of the pitch. Jonny Bairstow made 51. Nobody in the rest of the match passed 20.

England lost their way a little towards the end of their innings. An excellent spell of death bowling from Dushmantha Chameera, a bright spot amid the rubble of a bitterly disappointing Sri Lanka performance, saw England lose five wickets for 19 runs between the 16th and 19th overs. Chameera finished with career-best figures of 4 for 17.

Chris Jordan, however, helped England plunder 17 from the final over of the innings to take them to a total that was always likely to prove beyond the reach of a side that had failed to reach 130 in either of the first two games in the series.

So it proved as England’s seamers, gaining a degree of lateral movement that is unusual with the white Kookaburra ball, combined to bowl Sri Lanka out for just 91. It was the fourth-lowest score Sri Lanka have made from a completed T20I inning.

Chris Woakes, Sam Curran and Jordan took 4 for 36 from their 12 overs combined, while David Willey picked up three wickets.
Summarized scores: England 180 for 6 (Malan 76, Bairstow 51, Chameera 4-17) beat Sri Lanka 91 (Binura 20, Willey 3-27, Curran 2-14) by 89 runs

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