0
KANDY: England routed Sri Lanka for 95 to give captain Harry Brook a perfect birthday present as they opened the T20 World Cup Super Eights phase with a resounding 51-run win in Kandy on Sunday.
After England were asked to bat first and scored what looked like a below-par 146-9, Jofra Archer and Will Jacks took five wickets during the six-over power play to leave Sri Lanka’s top order in tatters at 34-5.
“That’s a beautiful birthday present,” said Brook, who turned 27 on Sunday.
“I thought we played exceptionally there. To get over the line and bowl them out for less than 100 is an awesome effort.
“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.”
It was England’s 12th win in a row against Sri Lanka and on a pitch that was sticky and slow after rain all week in Kandy.
The margin of victory gives them a healthy net run rate advantage in a Super Eights group that could be further affected by weather, after the New Zealand-Pakistan match was washed out on Saturday in Colombo.
“We’re buzzing with that,” said Jacks who was named player-of-the-match for the third time in five matches in the tournament.
“At the halfway stage, we were pleased to get up to 146, but obviously we knew we were going to have to bowl well and work hard.”
The searing pace of Archer accounted for both openers, including the in-form Pathum Nissanka (nine), who had scored a century and 62 in his last two knocks but failed to clear Jamie Overton at deep mid-wicket.
Archer finished with 2-20 and Jacks 3-22, the latter accounting for Kusal Mendis (four) and Pavan Rathnayake (0) in consecutive balls.
Dunith Wellalage staved off the hat-trick but lasted only 10 balls before also falling to Jacks, for 10.
Dasun Shanaka fought a lone battle scoring 30 off 24 balls before falling to Adil Rashid.
The Sri Lanka captain took on the leg-spinner but Jacks took the catch and tossed the ball to Tom Banton before stepping over the boundary.
“It’s one bad game which is not affordable in a World Cup,” said Shanaka. “But we need to bounce back in the next couple of games.”
Sri Lanka earlier restricted England to 146-9 with left-arm spinner Wellalage taking 3-26.
Phil Salt scored 62 at the top of the order but Sri Lanka, who are missing three of their frontline bowlers, contained the rest of the England batting line-up with regular wickets.
Wellalage was introduced during the power play and trapped the out-of-form Jos Buttler (seven) and Brook (14), both lbw, as England limped to 68-4 at the halfway mark.
Salt was caught in the deep off Wellalage after facing 40 deliveries with six fours and two sixes.
Jacks, with 21, was the only other England batsman to score more than 20.
“Jacksie was pretty annoyed with the way he got out,” said Brook, who then explained why the new ball was tossed to the off-spinner.
“He said to me he always bowls better when he’s angry, and thankfully he got off to a cracking start.”
Left-arm seamer Dils—han Madushanka took 2-25 while Maheesh Theekshana took 2-21 with his offspin.
Sri Lanka will now have to do it “the hard way” if they are to make the semi-finals, admitted their batting coach.
For Sri Lanka, next up are New Zealand in Colombo on Wednesday, leaving little time to regroup.
“We have no choice now but to win our next two games. We will do it the hard way,” Sri Lanka batting coach Vikram Rathour told reporters.
Nissanka’s dismissal exposined Sri Lank’s shaky middle order and they folded in 16.4 overs.
“When your best batter is dismissed early, you tend to struggle and that’s what happened today,” said Rathour. “It was a tacky wicket as it was under cover for a while. After losing a few wickets, it was tough to get back into the game.”
SCOREBOARD
ENGLAND:
P. Salt c Hemantha b Wellalage 62
J. Buttler lbw b Wellalage 7
J. Bethell c Madushanka b Theekshana 3
T. Banton run out 6
H. Brook lbw b Wellalage 14
S. Curran c Mishara b Chameera 11
W. Jacks c Wellalage b Madushanka 21
L. Dawson c Shanaka b Theekshana 6
J. Overton not out 10
J. Archer c Hemantha b Madushanka 0
A. Rashid not out 1
EXTRAS (LB-2, W-3) 5
TOTAL (for nine wkts, 20 overs) 146
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16 (Buttler), 2-32 (Bethell), 3-49 (Banton), 4-68 (Brook), 5-94 (Curran), 6-106 (Salt), 7-124 (Dawson), 8-135 (Jacks), 9-135 (Archer)
BOWLING: Madushanka 4-0-25-2, Wellalage 4-0-26-3, Theekshana 4-0-21-2 (2w), Hemantha 4-0-38-0, Chameera 4-0-34-1 (1w)
SRI LANKA:
P. Nissanka c Overton b Archer 9
K. Mishara c Overton b Archer 6
K. Mendis c&b Jacks 4
P. Rathnayake c Banton b Jacks 0
D. Wellalage c Brook b Jacks 10
K.D. Mendis c&b Dawson 13
D. Shanaka c Banton b Rashid 30
D. Hemantha hit wicket b Overton 5
D. Chameera b Dawson 6
M. Theekshana not out 10
D. Madushanka b Rashid 0
EXTRAS (W-2) 2
TOTAL (all out, 16.4 overs) 95
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-15 (Nissanka), 2-20 (K. Mendis), 3-20 (Rathnayake), 4-22 (Mishara), 5-34 (Wellalage), 6-52 (K.D. Mendis), 7-69 (Hemantha), 8-82 (Shanaka), 9-94 (Chameera)
BOWLING: Archer 3-0-20-2 (1w), Jacks 4-0-22-3, Dawson 4-0-27-2, Rashid 3.4-0-13-2 (1w), Overton 2-0-13-1
RESULT: England won by 51 runs.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Will Jacks
Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2026
