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Sam Curran Score a hat trick England In the series opener against Sri Lanka, they started their preparations for the T20 World Cup with an easy 11th consecutive victory using the DLS method.
Curran became the second England bowler after Chris Jordan to take a hat-trick in International T20s as he bowled over Sri Lanka’s lower order to help the hosts restrict the innings to 133.
Adil Rashid Earlier, he bewildered the Sri Lankan batsmen in Kandy, taking 3 for 19 in four overs to demolish the hosts’ innings with a stunning performance.
Phil Salter The pair got the most out of their lives, leading England’s chase with 46 runs, but rain ended the match early, leaving England at 125, 4 and 11 runs ahead in the DLS approach.
Harry Brooke’s side will begin their bid for a third World T20 title against Nepal on February 8 in Mumbai.
If England advance from a group consisting of West Indies, Scotland, Nepal and Italy, as they should, their Super Eight matches will be in Sri Lanka – either in Kandy or in Colombo, where they won the ODI series earlier this week.
This three-match series is therefore an important preparation for England heading into the Championship.
Pre-match rain at the Palleke International Stadium, described by locals as “unseasonal”, reduced the match to 17 overs per team.
England won the toss and asked Sri Lanka to bat. Jofra Archer He was back in an England jersey after a surprise selection and was initially due to return for the World Cup before a side strain limited him for the Ashes series.
He announced his return with an 86mph yorker and almost took a wicket in his first over, but Kamil Mishara was bowled out by Liam Dawson.
Dawson took Mishara off Jamie Overton in the next over but Sri Lanka started well, posting 51 in a truncated 5.1 overs in the powerplay.
Kusal Mendis hit 20 in the seventh over bowled by Curran, who had scored 35 in the first two overs, but England took 5 wickets in as many overs as Sri Lanka, who slipped from 76 in over 1 to 98 in six overs.
Pathum Nissanka fell to Adil Rashid while Charith Asalanka was caught brilliantly by Jacob Bethell near Dawson.
Spinners Rashid and Dawson bowled beautifully, with the former removing Mendis for 37, before Dawson trapped Janith Liyanage while Rashid had Dhananjaya de Silva in trouble, skiing for 11 runs.
Dasun Shanaka scored 20 but was Curran’s first victim before the left-hander caught Maheesh Theekshana before dispersing the stumps of Eshan Malinga to complete his hat-trick.
Jos Buttler hit his stride with a 134-run win in the first set to equal England’s appearance record. The 35-year-old equaled James Anderson’s record of 401 games across all fixtures and will be on his own for Sunday’s game.
His opening partner Phil Salter, the world’s second-ranked T20 batsman, showed why by hitting a six off the first ball of the chase and four off the next two balls.
Buttler hit four consecutive boundaries off Malinga but the seamer hit him with a slower ball for 17 runs.
Jacob Bethell dropped 9 points while Mishara dropped a crucial 17 points to Salt.
Tom Banton gave England another boost with two sixes off Wanindu Hasaranga in the eighth over, before Salter was dismissed again in the 27th over.
Asaranka, who brilliantly caught Bandon for 29, helped England take Brooke to the finish line for 87 for three – scoring 136 off 66 balls in the third ODI on Tuesday.
Salter led England to victory but failed to score his eighth T20 fifty as he was eventually stopped by Shanaka before the rain returned.