Once upon a time, England were like the joke of every tournament. Despite being the inventors of the game, they couldn’t win a World Cup—barring their T20I triumph—and failed in glorious ways in almost every tournament.
Not anymore. The current England team have some very fine cricketers that have powered the team to a different level. No longer are they the beating boys in World Cups. Sri Lanka’s team might be depleted, but the fact that Joss Buttler and co. could power the team to 171/4 in 20 overs is a testament to their quality.
Sri Lanka started very poorly, but built their innings in the middle and almost crossed the final line as Angelo Matthews' inspired innings took them close, but just not enough.
There were several unforgettable moments throughout the match that don’t fade away, quite like the AxeSignature line of body perfumes. Here are 5 moments which will remain in the fans' memories for a long time:
1.Jason Roy and Root star
Both Jason Roy and Joe Root came into the scene as highly rated youngsters who would be the frontrunners of the England cricket team in the future. And right now, they are fulfilling what was predicted of them.
After losing the dangerous Alex Hales with just 4 runs on board, Root and Roy played with utmost diligence and put up a wonderful partnership of 61 runs at very crucial time. This partnership turned out to the perfect launching stone for the middle-order batsmen.
Had anyone of the two lost their wicket early, it could have been such a different story for the Three Lions. In the end, both of them got out with 42 (Roy) and 25 (Root) runs beside their names.
2.Vandersay's dangerous leggies
Sri Lanka have always produced some incredible spinners in their history, none better than the great Muttiah Muralitharan. At one point, Ajanta Mendis was creating waves with his mysterious bowling but has lost into oblivion.
Rangana Herath, however, has shown that he is much more consistent and has been really amazing with his slow-left armers.
Now, however, there seems to be another spinner on the rise in the shortest format: Jeffrey Vandersay. While his stats suggest that he decent at best, he is turning out to be a great asset for the Lankans in T20Is.
Against England, he picked up the crucial wickets of Jason Roy and Joe Root, who were playing incredibly well at that point, and ended up with figures of 26 for 2 after 4 overs.
3.Jos Buttler’s wrath
In the last 5 overs of their innings, England scored a mammoth 72 runs. From 99 in 15 overs, very few expected them to cross the 150 margin. However, they went beyond that range.
And it was all thanks to Jos Buttler. The Englishman made Sri Lankan bowlers the subject of his fury as he powered his way to an unbeaten 66 of just 37 balls. He smacked the bowling left, right and center and took England to a target that, perhaps, not even he was expecting.
In the end, his innings was what made the difference as England won the game by a very small margin of 10 runs.
4.Jordan’s 4-for
Chris Jordan has finally established himself in the England team after initial struggles. Today, we see him play for the England cricket team fulfilling the talent he threatened to display as a young teenager.
Against Sri Lanka, he was on fire. At first, he got the very important wicket of Dinesh Chandimal. Sri Lanka could not understand what hit them as they had already lost 2 wickets at that point with only 4 runs on board.
However, it was his death bowling that won England the game. In his last two overs, he got the crucial wickets of Dasun Sanaka and Thisara Perrera—both of whom were looking really dangerous. He ended the game with incredible figures of 28 for 4 after 4.
5.Matthews Magic
He almost got Sri Lanka home. Almost. The Sri Lanka team look completely shambolic as of now, but Matthews offers a ray of hope. The captain played a leader’s knock today and at one point, looked set to win the game for Sri Lanka single-handedly.
His reign of terror continued over a span of 54 balls as he smacked 73 runs in the process. Had wickets not kept tumbling on the other end, this man might as well have got them over the line.
However, it wasn’t to be. He ultimately stayed not out and had to bear the pain of not being able to prevent defeat. But, nonetheless, it was a magical innings.
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