Banton, Brook help England seal series

Led by Tom Banton's unbeaten 33-ball 54, England secured a thrilling 6-wicket win in the rain-marred encounter against Sri Lanka. Chasing a rain-revised target of 168 for a win, England crossed the line with two balls to spare to take a series-clinching 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Put in to bat, Sri Lanka had made a solid start to their innings with Pathum Nissanka smashing three boundaries in the opening over. The assault continued even against Jofra Archer in the next over as both the Sri Lankan openers hit the pacer for a six each. The spinners controlled the flow of runs thereafter for a brief while, before Archer struck in the last over of the powerplay, with Nissanka's thick under edge rocking his stumps.

Nonetheless, the Sri Lankan batters continued the charge after the half-century opening stand. Kusal Mendis and Pavan Rathanayake's blitz ensured that Sri Lanka cruised comfortably through the middle overs. The pacers, Archer and Jamie Overton, bore the brunt of their attack through the middle overs. However, a flurry of wickets, led by Dawson and Adil Rashid, pegged Sri Lanka back to 131 for 4 by the 14th over.

Rathnayake took the attack to Curran in the death overs, but in the absence of ample support from the other end, the hosts were restricted to 189 for 5.

In response, Jos Buttler blazed away in the chase, cracking four boundaries off his initial 10 deliveries. Even as England lost Phil Salt early, they kept the momentum going, with Jacob Bethell not holding back his intent. However, Sri Lanka did manage to restrict the flow of runs towards the second half of the powerplay, and ended up conceding only 51 runs in that phase.

England were on the backfoot when rain interrupted play. At 57 for 2 in 7.2 overs, they were still 12 runs behind the par score. The rain that lasted more than an hour eroded three overs of play. However, England came back with much sharper intrent. Buttler departed soon after, edging Dunith Wellalage to backward point, but Tom Banton had taken charge by then. To join the attack, came Harry Brook. The latter was especially destructive against Matheesha Pathirana, and slammed three sixes off the pacer.

Brook's innings lasted only 12 balls, but the 36 runs he scored made a huge difference in the momentum of the contest. On a day when most spinners had a good outing, Wanindu Hasaranga was put away for 44 runs, including three boundaries in the 14th over which flipped the contest in favour of England. Dasun Shanaka and Pathirana pushed the contest to the last over, but with only three runs to defend, there was little for Janith Liyanage to fight with. Curran sealed the contest by hoisting a length delivery over the long on boundary for a six.

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 189/5 in 20 overs (Pavan Rathnayake 40, Kamil Mishara 36; Jofra Archer 2-42) beat England 173/4 in 16.4 overs (Tom Banton 54*, Harry Brook 36; Matheesha Pathirana 2-47) by 6 wickets