It was one of the bigger upsets in international cricket. Sri Lanka had never beaten England in their 10 previous women’s T20 internationals, and only once in 25 limited-overs internationals overall, yet they won by the huge margin of eight wickets with 40 balls to spare at Chelmsford.
In what they are treating as a squad-broadening series against Sri Lanka, England had easily won the first of the three matches at Hove in the rain of Thursday evening, but on a sunny afternoon were spun out for only 104 on a hybrid pitch where the visiting bowlers could finally grip the ball.
Sri Lanka’s five spinners – all of them finger-spinners – took the first eight England wickets. Their last two wickets were taken by Sri Lanka’s only non-spinner, the left-arm medium-pacer Udeshika Prabodhani, with the hosts leaving two of their 20 overs unused.
“I think Sri Lanka were outstanding,” England’s captain Heather Knight said. “We’re a very inexperienced side and I think that showed a little.
“It (the pitch) was a little bit two-paced, a few [balls] stuck in the pitch, but I think some of the dismissals were a little bit soft, mine included. They’ve given us a bit of humble pie to be honest.”
England sorely missed the batting of Nat Sciver-Brunt, while Sophia Dunkley was also rested and Sophie Ecclestone injured. In Sciver-Brunt’s absence they had nobody to manoeuvre the spinners and fielders, or use the depth of the crease, or play deft shots, except for Charlie Dean, who brought out her sweep to make 34 off 26 balls and take England past their lowest T20 international total of 87.
This series was turned on its head by Sri Lanka’s captain and one world-class player Chamari Athapaththu, the player of the match. She bowled the first over and ripped through Danni Wyatt’s defence with an off-break that turned. Very few balls from Sri Lanka’s five spinners subsequently turned but England could find no way of extracting themselves from a mire.
England’s opponents in the men’s 50-over World Cup that starts next month in India might consider following Sri Lanka women’s suit: four overs of spin in the first five overs left England reeling at 26 for three. And throughout their tentative innings England had no left-hander to disrupt the line of Sri Lanka’s spinners, except for Freya Kemp at number six, who was stumped down the leg side.
Athapaththu also set the tone when Sri Lanka chased down 105. A left-hander with a high, Brian Lara-like backlift, and considerable power, Athapaththu hit 21 runs off Kate Cross’s second over on her long-awaited comeback in T20 internationals. The over went for 1,2,4,4,4,6 as Sri Lanka’s captain switched from withering drives to pulls.
Sri Lanka scored 67 for one off their six overs of powerplay compared to England’s 32 for three. Another England pace bowler making a comeback, Issy Wong, had a nightmare opening over, which included three no-balls and a wide, costing 12 runs and, after a short break, her second over was equally expensive.
Whereas England were stuck in the crease by spin, Athapaththu dismissed everything England tried, including a six off Dean’s off-spin over the sightscreen. She reached her 50 off only 26 balls, before being caught for 55 off 31.
It will be a test of England’s learning ability against spin when the third and final match of this T20 series takes place in Derby on Wednesday evening – and when the T20 World Cup is played next year in Bangladesh.
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