Sri Lanka meet England in the third and final Twenty20 International at Old Trafford, Manchester, on Saturday, playing only to avoid a 3-0 whitewash after England took the series with a match to spare, the Daily Mirror reported and Hiru News reported.
The match starts at 7.00 p.m. Sri Lanka time.
Harry Brook’s side lead 2-0 after winning the second T20I in Cardiff by six wickets. Sri Lanka lost the opener at the Utilita Bowl and folded from 55 without loss to 145 for 9 at Sophia Gardens on Thursday.
The series in four numbers
The individual tallies show how one-sided the two matches have been.
- Harry Brook — 137 runs, England’s leading scorer
- Liam Dawson — 5 wickets, the series’ leading wicket-taker
- Pathum Nissanka — 49 runs, Sri Lanka’s leading scorer
- Wanindu Hasaranga — 2 wickets, Sri Lanka’s leading wicket-taker
Brook alone has scored nearly three times as many runs as Sri Lanka’s most productive batter across the series, and Dawson has taken more than twice Hasaranga’s wickets. Nissanka’s 49 includes the 37 from 21 balls he made in Cardiff, which means he contributed 12 runs in the opening match.
The captain arrives after the series is lost
The more significant detail is one neither outlet presents as a story.
Hiru reports that Kusal Mendis — Sri Lanka’s regular ODI and T20I captain — did not feature in the T20I series at all, and departed for England only on Friday, the day after the series was decided. Fast bowler Asitha Fernando travelled with him. Both are expected to join the squad ahead of the ODI leg.
Sri Lanka Cricket named Mendis captain of both white-ball squads when it picked the touring parties on 2 September, with Charith Asalanka as vice-captain in both. Asalanka has led throughout the T20Is as stand-in.
That means Sri Lanka contested and lost a full T20I series without the captain it had appointed for it, and he lands in England only for the one-day matches. Neither outlet gives a reason for his absence, says whether it was injury, illness or selection, or reports any comment from Sri Lanka Cricket.
A squad list that does not match the squad
The Daily Mirror published a 13-name Sri Lanka list for the match. It does not reconcile with the 16-member T20I squad Sri Lanka Cricket named on 2 September, and readers should treat it with caution:
- it includes Pavan Rathnayake, who was named in the ODI squad, not the T20I squad
- it omits Eshan Malinga, who played in Cardiff and took the catch that dismissed Brook
- it also omits Nuwan Thushara and Binura Fernando, both named in the T20I squad
Its omission of Kusal Mendis is the one difference Hiru’s report explains.
The England party listed is Brook (captain), Jos Buttler, Ben Duckett, Tom Banton, Aneurin Donald, Jordan Cox, Will Jacks, James Coles, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Sonny Baker, Saqib Mahmood and Josh Tongue.
Context
England have won 22 of their past 25 completed T20 internationals. Sri Lanka arrived seeking a first series win over England in 12 years; that is now out of reach, and Saturday decides only whether the tour’s opening leg ends 3-0 or 2-1.
Three one-day internationals follow. Sri Lanka then tour Pakistan in October and November.
Not reported
Neither outlet names a playing XI, reports the Old Trafford pitch or weather outlook, or carries any comment from Asalanka, Brook or the Sri Lanka team management ahead of the match. Neither explains why Mendis and Asitha Fernando travelled separately from the rest of the squad, nor whether Mendis was available for selection at any point during the T20Is.
