Match Details

ENG vs SL 1st Matchth Matchth-Matchth-Match, SL vs ENG 2021

ENG

130-217.1

England won by 8 wickets

20.0129-7

Match info

Live

Scorecard

Session	Open	PASS
6 Over	50	61
10 Over	93	83

Session	Open	PASS
6 Over	47	39
10 Over	69	57
15 Over	91	94
20 Over	137	129

Commentary

So that's it for our coverage tonight though and it is time for me, Arjun Bhalla, to say goodbye on me and my colleagues, Anurag Dasgupta and Anurag Singh's, behalf. See you tomorrow, i.e. 24th - the day when the Grand PSL Final and second T20 of this series are scheduled. Till then, goodnight!

Arjun: England have taken a one-nil lead in the three-match T20I series. Sri Lanka’s think tank; Mickey Arthur and Kusal Perera; have to pull some special stunts here, bring someone from the domestic level or some out-of-box gamble. These boys need some inspiration, else the World Champions of the 1996 WC and 2014 World T20 will facing an all-time low, if it isn’t now.

Jos Buttler | Player of the Match: It was a nice performance. The bowlers set it up for us. Bowling first allows you to analyse the wicket better and plan accordingly when batting. We knew it was a surface where power strokes were needed, with short boundaries. It's about batting in partnerships and it's always great to see him (Roy) go well. It was a great target to chase, credit to the bowlers.

Jos Buttler gets the Player of the Match award for his 68* off 55 balls.

Eoin Morgan | England captain: Quite a comprehensive performance. The pressure the boys created at the beginning, middle and end, was impressive. Bowlers made us look really good today, reduced Sri Lanka to an under-par score. Then the openers gave us that platform upfront, Jos showing his class once again. When you get ahead in the game, we have to sit back and get the best bowlers in certain situations. He (Livingstone) is an all-rounder in the squad, it was good to see him get a wicket early. Bowling both leg-spin and off-spin is a luxury, he is also great in the field and of course with the bat. Great to have Woakesy back. He has been a critical part of our limited-overs setup for a while now. Having back-to-back matches is always stressful for the players, so we might tinker a bit with the squad.

Kusal Perera | SL captain: Credit to England. They bowled well. We didn't have enough runs on the board. Our bowlers tried well. We are backing our batting to come back. Not a lot of time (before next match) and we hope to bounce back. He (Hasaranga) has been really good for us, Dasun (Shanaka) also did a good job.

Arjun: Throughout their time in the middle, they smashed everyone all around the park, be it be a spinner or a fast bowler. But Roy played too many strokes and handed one off Chameera to Gunathilaka at deep. However, Buttler’s hunger for runs wasn’t over. As he first partnered with Malan, then got accompanied by Bairstow as England finished the chase without losing any sweat. In the end, the wicket-keeper ended with an unbeaten 68 off 55 balls.

Arjun: As the second innings progressed, the pitch started behaving strangely and showed its two-faced nature. The English pair of Jos Buttler and Jason Roy seemed pretty obnoxious against Chamerra and Pradeep. The former was looking to produce shots, while the latter was failing to find his timing. However, the duo decided to time the strokes, as a result, started soothing boundaries against the Lankan bowlers.

Arjun: Sophia Gardens here in Cardiff hosted two t20 Blast games, last week, before this first T20I between England and Sri Lanka, and thus the slowness of the pitch was pretty evident. 150 runs were the par total, hence, Sri Lanka decided to bat first against the Number One ranked England. However, the plan didn’t go accordingly as the Lankans kneeled against the English bowlers, especially the leggie - Adil Rashid. The visitors finished the innings on 127 for the loss of seven wickets, which was honestly less than a modest total against this England team.

England have sealed the deal pretty easily in this series opener, here at Cardiff. The host have won by eight wickets and go one-up in the series!

17.1 D Chameera to J Buttler

1 Edged and it flows past the keeper to the third man region. Length outside off to Buttler who tries for the big heave to win the game in style but gets a thick edge to Perera who drops the catch and they sneak in a single to win the first of three-match T20 series.

OVER 17.0

England

129/2

Jonny Bairstow

13(12)

Jos Buttler

67(54)

Akila Dananjaya

0-40(4.0)

16.6 A Dananjaya to J Bairstow

6 SIX!! Classic Bairstow, smokes this out of the park. Tosses this up on the stumps to Baristow who slog sweeps this over the mid wicket boundary for a mammoth six.

16.5 A Dananjaya to J Bairstow

0 Punches this short delivery to the sweeper and takes a single.

16.4 A Dananjaya to J Buttler

1 Fuller and straighter this time, wristed away to long-on for a single

16.3 A Dananjaya to J Bairstow

1 shortish googly hits Bairstow on the pads as he tries to pull this one.

16.2

A Dananjaya to J Bairstow

16.1 A Dananjaya to J Bairstow

4 FOURR!! Bairstow frees his arms. Flatter and quicker one outside off to Bairstow who plays an excellent reverse sweep wide of the short third man and collects a boundary.

OVER 16.0

England

117/2

Jos Buttler

66(53)

Jonny Bairstow

2(7)

Isuru Udana

1-30(4.0)

15.6 I Udana to J Bairstow

1 Bowls a yorker and Bairstow digs this out to long on and takes a single off the last delivery.