England spinners set up dramatic win as Sri Lanka collapse

Sri Lanka finished their final series before the T20 World Cup with a 3-0 loss to England, which came after two alarming batting collapses in the span of five days. For large parts of the game on Tuesday, Sri Lanka were primed to deny England a clean sweep as they restricted the visitors to 128/9. The batters however, didn't turn up well enough to push for that finish as they fell from 62/2 to 116 allout. In spite of their small score, England may have been in with a chance on a worn-out Pallekele pitch for the third T20I of the series. Luke Wood gave England just the start they needed, by dismissing opener Kamil Mishara for a duck in the opening over. However, as Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis tried to move on, Sri Lanka got going with a 14-run fourth over from Jamie Overton. In the fifth over, Liam Dawson ended that when a sharply turned ball caused Nissanka to toe-end a shot to cover. Mendis and Pavan Rathnayake finished the PowerPlay well with a nine-run over but were both tied down by Adil Rashid and Jacob Bethell at the start of the middle-overs. After that, Rashid bowled a fantastic googly to beat Rathnayake and rattle his stumps, beginning a dramatic fall. Harry Brook looked to maximise the turning conditions and brought on Will Jacks next, who struck on the first ball. That however, came with a stroke of luck as Mendis top-edged a sweep against a ball bowled down the leg. Sri Lanka pushed to 90/4 in 13 overs and still looked favourites to pull the chase off, but Jacks kept England interested by trapping Kamindu Mendis leg before and then had Janith Liyanage slog sweep to the deep square leg fielder in his next over, reducing the hosts to 97/6. Dunith Wellalage and Dasun Shanaka dragged the team past the 100-run mark but a triple-wicket over from Bethell turned the tide violently. After Wellalage was sent packing by Jos Buttler, Dushmantha Chammera mistimed his drive to Brook at cover, Shanaka was stumped by a big, turning ball, and so on. Bethell picked his fourth wicket of the evening in the 20th over, off Maheesh Theekshana, to complete England's incredible victory. Before Bethell and Jacks could spin their side to a win, it took a fighting fifty from Sam Curran to push England to a total that looked remotely defendable. It got to Curran because the top-order had been wiped out early and the middle was wobbly too. Dushmantha Chameera, who scored a fifer, took a wicket in the first over by catching Ben Duckett leg before with a sharp shape. It needed a bowling-side review to send the opener packing for a duck. Jacob Bethell was fooled by Matheesha Pathirana's slower shot, which the batter edged to Kusal Mendis behind the stumps. Matheesha Pathirana took advantage of the conditions. Pathirana finished off a strong start with a fourth wicket in the sixth over after Harry Brook mistimed a big shot to extra cover when he didn't see the off-cutter coming. Dunith Wellalage picked up the third wicket of the PowerPlay and cleaned up Tom Banton by bowling slower through the air. In six overs, England struggled to 35/4 and continued to slide downward in the middle overs. Buttler attempted to pull his side out of the rut but was bowled by Theekshana. Curran began to fire-fight from this point on, even as he continued to run out of batting partners. Chameera returned in the 11th over to dismiss Jacks. Curran and Dawson swung for the fences, getting a few fours, and added 47 runs for the seventh wicket to take the team past 100 runs. They still had the potential to reach a higher total. But once again Chameera came back to dent England, this time with a double-wicket over - with wickets of Dawson and Overton. Curran carried on, got his fifty in the 19th over and peeled off a couple more fours before becoming Chameera's fifth wicket. A 10-run final over dragged England to 128/9, which surprisingly proved to be enough on the day.