Captain Athapaththu leads from the front again in second successive shock victory
Sri Lanka 117 for 3 (Athapaththu 44) beat England 116 (Boucher 23, Athapaththu 3-21, Dilhari 2-16, Prabhodhani 2-16) by seven wickets
Sri Lanka sealed their first series win over England in any format with a second successive shock victory. England failed to peel themselves off the canvas four days after their maiden T20I defeat to Sri Lanka, who bowled them out inside 20 overs for the second match in a row to take the series 2-1 in Derby.
Bundled out for just 104 in 18 overs at Chelmsford on Saturday, a combination of excellent bowling from Sri Lanka offspinner Kavisha Dilhari, seamer Udeshika Prabodhani and none other than their in-form captain Chamari Athapaththu – along with some soft dismissals – led to England’s downfall on this occasion, all out for 116 after 19 overs.
Then Athapaththu produced a signature display of power-hitting to break the back of the run chase. Despite falling just shy of her second successive half-century, she did enough to lead her side to victory by seven wickets with 18 balls to spare and deliver England’s first bilateral T20I series defeat to a side other than Australia since 2010. The result will also give her side a significant confidence boost ahead of the three-match ODI series between these sides starting in Durham on Saturday.
( Source : ESPN)
