The legspinners Joe Denly and Adil Rashid shared seven cheap wickets as England returned to form with an impressive win in Colombo
Ali Martin’s match report has landed, so I’ll leave you with that. Thanks for your company today. We’ll see you at 4am on 6 November for the first Test, right? Right?
Related: Joe Denly makes rampant return as England secure madcap win in Sri Lanka
Joe Denly finishes with figures of 4-0-19-4 on his second debut, and between them England’s legspinners* took 7-30 from their eight overs. Adil Rashid was masterful.
* England’s legspinners!
WICKET! Sri Lanka 157 all out (Malinga b Denly 5) Denly finishes the job by bowling Malinga, who tormented him earlier in the day. That’s a nice way to finish an excellent day for Denly and England.
Joe Denly, cleverly given the final over of the innings by Eoin Morgan, gets his third wicket when Perera clatters a full toss to cow corner. Perera played superbly, smashing six defiant sixes in the face of certain defeat.
19th over: Sri Lanka 149-8 (Perera 51, Malinga 5) Perera slams Curran for a couple of sixes to bring up a muscular fifty from 28 balls. Curran, who hasn’t had his best day, ends with figures of none for 40. Sri Lanka need 39 from the last over.
18th over: Sri Lanka 134-8 (Perera 37, Malinga 4) Jordan ends a classy spell with figures of 4-0-29-2. Sri Lanka need 54 from 12 balls.
17th over: Sri Lanka 125-8 (Perera 29, Malinga 2) Tom Curran replaces Liam Plunkett and gets away without conceding a boundary. England are heading for an impressive victory.
16th over: Sri Lanka 119-8 (Perera 26, Malinga 0) Sri Lanka need 69 from four overs. No.
Immaculate bowling from Jordan, who slips a yorker straight through the new batsman Aponso. That was far too good for a No9.
AfterPerera monsters Jordan over midwicket for his third six in four balls, Udana drives straight to Stokes at mid-off. Perera is running out of partners.
15th over: Sri Lanka 111-6 (Perera 19, Udana 0) Sri Lanka need 77 from 30 balls.
If anyone can score 15 an over it’s Thisara Perera. He smashes Plunkett for consecutive sixes, with a hook round the corner followed by a monstrous drive down the ground. Plunkett redeems the over with the wicket off Shanaka, who wafts all around a slower ball and is bowled.
14th over: Sri Lanka 96-5 (Perera 6, Shanaka 10) England are squeezing Sri Lanka out of the game. Jordan concedes only four from his second over, and two of those were leg-byes. Sri Lanka need an unlikely 92 from 36 balls.
“Afternoon Mr Smyth!” says Adam Hirst. “With our ambidextrous spinner out there, I thought I’d see if anybody knows any batsmen who have switched sides regularly to put the bowlers off their rhythm… It might help especially to combat spinners, going left-handed for the leggie for example. I’m thinking of trying this next weekend in the Brazilian National Championships (seriously!) if selected. It might give me a slight chance if I have to face the leggie again. I’ll try in the nets tomorrow, see how terrible it might be.”
13th over: Sri Lanka 92-5 (Perera 5, Shanaka 10) Rashid ends his spell with another superb over that costs just two. He finishes with career-best figures: 4-0-11-3. In the context of a high-scoring game, that is some performance.
12th over: Sri Lanka 90-5 (Perera 5, Shanaka 9) With two new batsmen at the crease, Moeen is able to slip through a thrifty ove- ah, maybe not, After five singles from the first five balls, Shanaka mauls the last ball over midwicket for six.
“Rob,” says John Starbuck. “It isn’t surprising that leg spinners are doing so well here, as they were identified as potential match-winners when T20 first got played. What is surprising is that it’s taken so long for England to find enough competent ones, which they do seem to have done now. Will they last the course next year?”
11th over: Sri Lanka 79-5 (Perera 1, Shanaka 1) Rashid’s figures are 3-0-10-3. His steady development under Morgan has been lovely to watch, and now he is among the best white-ball spinners in the world.
This is a masterful spell from Rashid, who has taken his second wicket in three balls and his third of the innings. Dhananjaya survived an LBW appeal after pushing around his front pad - but England reviewed and replays showed the ball pitched on leg stump and would have skidded on to hit leg. That was a very good review.
Rashid gets his second wicket when Kamindu Mendis sweeps a googly straight to Hales at deep square leg. That was a nice cameo, 24 from 14 balls, but his dismissal leaves Sri Lanka in trouble. All four wickets have fallen to England’s legspinners.
England’s legspinners!
10th over: Sri Lanka 77-3 (de Silva 17, Kamindu Mendis 24) Moeen Ali’s first ball is driven gloriously over long on for six by Mendis, who reverse sweeps over third man for four later in the over. He is playing beautifully on debut and has reaced to 24 from 13 balls. In between those strokes. Dhananjaya de Silva dragged the ball high towards deep midwicket, where Hales lost the ball in the floodlights. That probably would have been a comfortable catch.
9th over: Sri Lanka 64-3 (de Silva 16, Kamindu Mendis 12) A terrific over from Rashid - no boundaries, only five from it. He has become such an accomplished, confident white-ball bowler under Eoin Morgan.
8th over: Sri Lanka 59-3 (de Silva 13, Kamindu Mendis 10) Mendis lifts the new bowler Plunkett for a couple of boundaries over midwicket and extra cover. For all the understandable fuss over his bowling, his main strength is with the bat. Sri Lanka need 129 from 72 balls.
7th over: Sri Lanka 50-3 (de Silva 13, Kamindu Mendis 1) Kamindu Mendis, the ambidextrous bowler, is the new batsman. Left-handed, since you asked.
Adil Rashid, on for Joe Denly, strikes in his first over. Chandimal switch hits towards the point boundary, where the alert Hales moves smartly to take the catch. England - England - are beating Sri Lanka with legspin.
6th over: Sri Lanka 47-2 (Chandimal 25, de Silva 12) Chris Jordan replaces Tom Curran. Dhananjaya de Silva hits consecutive boundaries to fine leg, a hook followed by a flick round the corner off a slow full toss. Sri Lanka need 141 from the last 14 overs.
5th over: Sri Lanka 37-2 (Chandimal 24, de Silva 3) Chandimal clips a boundary through midwicket, the first off Denly’s bowling. That aside it’s another terrific over from Denly, who has figures of one for 12 from three overs. His second debut is going extremely well.
4th over: Sri Lanka 30-2 (Chandimal 19, de Silva 1) Chandimal gets Sri Lanka moving with three emphatic boundaries in Tom Curran’s second over.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 16-2 (Chandimal 7, de Silva 0) Denly has figures of 2-0-5-2, and a career IT20 bowling average of 4.66.
Another wicket for Joe Denly! Dickwella charges down the wicket, plays for non-existent spin and is bowled. The ball skidded on to hit off stump. “England have found their mystery spinner!” says Mahela Jayawardene. “He doesn’t spin it!”
2nd over: Sri Lanka 13-1 (Dickwella 3, Chandimal 5) Tom Curran almost strikes with his first delivery. Dickwella pulled him to square leg, where Hales swooped forward to take the catch at ground level. His muted celebration suggested he wasn’t certain it had carried cleanly, and so the umpires went upstairs. The soft signal was not out and, as ever in these cases, there wasn’t enough evidence for the third umpire to overturn the decision.
There’s another referral later in the over, this time for a run-out. The non-striker Dickwella was home and the ball deflected off the stumps to the boundary, so Chandimal gets four bonus runs.
1st over: Sri Lanka 7-1 (Dickwella 2, Chandimal 0)
Joe Denly strikes with the last ball of the first over! Kusal Mendis tried to slog sweep a flighted delivery that skidded on to hit the stumps. He missed a straight one, essentially, but who cares. That’s a lovely moment for Denly, who is playing his first international match since 2010.
20th over: England 187-8 (Plunkett 7, Jordan 2) England edged, scampered and thumped 10 runs from the last over. That’s a decent effort, especially after the damage done by Malinga in the previous over, and it means Sri Lanka need 188 to win.
Rashid drags the penultimate delivery of the innings back onto the stumps.
19th over: England 177-7 (Rashid 0, Plunkett 4) Plunkett digs out the hat-trick ball, an excellent yorker from Malinga, and blasts the next delivery down the ground for four. That was a brilliant over from Malinga - six runs, two wickets - and he ends with figures of two for 30.
Two in two balls for Malinga! Stokes is cleaned up by a low full toss and smacks his bat against his pad in frustration. He struggled to get going and made 26 from 27 balls. Malinga is on a hat-trick.
Malinga is too good for Denly, who holes out to long on to end a useful innings of 20 from 17 balls.
18th over: England 171-5 (Stokes 26, Denly 18) Udana replaces Malinga, whose last over is being saved. He also has an impressive collection of slower balls and restricts Stokes and Denly to six singles in the over. Superbly bowled.
17th over: England 165-5 (Stokes 23, Denly 15) After a slow start to his innings, Denly relieves some pressure by thumping Dhananjaya back over his head for four. That’s the first of three boundaries in four balls from Denly, an emphatic response to his trial by Malinga in the previous over.
16th over: England 152-5 (Stokes 22, Denly 3) Denly is hoodwinked by a magnificent slower full toss from Malinga that dips late and just misses the off stump. That’s the start of a brilliant over, full of the usual variations. He bowled four consecutive dot balls to Denly, who could barely lay bat on ball, before England scampered a single off each of the last two deliveries.
15th over: England 150-5 (Stokes 21, Denly 2) The new batsman Joe Denly gets off the mark with a single from his first ball. Amid the chaos and the rain, England are just about on course for 200.
Moeen’s breezy innings ends when he misses a mow across the line at Dhananjaya de Silva. It was a lovely little cameo of 27 from 11 balls.
14th over: England 141-4 (Stokes 18, Ali 23) The captain Thisara Perera comes into the attack. Stokes top-edges a pull shot that goes high in the air and lands just short of third man. Then Moeen, who looks in great touch, belts Perera for consecutive sixes. The first was a sweetly timed pick up over square leg, the second a lusty clout to cow corner. Moeen’s elegant savagery has brought 23 from nine balls.
13th over: England 126-4 (Stokes 17, Ali 9) Remember when batsmen used to play themselves in? Roy hit his second ball for six today and Moeen has done the same to his third, driving Sandakan lazily for six. Sandakan, the left-arm wrist spinner, ends with figures of one for 39 from his four overs.
12th over: England 116-4 (Stokes 15, Ali 1) The ambidextrous spinner Kamindu Mendis bowls the last four balls of the over he began before the rain delay. With two left-handers at the crease, he is bowling just right-arm offspin for the time being. England milk three singles from those four deliveries.
The players are back out on the field. We’re in serious danger of seeing some more cricket.
Play will resume at 4.30pm It’s stopped raining and the covers are coming off. We haven’t lost any overs either. Glory be!
All hail Virat “If I may be allowed to chip in on the matter of Virat Kohli, he was not someone liked by people around the world,” writes OB Jato. “He was talented, but he used too many expletives, was too impulsive, and a touch too aggressive. His wristwork was good, but his technical flaws were laid out in England. Now, his technique has changed, his attitude has changed, and the respect people have for him has increased beyond anyone’s, perhaps even his, imagination. Instead of being milestones, the hundreds he scores are just side-effects of the job at hand. He is the ultimate team player. His ODI average is above sixty, leaving most fans drooling and fellow players jealous, but they seem inevitable for a player like him at the same time. And every single cricket lover adores him for all that he has become.
“Just as I write this, he proves my point. After scoring his 38th century, he does not even bother taking off his helmet. He just raised his bat, punched his partner’s glove, and signalled the dressing room to sit down, which they duly did. For him, the situation is what he wants to excel in. We could all take a leaf out of his textbook, and learn to live life like he does - being calm, striving for success in the most unlikely of situations, and having the willpower to improve all the time.”
There’s no real change in the weather. It’s light rain, certainly by Sri Lankan standards, but the covers are still on and there are no plans for an inspection just yet.
“While play is stopped in Sri Lanka, maybe it will be rational to move over to nearby India (through the telly, of course) and see Kohli possibly score his 38th century, his third on the trot?” says Abhijato Sensarma. “What a player he is! The chase itself is in a tense stage too, with Dhoni gone and the last specialist batting pair no longer at the crease. Another thriller is on the cards for the fans.”
As I type, Kohli’s average in ODIs has just gone above 60. Sixty!
I take it all back. Apparently the rain is starting to ease off, so we might have some more play sooner rather than later. Nobody knows anything.
The rain is getting heavier, so I fear that might be it for the day. There’s still plenty of time left but that’s not much good if it pours down for the next couple of hours.
11.2 overs: England 113-4 (Stokes 13, Ali 0) Stokes pulls Mendis for six and then the umpires decide the rain is too heavy. It’s not apocalyptic, however, so there is still a chance of more play. Let’s hope so because it’s been a memorably manic start to the match.
11th over: England 107-4 (Stokes 7, Ali 0)
Roy’s spectacular innings continues with consecutive sixes off Sandaka, a slog sweep followed by a thump down the ground that just clears the rope, but his luck finally runs out when he is dismissed in strange circumstances.
Roy flashed at a wide googly from Sandaka which was taken by the keeper Dickwella. The umpire was unmoved until Dickwella jumped up and down in celebration, at which point he raised the finger to give Roy out. Roy, who seemed irritated by Dickwella’s role as wicketkeeper-batsman-umpire, reviewed the decision without success.
10th over: England 89-3 (Roy 56, Stokes 3) Replays show Stokes would have been given out had Sri Lanka reviewed that LBW appeal. It has started to rain, though it’s fairly light at the moment so play will continue. Roy blasts Kamindu Mendis through the off side for four, heaves a full toss for six to reach an eventful half-century from 30 balls and is then dropped for the fourth time! That was a much tougher chance for Kusal Mendis on the run, though he probably should have taken it.
9th over: England 74-3 (Roy 42, Stokes 2) Roy is dropped twice in Sandakan’s over, both absolute sitters. That’s extraordinary. The first was to the substitute Samarawickrama at midwicket, the second to Shanaka at long off. Roy heaved a six over midwicket in between the dropped catches, and then Stokes survived a very good LBW appeal after missing a sweep at a googly. I’m surprised Sri Lanka didn’t review that as it looked really close.
8th over: England 65-3 (Roy 34, Stokes 1) The ambidextrous spinner Kamindu Mendis is going to bowl for the first time. He starts with some left-arm spin to the right-handed Roy, who takes a single off the first ball, and then switches to offspin for the left-handed Stokes. What the bloody blazes!
It’s important for England to forget the novelty and the hoopla; play the ball not the ambidextrous bowler. But they can manage only three singles from a very impressive first over. Mendis looks equally capable as a left-arm spinner and an offspinner. Look, both hands!
7th over: England 62-3 (Roy 32, Stokes 0) Roy looks rattled, understandably enough, and needs to settle down quicksmart.England have lost three wickets for 21 in the last 23 balls.
With the Powerplay over, the left-arm wrist spinner Lakshan Sandakan comes into the attack - and his second ball brings a wicket, albeit through a run out. Morgan mistimed a reverse sweep and was called through for a very dodgy single by Roy. He was miles short when Sandakan collected the throw from short third man, turned and threw down the stumps in one movement. Roy, though he has batted well, has played a big part in the dismissals of both Hales and Morgan.
6th over: England 59-2 (Roy 30, Morgan 11) Morgan drives Aponso over mid-off for a one-bounce four. When he’s in form, he is exhilarating to watch.
5th over: England 52-2 (Roy 27, Morgan 6) Malinga returns to the attack, and the in-form Morgan gets his first boundary with a beautiful piece of timing through extra cover.
“Hi Rob,” says John Starbuck. “Does Joe Denly’s presence in the side indicate a willingness of England’s part to turn back the clock?”
4th over: England 46-2 (Roy 27, Morgan 1)
Alex Hales has gone third ball. He missed a sweep at Aponso and was hit on the pad, prompting a huge appeal which was eventually given. I thought it might have been slipping past leg stump, and Hales was clearly angling for a review, but Jason Roy seemed to suggest he should suck it up. That was a mistake because replays showed it was missing leg stump by a long way. That’s a very poor decision.
Buttler chips Aponso low towards extra cover, where Chandimal swoops forward to take a good catch. Buttler had looked in good nick, with three boundaries in his seven-ball 13.
3rd over: England 37-0 (Roy 27, Buttler 9) Isuru Udana, the left-arm seamer, drops a difficult return chance off his first delivery. Roy, duped by a slower ball, muscled it whence it came; Udana stretched to his left in his follow-through but couldn’t hang on.
Roy has another scare later in the over when the umpires refer an appeal for obstructing the field to the third umpire. He was more than halfway down the track when Buttler sent him back, and as he attempted to make his ground he unwittingly blocked the throw from Shanaka. As he did not change direction in an attempt to block the throw, he is rightly given not out. He celebrates the reprieve by driving the next delivery sweetly over long on for six. He played that with a golf swing.
2nd over: England 29-0 (Roy 20, Buttler 8) The left-arm spinner Amila Aponso shares the new ball and improves on Malinga by only conceding 13. Roy clumps the first ball back over his head for four and switch hits the second just over point for another boundary. Jos Buttler joins in with a stunning drive between mid off and extra cover for four. That could barely have been placed or timed better.
1st over: England 16-0 (Roy 11, Buttler 4) A flying start from England, who take 16 from Lasith Malinga’s first over! Jason Roy swished the second ball over long off for a majestic six, and he and Jos Buttler added a boundary apiece later in the over.
“Afternoon, Rob,” says Ian Copestake. “Will you allow me to address the white elephant in the room? Does an ambi. bowler have to announce to the umpire that he is switching from right-arm over to left-arm whatever?”
Yes. You owe me five large for that information. The difference gets tacked onto the principal.
Some pre-match reading
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Sri Lanka Dickwella (wk), Kusal Mendis, Chandimal, Dhananjaya da Silva, Shanaka, Perera (c), Udana, Kamindu Mendis, Malinga, Aponso, Sandakan.
England Roy, Buttler (wk), Hales, Morgan (c), Stokes, Denly, Ali, Rashid, Plunkett, T Curran, Jordan.
It’s dry at the moment in Colombo, though there are some nasty clouds overhead. Kamindu Mendis has been included in the Sri Lankan side, while Joe Denly is back in the England team for the first time since 2010.
Hello. Let’s be honest, Twenty20 is so 2020. That’s the year in which the next World T20 takes place, and for now England’s white-ball focus is almost entirely on next year’s 50-over World Cup.
T20 internationals have been a bit of an afterthought since that unthinkable climax in Kolkata two years ago, when Carlos Brathwaite ransacked England’s hopes and dreams with four consecutive sixes in Ben Stokes’ final over. A one-off match against Sri Lanka won’t change that, but there is at least the chance to see a rare and special talent. Enough about Joe Denly’s recall to international cricket for the first time since 2010 (honk!) because the ambidextrous spinner Kamindu Mendis will make his international debut for Sri Lanka.
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