Sri Lanka fell twice to England Lions in their warm-up matches
- Back-to-back defeats expose shortcomings in T20Is
Sri Lanka’s shortcomings in the T20I format were clearly exposed in the two warm-up games against England Lions, which they lost by margins of nine wickets.
These matches were played in order to allow the players to get acclimatised to the English conditions ahead of the three-match T20 International series against England starting at the Rose Bowl in Southampton today (15).
The second warm-up game played at Beckenham on Sunday saw England Lions coasting past a DLS-adjusted target of 73 from eight overs with 10 balls remaining.
Kamil Mishara was Sri Lanka’s top-scorer with 31 as they posted 156-9, but rain fell at the innings break, initially reducing England’s innings to 12 overs and then eight. Paul Walter top-scored with 34* and he sealed the win with a huge six.
The sides agreed to play 13-a-side, with a maximum of 11 players batting.
Results:
n First warm-up game: Sri Lanka lost by 9 wickets at Southampton
Scores: Sri Lanka 117 (16.4) (Kamindu Mendis 29, Tharindu Rathnayake 48, Luke Wood 4/27, Sonny Baker 2/23, Will Jacks 2/13, Jafer Chohan 2/25)
England Lions 118-1 (7.2) (Tom Banton 56*, Aneurin Donald 31, Will Jacks 30*)
n Second warm-up game: Sri Lanka lost by 9 wickets (DLS method) at Beckenham
Scores: Sri Lanka 156-9 (20) (Pathum Nissanka 23, Kamil Mishara 31, Charith Asalanka 23, Tharindu Rathnayake 22, Mason Crane 2/20, James Coles 2/22, Tom Hartley 2/27)
England Lions 76-1 (6.2)
(Paul Walter 34*)
