That’s it for tonight. Congratulations to Sri Lanka, who have won their first bilateral series against England in some style. We’ll be back for the ODI series, which begins on Saturday. Goodnight!
The player of the match and series is, of course, Chamari Athapaththu
I’m really happy with my performance and the team’s performance. I’ve worked hard in the nets in the last few months. We’ve played some good cricket recently against Bangladesh and New Zealand and we continued it in this series.
We have an excellent coaching team, which has been a turning point. We always talk about positive things, never negatives, and we executed the right plans. That’s why we win. Sri Lanka Cricket have helped the girls a lot – they increased her payments and gave us contracts. That’s really good for the girls. I think we can be a good team in the future.
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England’s captain Heather Knight speaks
Credit to Sri Lanka. They played brilliantly in the last two games. They had a clear plan and we need to be better in certain areas – particularly playing spin. We haven’t been at our best and we’ve been punished.
We took a risk by resting players but we want people to get experience, and they have been some really good performances. Mahika Gaur again swung the new ball today. She swung the old ball to be honest! You don’t know about players unless you see them in action.
England’s IT20 player of the summer is Alice Capsey
I’m delighted to pick up the award, though it’s a bit strange to do it in this fashion. It’s been a remarkable summer for the team. I take pride in being given responsibility at the top of the order, and the messaging I’ve had [from Jonathan Lewis and Heather Knight] has been second to none. They want me to carry on playing the same way.
It’s time for the awards ceremony. First up, England’s player of the summer…
The match was almost a replica of the second T20 at Chelmsford on Saturday. England got lost against spin, suffered a middle-order collapse, scraped past 100 and then realised, as Athapaththu smashed the ball everywhere, that it was nowhere near enough.
The Sri Lanka team charged onto the field almost before the ball had bounced over the boundary. Quite right too: this is one of the greatest moments in their cricket history. They have beaten England in a white-ball series for the first time, and they’ve done so by thrashing England twice in five days.
The victory was inspired by their mighty captain Chamari Athapaththu, who took 3/21 and then walloped 44 off 28 balls - but everyone played a part, from the lightning-fast wicketkeeper Anushka Sanjeewani to the young offspinner Kavisha Dilhari.
Sri Lanka’s win is also a great moment for women’s cricket around the world, which becomes more competitive by the year. Roll on the ODIs.
HISTORY FOR SRI LANKA! 🇱🇰
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) September 6, 2023
A first-ever series victory over England! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/WN2mjwPikN
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SRI LANKA WIN BY SEVEN WICKETS AND WIN THE SERIES!
17 overs: Sri Lanka 117-3 (Samarawickrama 26, Perera 9) Samarawickrama flicks Cross for four to complete a glorious victory with 18 balls to spare!
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16th over: Sri Lanka 112-3 (Samawickrama 22, Perera 9) Gaur is clipped sweetly over midwicket by Samawickrama, but Kemp does well to save a couple of runs on the boundary. Sri Lanka need five to win.
15th over: Sri Lanka 107-3 (Samawickrama 18, Perera 8) Perera pierces the off side again, this time to cut Capsey for three. The match is over; we’re just waiting for the Is to be crossed and the Ts dotted.
14th over: Sri Lanka 100-3 (Samawickrama 14, Perera 4) Heather Knight has brought up the field up, which has to be the right approach in these circumstances. But when Dean drops short, the new batter Perera gets off the mark with a firm cut for four. Sri Lanka are 17 runs away from making history.
13th over: Sri Lanka 94-3 (Samawickrama 14, Perera 0) Glenn finishes with 4-0-23-2. England have done well in the last few overs, but Athapaththu innings put Sri Lanka so far ahead of the game that they should be fine.
WICKET! Sri Lanka 94-3 (Gunaratne LBW b Glenn 8)
Sarah Glenn gets her second wicket. Gunaratne misses a reverse sweep and is given out LBW on review. At first glance it looked like the ball brushed the glove before hitting the pad; replays disabused us of this notion.
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12th over: Sri Lanka 92-2 (Samawickrama 13, Gunaratne 7) Dani Gibson comes on to bowl some inswingers. She starts well but then bowls a needless short ball that is back cut for four by Gunaratne, who needed that after making 2 from her first 11 balls.
The umpire Rob White provides a bit of light relief by slipping on his derriere while trying to avoid a collision with Heather Knight.
11th over: Sri Lanka 87-2 (Samawickrama 13, Gunaratne 2) Sri Lanka need 30 from 54 balls.
REVIEW! Sri Lanka 84-2 (Gunaratne not out 1)
Kate Cross picks up Gunaratne, who walks across her stumps, misses and is given out LBW. It was slightly legside so Gunaratne reviews – and it’s a very good decision. The replay shows the ball did a bit off the seam and would ahve missed leg stump.
10th over: Sri Lanka 83-2 (Samawickrama 12, Gunaratne 1) Samarawickrama moves Sri Lanka closer to glory with three successive twos off Glenn. There have been signs of Sri Lanka’s improvement this year, including the stunning win over South Africa at the World T20. Even so, few people saw this coming. They are thrashing England, again.
9th over: Sri Lanka 76-2 (Samawickrama 5, Gunaratne 1) A couple of wides tarnish an otherwise good over from Capsey. England don’t have enough runs to be bowling wides; Sri Lanka need 41 from 66 balls.
8th over: Sri Lanka 71-2 (Samawickrama 3, Gunaratne 0) That was the last ball of the over.
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WICKET! Sri Lanka 71-2 (Sanjeewani c Capsey b Glenn 20)
Sanjeewani tries to launch Glenn over mid-off but cloths it straight to Capsey. That’s not the smartest bit of batting. All Sri Lanka need to do is work the ball around, which they did successfully earlier in the over.
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7th over: Sri Lanka 67-1 (Sanjeewani 18, Samawickrama 1) That wicket, welcome though it is, is surely too late for England. Sri Lanka need 50 from 78 balls.
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WICKET! Sri Lanka 65-1 (Athapaththu c Dean b Capsey 44)
Alice Capsey picks up the crucial wicket of Athapaththu, well caught at wide long on by Charlie Dean. Athapaththu is clearly distressed as she walks off, because the job isn’t yet done. But she’s made Sri Lanka overwhelming favourites with a pulsating innings of 44 from 28 balls.
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6th over: Sri Lanka 58-0 (Athapaththu 38, Sanjeewani 16) Sanjeewani, who has played a good supporting role, sweeps Dean for a single to bring up the fifty partnership in only 5.1 overs. The other advantage of a single is that it brings Athapaththu on strike; she cuts two of the next three balls for four.
I don’t suppose anything will top her astonishing 178 in the 2017 World Cup, but the last few days are running it close.
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5th over: Sri Lanka 49-0 (Athapaththu 30, Sanjeewani 15) Sarah Glenn replaces Mahika Gaur, so it’ll be spin from both ends. As if Athpaththu cares. She launches the third ball over mid-off for another majestic boundary, and she is already the highest score in the match with 30 from 20 balls. Englare are in abundant strife.
How on earth has Athapaththu not got a gig in any of these leagues:
— Erika Morris (@ErikaMorris79) September 6, 2023
❎ WBBL
❎ Hundred
❎ WCPL
❎ WIPL
Super aggressive batter, good spin bowling option and very experienced.
On current form she would be one of my Top 5 targets if I was advising a franchise team.
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4th over: Sri Lanka 39-0 (Athapaththu 24, Sanjeewani 11) It’s not just that Sri Lanka look set to win a series against England for the first time; they’re on course to do so with successive hammerings. I know England are without some key players but this is still pretty remarkable.
Charlie Dean is brought into the attck after just three overs. Her first ball goes down the leg side for three wides, and Sri Lanka take nine from the over in total. They are cruising.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 30-0 (Athapaththu 21, Sanjeewani 8) Gaur looks quite a find. A tall left-armer who swings the ball at good pace (high 60s) and seems to have a repeatable action.
She’s up against an all-time great tonight, though, and that means there is very little margin for error. Her second over comprises four good balls and two bad ones. Atapaththu belts the first back over her head for four and flicks the second over deep backward square for six. Marvellous batting.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 18-0 (Athapaththu 10, Sanjeewani 7) The first six of the match. Kate Cross’s second ball is on the pads of Athapaththu, who flicks it sweetly over deep backward square. There was a fielder on the boundary but Atapaththu didn’t care.
Sanjeewani, who kept immaculately during the England innings, cuffs a length ball to midwicket for four more. Cross has an LBW appeal turned down when Sanjeewani walks across; it was missing leg and Amy Jones counsels against a review.
A terrific over for Sri Lanka, 13 from it.
"This is a serious shot!" 🔥
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) September 6, 2023
BIG six from captain Chamari Athapaththu! 6️⃣ pic.twitter.com/EIvT1y8I9x
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1st over: Sri Lanka 5-0 (Athapaththu 2, Sanjeewani 3) England know that if they don’t get Athapththu early, they can probably forget it. Gaur’s first ball is a good one that Athpaththu edges wide of slip for a single, and later in the over she beats the bat with a lovely outswinger.
Sanjeewani laps the last ball of the over to fine leg, where Glenn does very well to save two runs.
The players are back out on the field. Mahika Gaur, 17, will bowl the first over.
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The innings started hideously for England, when Danni Wyatt was out first ball, and it didn’t get much better. Maia Bouchier top-scored with an elegant 23, but even she was involved in the very costly run-out of Alice Capsey. The pitch is a bit awkward, but no more than that. If Sri Lanka bat well, they should win.
WICKET! England 116 all out (Gaur LBW b Athapaththu 0)
Gaur goes first ball, trapped in front by a fuller delivery from Athapaththu, and that’s the end of another very uncomfortable trial by spin for England. Sri Lanka need 117 for an historic series victory.
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WICKET! England 116-9 (Cross st Sanjeewani b Athapaththu 2)
Cross walks straight past a deliberately slower delivery from Athapathathu, 44mph, and Sanjeewani has all the time in the world to complete the job.
"Stumped by miles!"
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) September 6, 2023
Slower ball does the trick and England are nine down! ❌ pic.twitter.com/BsDHRgpZ5T
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Glenn is not out!
She jumped across her stumps and missed a premeditated lap-slog off Athapaththu. It was given out and Glenn reviewed almost as an afterthought, but replays showed it was missing leg stump.
England review! Glenn given out LBW
I think this will be overturned.
18th over: England 112-8 (Glenn 14, Cross 1) Glenn makes room to cut Kumari emphatically for four, then slices another boundary past the fielder at short third. She plays a similar stroke next ball which lands fractionally short of Prabodhani. In the end Prabodhani did well to save another boundary.
WICKET! England 102-8 (Gibson b Prabodhani 21)
Gibson’s promising cameo of 21 from 15 balls ends when she drags Prabodhani back onto the stumps. Eighteen balls remaining, though England might not get to use them all.
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16th over: England 96-7 (Gibson 16, Glenn 3) Gibson looks full of intent, with a pretty clear gameplan. That can’t be said of all the England batters tonight. Her problem might be getting enough of the strike; she’s faced only two of the last 10 deliveries.
15th over: England 92-7 (Gibson 14, Glenn 1) The new batter is the local girl Sarah Glenn. She’s dropped third ball, a sharp return chance to Ranaweera.
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WICKET! England 91-7 (Dean b Ranaweera 5)
Experience 1-0 Youth. Ranaweera cleans Dean up with a classic left-arm spinner’s delivery, skidding on from round the wicket. Dean shaped to cut and probably knew it was a bad idea even before she heard the sound of disturbed furniture.
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14th over: England 86-6 (Gibson 9, Dean 5) The non-striker Dean steals a tight second to long-on, then comes up for air with a big smile on her face. She’d have been out with a direct hit. Gibson slog-sweeps Athapaththu next ball just short of Fernando, running in from cow corner.
13th over: England 80-6 (Gibson 5, Dean 3) All bar two overs have been bowled by the spinners, and that continues with the return of the left-armer Kumari. After three singles earlier in the over, Gibson comes down the track to flat bat a boundary to the left of mid-off. Good shot.
12th over: England 73-6 (Gibson 0, Dean 1) The new batter is Charlie Dean, who batted very well at Chelmsford on Saturday. England need another cameo from her. If they can get to 120 and then dismiss Athapaththu early, they’ll be in the game. If not…
Dilhari, the young offspiner, has bowled very well: 3-0-16-2.
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WICKET! England 72-6 (Kemp c de Silva Dilhari 1)
Sri Lanka could be closing in on an historic victory. Kemp chips Dilhari to long on, where Nilakshi de Silva takes a terrific running catch. England are officially in all sorts.
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11th over: England 72-5 (Kemp 1, Gibson 0) Dani Gibson survives an LBW review first ball! She was hit plumb in front by a low full toss from Atapaththu, who reviewed with understandable confidence. Replays showed a crucial inside edge onto the pad.
WICKET! England 72-5 (Jones st Sanjewaani b Athapaththu 20)
England are again finding life tricky against the slow bowlers. It just got trickier: Jones has been stumped by Anushka Sanjeewani. She ran down the track, missed a ball that skidded on and was stumped with the minimum of fuss by Sanjeewani. What a beautiful wicketkeeper she is.
LIGHTNING HANDS! ⚡
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) September 6, 2023
Sanjeewani stumps Jones and England are FIVE down! ❌ pic.twitter.com/ebfxEgMyj3
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10th over: England 70-4 (Jones 19, Kemp 0) That was the last ball before drinks. England were just threatening to get away, but Sri Lanka have pulled them back in.
Jones, who has been less frenetic since her successful review, hit Dilhari down the ground for a couple of boundaries earlier in the over. The second was lovely, driven over mid-off on the run. England need her now.
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WICKET! England 70-4 (Knight LBW b Dilhari 18)
A promising partnership ends with Knight given out LBW after missing a reverse sweep. She has decided to review. It’s fairly high, but I reckon this will be umpire’s call and therefore out.
Here comes the replay… it’s out! It was hitting middle and leg, and wasn’t high at all. There was a murmur on UltraEdge as the ball went past the bat but not a spike, so the third umpire was satisfied there was no bat involved.
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9th over: England 58-3 (Knight 17, Jones 9) Knight sweeps Ranaweera over square leg for four, an excellent stroke. Jones sweeps four more, this time through midwicket. That’s a much better over for England, 10 from it.
8th over: England 48-3 (Knight 12, Jones 3) That might be a big moment, although so far Jones hasn’t really oozed permanance at the crease. Knight looks calm enough, Jones less so.
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JONES IS NOT OUT!
No spike as the ball passes the bat, so Jones survives.
WICKET? England 47-4 (Jones c Sanjewaani b Dilhari 2)
England are in big trouble here. Amy Jones has gone, brilliantly caught behind after gloving an ugly reverse-hoick off the new bowler Kavisha Dilhari. Or is she? England have reviewed.
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7th over: England 44-3 (Knight 10, Jones 1) Time for more spin, in this case the left-armer Inoka Ranaweera. She dismissed both these batters at Chelmsford on Saturday, and threatens to do so again when Knight, beaten in the flight, chips short of long-off. Jones then misses a slog-sweep. England are a bit rattled.
6th over: England 41-3 (Knight 8, Jones 0) That was the last ball of the over, and indeed the Powerplay. This is getting extremely interesting.
WICKET! England 41-3 (Bouchier c Dilhari b Prabodhani 23)
Uh-oh. The ball after late-cutting elegantly for four, Bouchier chips Prabodhani straight to long-on. That ends a promising but incomplete innings of 23 from 18 balls. England are in a game here.
"Another SOFT dismissal!" 🗣️
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) September 6, 2023
Bouchier goes and England lose a third in the powerplay! ❌ pic.twitter.com/fKMNW5U2PX
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5th over: England 34-2 (Bouchier 17, Knight 7) Bouchier drives Fernando elegantly through mid-off for her third boundary, then flicks a simple single to deep midwicket. On this occasion nobody looks interested in coming back for a second. England are recovering pretty well from that desperate start.
4th over: England 27-2 (Bouchier 12, Knight 6) Bouchier has made 22 and 12 in her first series as opener, so she’ll be keen to kick on. Meanwhile, Heather Knight gets her first boundary with a classy back cut off the left-arm spinner Sugandika Kumari.
3rd over: England 21-2 (Bouchier 11, Knight 1) Capsey wasn’t happy at all as she walked off the field. I’d need to see it again but my feeling is that were both at fault.
Bouchier will feel she has some making up to do, either way, and she makes a good start with successive boundaries off Chamari Athapaththu. The first shot was lovely, a drive threaded between extra cover and mid-off, and the second was an efficient pull when Athapaththu dropped short.
2nd over: England 11-2 (Bouchier 2, Knight o) That was the last ball of the over. The odd thing is that there was a fair bit of time for one of Bouchier or Capsey to change their mind, but they both stayed at the same end and that made the run-out a formality.
WICKET! England 11-2 (Capsey run out 9)
This is an almighty mess! Alice Capsey has been run out after a desperate mix-up. Maia Bouchier worked a single to deep midwicket, turned for a second and then changed her mind. Capsey kept running, so they both ended up at the non-striker’s end. Sri Lanka had all the time in the world to pull off the run-out, and Capsey walked off with a face like thunder.
MASSIVE MIX UP! ❌
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) September 6, 2023
Capsey is left STRANDED and England lose a second! pic.twitter.com/PuhakB2VP2
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1st over: England 8-1 (Bouchier 0, Capsey 8) Wyatt walked off chuntering and swishing her bat. She is such a key player, and has been in pulsating form this summer, so that’s a significant blow for England.
The new batter Alice Capsey crashes her second ball to the cover boundary. It was in the air for a while but perfectly save. She gets another boundary off the last ball, dancing down to belt a lofted drive wide of mid-off. Excellent batting.
WICKET! England 0-1 (Wyatt c Perera b Fernando 0)
An amazing start! Danni Wyatt has slapped Inoshi Fernando’s first ball straight to cover. It was a long hop, essentially, and Wyatt almost had too much time. She threw everything at it but miscued the ball straight to Hasini Perera.
WORST POSSIBLE START! ❌
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) September 6, 2023
Danni Wyatt is out first ball! 😱 🦆 pic.twitter.com/slwxPWarUo
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Here come the players. It’s a sweltering evening in Derby, and time for England to face another trial by spin.
Team news
England bring in Mahika Gaur for Issy Wong, who is struggling at the moment. Sri Lanka are unchanged.
England Wyatt, Bouchier, Capsey, Knight (c), Jones (wk), Kemp, Gibson, Dean, Glenn, Cross, Gaur.
Sri Lanka Athapaththu (c), Sanjeewani (wk), Samarawickrama, Gunaratne, Perera, de Silva, Dilhari, Ranaweera, Kumari, Prabodhani, Fernando.
Sri Lanka win the toss and bowl
It worked with a vengeance at Chelmsford, so why not. Heather Knight says she would have done the same.
🏴 TOSS NEWS 🇱🇰
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) September 6, 2023
Sri Lanka win the toss and bowl first in the deciding T20I against England at Derby! 🪙 pic.twitter.com/mZw3BYEBoS
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Preamble
And now for something completely different: a series decider. So far this summer we’ve had three draws, two in the Ashes* and one last night in the men’s T20s. But tonight – barring a meteorological twist for the ages – we’ll have an actual winner, and nobody will be left metaphorically kissing their sister.
Few people expected the first decider of the summer to come in this series; even fewer expected Sri Lanka to wipe the floor with England as they did at Chelmsford on Saturday. Their white-ball record against England going into that game was awful – P26 L25 – but their eight-wicket win, inspired by the marvellous Chamari Athapaththu, brooked no argument.
A similar result today would be seismic. England haven’t lost a T20 series to a team other than Australia since 2010, and they’ve never lost a white-ball series to Sri Lanka. There’s a bigger picture, with two white-ball World Cups coming up in the next couple of years, so England can rationalise this as an unexpected bonus: a chance to watch their young players perform under the unique pressure of an actual series decider.
The match begins at 6pm.
* Yes, yes, I know there were a couple of mini-deciders during the women’s Ashes, but we’re all about the big picture here at OBO Towers. Oh aye.
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