Sri Lanka celebrates Heather Knight's wicket-taking in her victory over England at Chelmsford on Saturday Photo: PA/Bradley Collyer
It was one of the biggest flops in international cricket. Sri Lanka had never beaten England in the previous 10 women's T20 internationals and only once in 25 limited overs internationals overall, but they won at Chelmsford by a huge lead of eight wickets and 40 spares.
In what they see as a refill series against Sri Lanka, England easily won the first of three matches at Hove in the rain on Thursday night, but lost just 104 matches on a sunny day at the hybrid pitch where the bowlers the guests were finally able to grab the ball.
Five Sri Lankan spinners — all finger spinners — took England's first eight wickets. Their last two wickets were taken by Sri Lanka's only non-hide-and-seek left-hander with an average pace, Udeshika Prabodhani, and the hosts left two of their 20 overs unused.
«I think Sri Lanka played an outstanding game,” said England captain Heather Knight. «We're a very inexperienced team and I think it's had a bit of an effect.
“There were a bit of two paces on the field, a few [balls] got stuck in the field, but I think some layoffs were a little soft, including mine. To be honest, we were given some modest pie.”
England were missing Nat Skeever-Brant's strike, while Sophia Dunkley was also resting and Sophie Ecclestone was injured. In the absence of Skeever-Brant, they had no one to maneuver spinners and fielders, use the depth of the crease or strike with dexterity, with the exception of Charlie Dean, who converted her shot, hitting 34 out of 26 and taking the England team beyond its borders. the lowest level. The T20 team has a total of 87.
This streak has been turned on its head by Sri Lankan captain and world class player Chamari Atapattu, man of the match. She hit the first shot and broke Danny Wyatt's defense with a break that ended. Very few balls of Sri Lanka's five spinners subsequently capsized, but England could not find a way to get out of the quagmire.
England's opponents in the men's 50-over World Championship starting next month in India may consider following the lead of the Sri Lankan women: four overs in the first five overs left England 26 out of three. And throughout their trial innings, England didn't have a single left-hander to break the Sri Lanka spinners line, with the exception of number six Freya Kemp, who was knocked down with her foot.
Atapattu also set the tone with Sri Lanka chasing 105. With a Brian Lara-like back pull and considerable power, Atapattu made 21 runs ahead of Kate Cross in her long-awaited return to international T20 tournaments. The over was 1,2,4,4,4,6 as the Sri Lanka captain went from hitting to pulling.
Sri Lanka scored 67 in one of six overs on a power play compared to 32 England goals for one. three. Another England bowler, Issy Wong, who returned to play, endured a nightmarish first over that included three nil balls and a shot worth 12 runs, and after a short break, her second over was just as expensive.
While England was stuck in the crease due to spin, Atapattu rebuffed all of England's attempts, including Dean's six-time out-of-spin kick over the crosshairs. She scored 50 on just 26 balls before being caught on 55 of 31.
It will be a test of England's ability to learn how to fight spin when the third and final match of this T20 series takes place at the Derby on Wednesday night – and when Bangladesh hosts the T20 World Cup next year.
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