Courtesy Chamari Athapaththu’s Allround performance Sri Lanka Women win their First T20I against England Women

The England team may later regret seeing their September series against Sri Lanka as an afterthought to the Ashes. The hosts lost the Saturday T20 match at Chelmsford by eight wickets after being bowled out for 104 in 18 overs, which was their lowest performance at home since Australia defeated them for 87 eight years ago.

Notably, Sri Lanka hasn’t defeated them in an international T20 cricket match in over ten years, and this was not just a loss—it was a thrashing.

The sell-out Essex crowd’s raucous applause when England’s tally crossed 100 was a sign of the times because it was pretty much the only thing to shout about all afternoon.

Issy Wong and Charlie Dean, who were in a ninth-wicket partnership, hit three straight fours off Inoka Ranaweera until Charlie Dean was yorked by Udeshika Prabodhani to put an end to England’s awful performance with 12 balls still unbowled.

Chamari Athapaththu sets up T20 series decider as Sri Lanka cruise past England

The Sri Lankan skipper, Chamari Athapaththu, then unleashed an incredible exhibition of power-hitting as she reached a half-century in just 26 balls, sending the ball first out of the ground and then over the top of the sightscreen. Kate Cross and Dani Gibson, England’s new-ball combo, were spanked for 36 runs off of their first three overs, and this time Sophie Ecclestone wasn’t there to save England.

Athapaththu decided to bowl the first over and quickly got through Danni Wyatt’s defenses, turning the ball past her bat to get the job done in the first over.

Off-spinner Inoshi Fernando, who was left off the team for the first game, came out strong at the other end. Dot, dot, dot, dot, to Alice Capsey’s hot head. The very same Fernando holed out to mid-off as Capsey attempted to escape the chains in the following over.

After whip-cracking a gorgeous boundary over point, Fernando responded with a wicket of her own: Maia Bouchier tapped up an easy catch to extra cover.

Afterward, the road to victory for Sri Lanka, led by Athapaththu was as smooth as butter. Hence, they finished the game with 8 wickets and 40 balls to spare.

The decider will now be played at Derby on Wednesday. England’s approach in the final T20I will be interesting to watch, while Sri Lanka will aim to seal their maiden series win against the hosts.

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