Sri Lanka were 55 without loss after five overs, and England chased 146 in 12.1
Liam Dawson took two wickets in the sixth over at Cardiff and Sri Lanka never recovered. England won by six wickets with 47 balls to spare and took the T20I series with a match left.
Sep 18, 2026
Sri Lanka had their best start of the tour at Sophia Gardens on Thursday night. Five overs gone, 55 on the board, nobody out. They finished 145 for 9, England knocked the runs off in 12.1 overs, and the series was gone with a match still to play.
Two balls from Dawson took the innings apart
Liam Dawson came on for the sixth over and removed Lahiru Udara and Kamil Mishara off consecutive deliveries. The opening stand was broken, the left-arm spinner had his grip on the middle overs, and Sri Lanka never got back the tempo they had spent the powerplay building.
Dawson finished with 3 for 32 from his four overs, held two catches, and took the player-of-the-match award at 36. Jamie Overton took 2 for 23, Jofra Archer 2 for 34, Sonny Baker 1 for 15 and Adil Rashid 1 for 18 from three overs.
Pathum Nissanka’s 37 from 21 balls, four fours and a six, was the innings in miniature: quick, and over far too early. He fell at the end of the ninth over with Sri Lanka 75 for 3. Charith Asalanka made 31 from 31 and Wanindu Hasaranga 27 from 22, which gave the total respectability without giving it any menace. Ninety runs came off the last 15 overs and nine wickets went with them.
England did not bother pacing the chase
A target of 146 at better than seven an over is the kind England now treat as a net session. Jos Buttler made 30 from 16, Aneurin Donald 21 from 13 in his second international innings, and captain Harry Brook 23 from eight balls with three sixes in them. Three batters, 37 deliveries faced between them, 74 runs.
Donald went at 51, Buttler at 55, Brook at 79 inside seven overs. Jordan Cox added 12 from seven before falling at 136, by which point the only question left was whether Tom Banton would get his fifty. He did, finishing unbeaten on 52 from 24 with two fours and four sixes. Dushmantha Chameera, Eshan Malinga, Hasaranga and Tharindu Ratnayake took a wicket each and none of them slowed anything down.
Twelve years since Sri Lanka last won one of these
Sri Lanka’s last T20I win over England came at The Oval in May 2014, a nine-run job in a one-off fixture. Every meeting since has gone England’s way, and Thursday followed the pattern so closely it was almost procedural.
The frustrating part for Asalanka is that his side keep finding the start. Fifty-five without loss in the powerplay, against a full-strength England attack, is not an accident. What Sri Lanka have not found is a middle order to protect it, and when the opposition can call on Dawson and Rashid through the middle, one bad over is the whole innings.
The third T20I is at Emirates Old Trafford on Saturday, 2.30pm local time and 7pm IST. Sri Lanka are playing for the scoreline and for a first win over England since 2014, and on the evidence of Cardiff the job is to bat 20 overs rather than five.