England go one-up in rain-hit first T20I

Saturday, 31 January 2026 01:58 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka provided the best partnership with 52 off 28 balls

Adil Rashid scythed through the Sri Lankan top order with three wickets

Sam Curran only the second England bowler to perform a hat-trick in T20Is Phil Salt played a pivotal innings of 46 for England

Sri Lanka suffer familiar middle order batting collapse
Sam Curran performs hat-trick

Sa’adi Thawfeeq reporting from Pallekele

Sri Lanka suffered their all too familiar middle order batting collapse to hand to England a 11-run win on the DLS method in the first T20I played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

England chasing a target of 134 were 125-4 off 15 overs when the rain which had threatened to wash out the match returned to provide an early finish. The DLS par score was 114 and England were through by 11 runs.

After a promising start, Sri Lanka collapsed totally to get bowled out in under 17 overs of which the game was reduced to, following the delayed start due to rain. Sri Lanka were 75-1 after 7 overs with Pathum Nissanka (23 off 20) and Kusal Mendis (37 off 20) adding 52 off 28 balls.

It was the spell of Adil Rashid that sparked the turnaround. Rashid ended with figures of 3/19 as he ran rings around the batters with his speed and flight variations along with the googly. Sri Lanka, to their credit, kept trying to attack and didn’t go into their shells. But Rashid was too good and the pitch had enough help. No surprise he won the Player of the Match award.

After Rashid it was Sam Curran who came to the party. He came back from an early bombardment (0/35) to help finish the innings early with a hat-trick and end with 3/38. It was only the second hat-trick performed in a T20I by an Englishman after Chris Jordan against USA in a T20 World Cup match at Bridgetown in 2024.

Curran had the Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka caught for 20, Mahesh Theekshana holing out to Jamie Overton at long-on and then cleaned up Matheesha Pathirana with his third delivery.

There were no real concerns for England in the run-chase. Phil Salt (46 off 35 balls, 3 fours, 2 sixes) and Jos Buttler got them off to a flier – 36 off 17 balls and despite a brilliant spell from Matheesha Pathirana, the target wasn’t very challenging.

To make matters worse for Sri Lanka, they dropped a couple of catches too. But what hurt them the most was the batting collapse as they went from 76-1 to 133 all out.

The second T20I will take place at the same venue tomorrow.