Buttler’s unbeaten ton sets up England’s 26-run win over Lanka

Mohammad Abdullah, Senior Sports Reporter

Riding on a blitzkrieg century by Jos Buttler, a rampaging England defeated Sri Lanka in their T20 World Cup match in Sharjah on Monday.

After posting 163, England restricted Lanka to 137, to notch up their third straight victory and close in on a semi-final berth.

Lanka, who lost their third consecutive game, are out of the semi-final race.

Lanka got off to a worst possible start as they lost their first wicket with just one run on the board.

They lost the wicket of the opener Pathum Nissanka, who scored a blistering 71 against South Africa in their last match.

Nisanka was found short of the ground while scrambling for a run that never existed.

After that Lanka kept on losing the wickets on regular intervals and could not get the partnerships going.

Kusal Perera with Charith Asalanka added 23 runs for the second before Adil Rashid had latter caught by Moeen Ali to pull Lanka back.

Rashid struck again to get rid of Perera after Lanka had added just 10 runs to their total.

Every time Lanka tried to take a stride towards their target, England pegged them back with a wicket or two. Chris Jordan caught Avishka Fernando plumb while Chris Woakes had Bhanuka Rajapakasa caught by Roy to reduce Lanka to 76/5.

But Hasaranga and Dasun Shanaka added 53 runs for the sixth wicket to reignite the hopes of Lanka. They kept the Lions in hunt with a nervy partnership.

Lanka had started fancying their chances of a come-from-behind win before Sam Billing took a stunner at the boundary ropes to send Hasaranga back. Hasaranga smashed a quick-fire 21-ball 34, which was studded with three fours and one six.

After the dismissal of Hasaranga, Lanka lost wickets in bulk. Buttler sent Shanaka back with a direct throw to all but end Lanka’s hopes of an improbable win.

Chamika Karunaratne failed to get off the mark and was taken by Roy off Ali.

They crumbled under pressure like a pack of cards. A late fightback did not prove enough to take the Islanders over the line.

Dushmantha Chameera and Maheesh Theekshana also fell cheaply and holed out to Malan and Jordan off the bowling of Jordan and Ali respectively.

Earlier, Buttler smacked the first century of the tournament to propel the score 163/4 after a wobbling start. Buttler was in devastating form as he threw everything out of the ground that was hurled at him.

Sri Lanka did try to make some inroads through Wanindu Hasaranga De Silva as he bowled a superb spell to push England on the back foot.

With three wickets down, Lanka looked set to gain control of the proceedings. But Buttler had other plans.

He stood firm on one end as the wickets fell on one side. Buttler led the recovery with a 112-run partnership with captain Eoin Morgan.

Both Buttler and Morgan played sensibly and stitched the faltering innings.

They did not take unnecessary chances and kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and doubles, hitting occasional boundaries.

They played out spinners quietly before changing the gears in the last three overs. Both the spinners conceded a combined 34 runs in their eight overs. Buttler flexed his muscles in the 17th over and robbed 12 runs off Chameera Silva. Next over proved to be more fruitful for England, as the stylish opener collected a whopping 19 runs off Shanaka. He tonked him for two successive sixes and a four.

He had already made his intent clear and everybody could sense what was in store.

Hasaraga bowled a tight 19th over, conceding only 8 runs as Buttler moved to 87.

He needed 13 runs to reach the three-figure mark. He hit Chameera for a boundary and took a couple of doubles to move to 95. The next two deliveries did not produce any runs which left the right-handed batsman needing a six off the last ball to complete his century.

But a resolute Buttler held his nerve and flicked the bowler to the midwicket to clear the boundary rope and reach his first century. His innings was peppered with six hits to the fence and six over it.

Earlier, Hasaranga, who took a hat-trick against South Africa, bowled a mesmerizing spell and took three wickets in quick succession to leave England tottering at 35/3.