Jos Buttler century gives England commanding 26-run victory

The English juggernaut rolls on in Sharjah as Eoin Morgan’s men cruised past Sri Lanka to make it four wins in four and in doing so, have all but sealed their place in the semi-finals of the competition. Jos Buttler became the first English batter to score an international century in all three formats as the opener scored a high-class 101* off 67 deliveries to propel England to 163 after a slow start. With the ball, England were without the services of Tymal Mills – who limped off after 1.3 overs – but closed out the innings smartly to dismiss Sri Lanka for 137.

Teams have struggled while batting first in this tournament, but England finally broke that trend thanks to the heroics of Jos Buttler. The opener performed a stellar rescue act alongside Eoin Morgan after England suffered the first nervy passage of their campaign. The Sri Lankan spinners caused plenty of problems in the opening exchanges, with Wanindu Hasaranga dismissing both Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow before Dushmantha Chameera pegged back Dawid Malan to leave them reeling at 47 for three at the halfway mark.

Buttler managed only 24 runs off his first 30 deliveries, but after absorbing the pressure, the opener finally broke the shackles in the 11th over with a boundary through the covers off Lahiru Kumara. Buttler targeted the Sri Lankan pacers and deposited anything pitched up into the stands, smacking Lahiru Kumara for two sixes before pummelling three consecutive boundaries off Dusan Shanaka in the 18th over.

After a sedate start, Eoin Morgan also got in on the action with a couple of blows to the fence, and the captain managed a useful 40 off 36 in his 112-run partnership with Buttler. Hasaranga accounted for Morgan in the penultimate over, but there was no stopping Jos Buttler, who scored 51 runs off his final 21 deliveries and eventually reached the three-figure mark with a six off the final ball off the innings.

England continued that momentum into their bowling innings with Pathum Nissanka run out in the very first over before Adil Rashid removed both left-handers Kusal Perera and Asalanka to leave the Lankans at 40 for three after the powerplay.

The dew and the loss of Tymal Mills to injury made proceedings tricky for England, and Sri Lanka threatened to make things close as Dasun Shanaka and Wanindu Hasaranga shared a half-century partnership. However, some excellent work by Jason Roy and Sam Billings on the boundary brought Hasaranga’s innings to a halt, and England picked up the final five wickets for only eight runs to close out the 26-run win in style.