England vs Sri Lanka: Eoin Morgan’s side stroll to D&L T20 win, clinch series

England's Sam Billings is dismissed during the second T20 against Sri Lanka at Cardiff. (Photo: Reuters)

England claimed a second successive T20 victory over Sri Lanka on Thursday (June 24) as they restricted the tourists to 111/7 in Cardiff and won the match by five wickets on the Duckworth-Lewis method after they reached 108/5 in 16.1 overs. Sri Lanka managed 129/7 on Wednesday and England won at ease, with Jos Buttler, absent on Thursday with a calf strain, scoring an unbeaten 68. They had to work harder in their chase 24 hours later, as early wickets slowed them down, but the victory was never seriously in doubt, even before the rain came.

Sri Lanka opted to bat first again but struggled to get any sort of momentum as their first boundary did not arrive until the eighth over. Kusal Mendis top-scored with 39 off 39 balls while Mark Wood, regularly topping 90mph, took two for 18 in his four overs as the pick of a consistently accurate attack.

England were eight for two in the third over, then lost captain Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy to leave them 36-4 in the seventh, with light rain falling, to give Sri Lanka a glimpse of victory. But England bat very deep and Liam Livingstone and Sam Billings steadied the ship with low-risk shot selection and excellent running.

That's outrageous, Livi

Scorecard/clips: https://t.co/pLmR4Sv6Mh pic.twitter.com/kNCKBBtcaT

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 24, 2021

That partnership took England to 69-4 after 12 overs, before a rain break that reduced their target to 103. Billings went for 24 but Livingstone ended unbeaten on 29 alongside Sam Curran, who hit the final ball for six to reach 16 not out.

The teams meet again in the third and final T20 at Southampton on Saturday.

(with Reuters inputs)