London: England have taken a one-nil lead in the T20I series against Sri Lanka with a comfortable eight-wicket victory in Cardiff achieved with 17 deliveries to spare.A much-changed Sri Lanka side – there were six alterations from their previous T20I in March – never really got to grips with the variation and control of the England attack or a slightly sluggish surface that rendered strokeplay tricky. At one stage they went 10 overs (from 4.2 to 14.1) without hitting a four and there were just three sixes in their innings.
Jos Buttler, Player of the Match, said, ‘It was a nice performance. The bowlers set it up for us. Bowling first allows you to analyse the wicket better and plan accordingly when batting. We knew it was a surface where power strokes were needed, with the short boundaries. It’s about batting in partnerships and it’s always great to see him (Roy) go well. It was a great target to chase, credit to the bowlers.’
Eoin Morgan, | England captain, ‘Quite a comprehensive performance. The pressure the boys created at the beginning, middle and end, was impressive. Bowlers made us look really good today, reduced Sri Lanka to an under-par score. Then the openers gave us that platform upfront, Jos showing his class once again. When you get ahead in the game, we have to sit back and get the best bowlers in certain situations. He (Livingstone) is an all-rounder in the squad, it was good to see him get a wicket early. Bowling both leg-spin and off-spin is a luxury, he is also great in the field and of course with the bat. Great to have Woakesy back. He has been a critical part of our limited-overs setup for a while now. Having back-to-back matches is always stressful for the players, so we might tinker a bit with the squad.’