Buttler and Morgan slay sorry Sri Lanka

The one-off Twenty20 worldwide saw England make a new move: that of promoting Jos Buttler up the order to open the batting with Jason Roy.

Morgan suffered a dislocated finger fielding a catch as Sri Lanka posted a modest 140 all out in their full allocation.

Their 117-run third wicket partnership left Sri Lanka, who had been dismissed for 140 off their 20 overs, a beaten side as they failed to win an worldwide on English soil. England won three, one match ended in a tie, and one was washed out due to rain.

Jos Buttler is ready to carry his new-found white-ball “conviction” into the Test arena if handed a recall for England’s four-match series against Pakistan.

Buttler didn’t look back as he went on to rattle up his highest T20 global score.

Reprieved on five when he looked to have edged Angelo Mathews behind, Buttler rarely seemed to be in his most devastating top gear, but still controlled the chase with the minimum of fuss.

Butter’s superb 73 not out from 49 balls with three fours and four sixes ensured the home side cruised to an eight wicket win with 15 balls remaining at The Ageas Bowl.

Morgan was dropped by Mathews when on just eight but then struck spinner Seekkuge Prasanna for a straight six.

Things went well for Mills as well on debut with Sri Lanka struggling to deal with his express pace – he clocked 92.5mph yet was England’s most economical bowler – but it was the spin of Dawson and Adil Rashid which tied them in knots as they once again failed to set a convincing target.

Mendis stubbed a Dawson delivery straight back to the debutant after racking up a quickfire 21, handing the all-rounder his second victim.

England faltered in response, Jason Roy removed without score from the third ball of the innings, clean bowled by Mathews. England could have already had Gunathilaka run-out had they appealed when Morgan hit direct. “I just ran in and bowled hard and it has gone well”.

As his Sri Lankan counterpart Mathews began to look forward to a similar cricketing battle against Australia next up, Irishman Morgan insisted: “When I stood for the toss and realised Jos was opening the batting and we had Tymal opening the bowling I couldn’t stop smiling because it’s great to have guys like that to attack with bat and ball”. Everyone wants to be a part of that.

“But Tymal and Liam came in and played the brand of cricket we play as a side, and that was really, really good”.

“They have to be in contention, I would think”, said Bayliss before the first Test, which starts on 14 July.

Today’s result means England have beaten Sri Lanka in all three formats without losing a game during their tour. That is something we need to work on. Unfortunate we didn’t have the bowlers to put the pressure on the England batsman.