Will Jacks impressed with bat and ball to rescue England from a poor start and help them to a 51-run victory over Sri Lanka in a low-scoring Super Eight match at the Twenty20 World Cup on Sunday.
Tournament co-hosts Sri Lanka appeared to be well set after restricting England to a below-par 146-9 in the Group 2 match at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
Jacks, who made 21 useful runs down the order, returned to claim 3-22 as England bowled out Sri Lanka for 95 inside 17 overs to prevail.
“It encourages me to get into the game and perform better,” player of the match Jacks said.
“Bowling in the powerplay is something I’ve done a lot of. So it’s not foreign to me.”
Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka elected to field after winning the toss and had reasons to feel vindicated as England slumped to 68-4 at the halfway mark of their innings.
Jos Buttler’s 14-ball struggle ended when he was trapped lbw for seven after attempting a reverse shot against spinner Dunith Wellalage only to miss a ball that rapped him on the pad.
Spinner Maheesh Theekshana dismissed the in-form Jacob Bethell for three and Tom Banton perished in his pursuit of a risky single, beaten by Shanaka’s direct throw from mid-off.
Harry Brook made 14 before Wellalage dismissed him lbw, a decision the England captain challenged but could not overturn.
Phil Salt (62) raced to a 36-ball fifty but holed out in the 15th over to give Wellalage his third wicket of the match.
Jacks added late runs but England fell short of the 150-mark.
They needed a lion-hearted bowling effort and produced one to reduce Sri Lanka to 22-4 inside five overs.
Jacks dismissed Kusal Mendis and Pavan Rathnayake off successive deliveries after Jofra Archer had sent back Sri Lanka’s in-form opener Pathum Nissanka.
Archer removed Kamil Mishara and Sri Lanka slumped to 34-5 after Wellalage became Jacks’ third victim.
The hosts could never really recover and several frontline batters fell to soft dismissals.
Dushan Hemantha’s bizarre hit-wicket dismissal for five summed up Sri Lanka’s batting.
Shanaka made a defiant 30 but Jacks relayed a catch in the deep to remove the Sri Lanka captain and effectively seal England’s victory.
(Reuters)
