Sri Lanka legend Angelo Matthews was perplexed after watching Sri Lankan batsmen give up earlier than England bowlers on the Palekele Worldwide Cricket Stadium in Balagolla on February 22. He expressed his disappointment on his official “X” account instantly after the match.
On Sunday, Sri Lanka confronted England within the opening match of the Tremendous 8s of the continuing ICC T20 World Cup 2026. Sri Lanka, co-hosts of the event, performed some first-class cricket within the group levels and have been as soon as once more the favorites to beat England.
Sri Lanka grew to become the favorites to win.
At Balagolla, England’s batting line-up collapsed earlier than the house crew’s bowling assault. Danis Wellerage’s three-wicket determine and two scores from Mahish Teekshana and Dilshan Madhushanka restricted England to 146 runs in change for 9 wickets in 20 overs.
Your day by day cricket consumption!
With a number of Sri Lankan batsmen in high kind and never wanting ok to defend the goal, many cricket specialists and followers believed that the island nation’s cricket crew would simply surpass England.
As soon as England bowled, the momentum modified.
Because the second spherical of the match started, issues began to take a totally totally different form and most predictions have been confirmed fallacious. Pathum Nissanka, who performed a giant function in opposition to Australia and is likely one of the high scorers within the event, was simply dismissed.
Kusal Mendis, Danis Wellaledge, Pavan Rathnayake, Kamindu Mendis and different stars of Sri Lanka’s batting duo have come and gone with out making any notable efforts to save lots of the crew.
Captain Dasun Shanaka tried laborious to carry down one finish of the crease, however his knock of 30 in opposition to England’s 146 was not sufficient. As quickly as Shanaka was despatched off, Sri Lanka’s hopes of profitable the match disappeared inside seconds. The island nation folded for simply 95 factors and England received by 51 factors.
Horrible: Angelo Matthews
Former Sri Lankan nationwide crew captain Angelo Matthews could not imagine what he was witnessing. Matthews, who now works as a event commentator and cricket knowledgeable, described the second as “horrible”. He harshly criticized batsmen who didn’t carry out correctly.
“Oh, there aren’t any phrases! Such a pathetic batting by Sri Lanka. They bowled so properly, however not one of the batsmen batted intelligently to carry Sri Lanka residence! “It is horrible,” the previous cricketer expressed his emotions.
oh my god! There aren’t any phrases! Sri Lanka’s pathetic batting. After bowling so properly, not one of the batters tried to bat well and ship Sri Lanka residence. horrible
— Angelo Matthews (@Angelo69Mathews) February 22, 2026
England all-rounder Will Jacks was named participant of the match for his contribution with each bat and ball. He added an important 21 factors in 14 matches with the bat and with the ball he dismissed Kusal Mendis, Rathnayake and Wellaledge to result in the match victory.
“We performed poorly. All our bowlers bowled properly. It isn’t that they (England) bowled very well. They took reckless pictures at vital moments,” Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka stated after the match.
learn extra: Dushyant Hemantha loses wicket in weird method as England run riot in opposition to Sri Lanka
