Key events
6th over: England 100-1 (Buttler 35, Brook 43) Wrist spin from Hasaranga now. He does well to contain the scoring with his bag of tricks, four off the over with one ball to go… SIX! Brook clatters the final ball miles over long on. Too short and marmalised. Brutal.
6th over: England 90-1 (Buttler 32, Brook 36) Phew. Buttler clips two twos and everyone gets their breath back a little after that Brook carnage. A single brings England’s captain back on strike. Four leg byes, poor ball from Malinga. That’s the fifty partnership off 21 balls. Yikes. Malinga is given a rough call by the umpire, his yorker was inside the tramline but given wide. The next is a wide down leg – Sri Lanka’s bowlers do not know where to bowl to Brook at the moment. A decent yorker is timed into the deep for a single. The final ball of the PowerPlay is clipped for four by Buttler.
18 runs off the over, that’s England’s second highest PowerPlay total in T20I cricket. Decent start, lads. The KP bounce?
5th over: England 72-1 (Buttler 23, Brook 35) HarryBrook leans back and carts Wellalage over long on for SIX. The next ball is clattered down the ground for a laser guided four and same for the next.
SIX! Amazing batting from Brook who scoops behind square for a big one. There’s a panic meeting between bowler and captain… it doesn’t help… Brook sends the next straight down the ground for SIX more! Four off the final ball makes it 30 off the over, all from the red hot blade of Harry Brook.
4th over: England 42-1 (Buttler 23, Brook 5) Eshan Malinga (no relation) starts brilliantly, the fast bowler mixes his pace and length every ball and gets out of the over for just six runs.
3rd over: England 36-1 (Buttler 21, Brook 2) Harry Brook walks out to the middle with his slightly splay footed simian stroll. Quick singles exchanged with Buttler make it five runs and the wicket off Wellalage’s first over. The pitch is flat and the outfield rapid.
Aneurin Donald c Shanaka b Wellalage 12 (England 31-1)
Gone! Nye Donald perishes with a toe ender that is well caught at mid off. His dayboo with the bat is over but his strikerate is still a nosebleed inducing 240.
2nd over: England 31-0 (Buttler 18, Donald 12) Chameera with his sling pace from the other end. Buttler blams him through cover for four and then cracks his wrists on the follow up for four more down the ground. The camera zooms in on KP and BM having a good old giggle on the balcony. The Honeymoon period in full swing. Buttler carves the third consecutive four… make that four. Boundaries on both sides of the wicket being peppered.
1st over: England 15-0 (Buttler 2, Donald 12) Theekshana opens up with the ball for Sri Lanka. Buttler nudges into the leg side to get a single off the first ball and bring Donald on strike. The Derbyshire man gets his first runs in international cricket with a confident sweep for two. The next ball is fuller and quicker, angled into Donald’s front pad – Sri Lanka send it upstairs for a review but it hit the debutant outside the line.
SIX! Donald wipes his third ball for a big one over midwicket and follows up with a Harry Brook esque dance down the pitch and carve through cover for four. This is why they picked him!
Here come the players, Sri Lanka huddle in dark blue and yellow. England are in red tops with blue trews. Aneurin Donald comes out with Jos Buttler, what a moment for the 29 year old. Let’s play!
Sri Lanka XI: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Lahiru Udara, Charith Asalanka (c), Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Eshan Malinga
It’s a spin heavy attack for the visitors who are trying to tip the scales back to winning ways since losing ten of their 15 T20I matches so far this year.
Sri Lanka win the toss and choose to bowl first
It’s a beautiful late summer evening at the Utilita and the coin falls the way of Sri Lankan captain Charith Asalanka. He decides to chase, in modern parlance. Harry Brook then says he would have batted first anyway, so there.
Who is Aneurin Donald and why is he playing for England? This video explainer from Yas Rana has got you covered.
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England have announced their XI already.
They are without Phil Salt, Jacob Bethell and Sam Curran for fitness reasons and Jofra Archer is rested after the Test summer. Brydon Carse is on the naughty step for the forseeable.
In their absence, Jordan Cox plays his first T20I since October 2025 and Aneurin Donald – the Glamorgan raised Derbyshire batter who scored 31 off eight balls for the Lions against Sri Lanka last week – will make his debut as opener.
“He’s a cricketer who has been on our radar for a long time,” McCullum said of Donald in the pre game presser. “He’s got a game where he can go from ball one. He’s got raw power, an incredible amount of talent.”
England XI
Aneurin Donald, Jos Buttler (wk), Harry Brook (c), Tom Banton, Jordan Cox, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Josh Tongue, Sonny Baker, Adil Rashid
Preamble
You thought the International cricketing summer was over eh? Not a chance. Fling off that chunky fisherman knitted pullover, step away from the soup pan and cease and desist spinning the Nick Drake vinyl. Autumn isn’t quite upon us yet.
Hello and welcome the first T20I between England and Sri Lanka from Southampton. Six whiteball matches inside the next two weeks means Harry Brook and Brendon McCullum can resume their whiteball bromance. There is even a third bro invited into the mix for the next year, just to keep things spicy, doubt you’ll have heard of him though…
Play starts on the south coast at 6.30pm. Drop me a line if you are tuning in. Let’s get into it.
