Salt’s effort allowed England to survive a top-order slide and post 146 runs for nine. In reply, Sri Lanka could only put up 95 after Will Jacks’ three strikes in the PowerPlay sent the chase into a tailspin.
After England was inserted in, Salt’s hoist to clear long off against Dunith Wellalage (three for 26) off his third ball hinted at his mood to tee off. But he was mindful to recalibrate after Jos Buttler’s reverse hit went awry and pinned him in front.
Salt picked upon width from Dilshan Madushanka and drilled two boundaries through covers, before Jacob Bethell spraying his hack to short third off Maheesh Theekshana gave him a second warning to exercise caution.
Restriction was not on the cards for Harry Brook and Sam Curran, who fell right after picking boundaries with big hits.
Though Salt picked pockets of space in the outfield to collect doubles for a major part, he could not resist hooking a bouncer from Chameera over deep fine leg.
The quick running between the wickets eventually cost him too. Running out of gas in humid conditions, his waft off Wellalage could only be hit with stationary feet and ended up only as far as Dushan Hemantha stationed at long off.
At the crease by the 14th over, Will Jacks once again injected late momentum and prolonged the innings. By the time he fluffed a low full toss from Madushanka to point in the 19th over, he had already pocketed four boundaries – going over covers on each instance – and ensured England had more than enough on board.
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Sri Lanka’s response never really recovered from the five wickets it lost in the PowerPlay for just 34 runs. The in-form Pathum Nissanka was the first to depart, putting his flick from outside the off-stump against Jofra Archer straight to the trap laid at deep midwicket.
Jacks (three for 22) caught Kusal Mendis off his own bowling, deceiving him with the slowness of the pitch and inducing a leading edge. Pavan Rathnayake brought his own fall going for a blind swing off his first ball. Dunith Wellalage did not learn from the errors of his predecessors and perished while trying to clear mid-on against Jacks.
Sri Lanka had hope left with Kamindu Mendis at the crease, but when he handed a return catch to Liam Dawson immediately after slog-sweeping him for a six, the home team was at a point of no return.
Hemantha’s wicket was emblematic of the chaos Sri Lanka had been thrown into. Going for a pull off Jamie Overton, Hemantha dragged his bat onto the stumps and became the sixth batter to be hit wicket in T20 World Cups.
Dasun Shanaka (30, 24b, 1×4, 2×6) refused to throw in the towel. He smoked Jacks over midwicket and lofted Liam Dawson down the ground. But losing partners at the other end, he could only take Sri Lanka so far.
Published on Feb 22, 2026
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