Dawid Malan hit 76 from 48 balls as England thrashed Sri Lanka by 89 runs in Southampton to complete a 3-0 clean sweep in the Twenty20 series. Malan shared an opening stand of 105 with Jonny Bairstow, who made 51, in England\u2019s 180-6.
\nAlthough England lost 5-19 late on, the target proved beyond a Sri Lanka side who were outplayed in all three games.
\nThey were bowled out for 91 with seven balls unused as David Willey took 3-27 and Sam Curran 2-14.
\nWilley had Danushka Gunathilaka caught at second slip with the second ball of the innings and Sri Lanka subsided in embarrassing fashion after a chaotic start.
\nChris Woakes, recalled for this series after a six-year absence, claimed 1-9 – the most economical four-over spell by an England bowler in T20s – while Sam Billings underlined a ruthless all-round display for the hosts with a brilliant direct hit run-out from deep mid-wicket.
\nIt was England\u2019s fourth biggest win in terms of runs in T20s, while Sri Lanka\u2019s total was their fourth lowest.
\nThe sides meet at Emirates Riverside on Tuesday in the first of three one-day internationals, and the evidence of the past four days suggests Sri Lanka face a mighty task against the world champions.
\nThis was a timely return to form for 33-year-old Malan – the top ranked T20 batsman in the world – with the T20 World Cup looming in October. The left-hander\u2019s credentials came under scrutiny after he made seven and four in the first two matches of this series, having passed 25 once in five matches in India earlier this year.
\nPromoted to open because of a hamstring injury to Jason Roy, Malan struggled for the strike early on before racing to 50 from 30 balls.
\nHe hit four leg-side sixes and also scored around the wicket with sweeps, reverse-sweeps and lofted extra-cover drives.
\nMalan and Bairstow\u2019s century opening stand – brought up in only 11.1 overs – was England\u2019s first in T20s since 2013.
\nMalan eventually drove to long-off – the fourth man to fall in England\u2019s late-innings collapse – but he has surely done enough to silence any questions over his place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dawid Malan hit 76 from 48 balls as England thrashed Sri Lanka by 89 runs in Southampton to complete a 3-0 clean sweep in the Twenty20 series. Malan shared an opening stand of 105 with Jonny Bairstow, who made 51, in England\u2019s 180-6. Although England lost 5-19 late on, the target proved beyond a Sri […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n