T20: Butler helps England defeat Lanka

England have taken a one-nil lead in the T20I series against Sri Lanka with a comfortable eight-wicket victory in Cardiff achieved with 17 deliveries to spare.

A much-changed Sri Lanka side – there were six alterations from their previous T20I in March – never really got to grips with the variation and control of the England attack or a slightly sluggish surface that rendered strokeplay tricky. At one stage they went 10 overs (from 4.2 to 14.1) without hitting a four and there were just three sixes in their innings.

Jos Buttler, Player of the Match, said, ‘It was a nice performance. The bowlers set it up for us. Bowling first allows you to analyse the wicket better and plan accordingly when batting. We knew it was a surface where power strokes were needed, with the short boundaries. It’s about batting in partnerships and it’s always great to see him (Roy) go well. It was a great target to chase, credit to the bowlers.’

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