Alice Capsey's brisk 44 from 45 balls helped England open Group B with a win over Sri Lanka at Edgbaston; Sophie Ecclestone, Issy Wong and Freya Kemp starred with the ball as Sri Lanka were restricted to 106-9 after batting first
Sunday 31 July 2022 07:23, UK
Alice Capsey’s 44 laid the foundations for England to ease home by five wickets against Sri Lanka in the opening match of the Commonwealth Games T20 tournament.
Katherine Brunt, playing in her 100th T20 international, set the tone for the Sri Lanka innings after England were made to field first by taking a wicket with the very first ball of the match.
Two wickets apiece for fellow seamers Issy Wong (2-11) and Freya Kemp (2-14) helped hasten the demise, with three wickets from spinner Sophie Ecclestone helping restrict their opponents to 106-9 from their 20 overs.
The target never looked like not being in reach for the hosts at Edgbaston, but Sri Lanka made things interesting with spinner Inoka Ranaweera taking three wickets. However, 17-year-old Capsey showed maturity beyond her years to help the home side to victory with just under four overs to spare.
"I've not seen an innings like that from her," England captain Nat Sciver, standing in for the injured Heather Knight, said.
"We've seen a very explosive sign of her batting but she was very calm and collected here."
Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu opted to bat first after winning the toss, but her side were one down without a run on the board when Brunt had Vishmi Gunarathne trapped lbw for a golden duck to get her big day off to a perfect start.
Wickets then fell at regular intervals during Sri Lanka's innings and it was Ecclestone who struck next, reacting quickly to have Hasini Perera caught and bowled for 17 in the sixth over, followed by left-armer Kemp claiming a first-ball wicket two overs later by clean-bowling Athapaththu (10).
The seamer's second came in the 12th over when Kaveesha Dilhari (10) lobbed one up to Capey, with Wong getting in on the act on her home ground too - first by tempting Nilakshika de Silva (25) into a rash shot which she was caught by Danni Wyatt and then getting Anushka Sanjeewani to top-edge one to wicketkeeper Amy Jones.
Ecclestone's two late wickets saw her finish with 3-25 to further check Sri Lanka's progress and one from fellow spinner Sarah Glenn saw her end with 1-19 from four overs.
In reply, England slipped to 63-4 on a tricky surface under the lights, with openers Wyatt (5) and Sophie Dunkley (17) falling to Oshadi Ranasinghe (2-20) followed by Sciver (17) becoming one of Ranaweera's three victims.
But Capsey ensured there would be no danger of England not reaching the target with a brisk 44 from 45 balls before being stumped off Ranaweera (3-29) with victory in sight.
However, Maia Bouchier secured the win in style by striking a four to take England past the target and finish unbeaten on 21. Attention now turns to the match against South Africa, who were beated by New Zealand by 13 runs earlier in the day.
"We did what we had to do, really," Sciver said. "It was really, really special.
"Walking out on the pitch, I felt everyone needed to take a moment. We had a little bit of chaos in the warm-up, so we had to get everyone to focus on what they're doing.
"Cricket's actually the easy part, the other things in the background are harder."
