England were bowled out for 114 after being put into bat by Chamari Athapaththu, never fully recovering from losing a wicket from the first ball of their innings. Danni Wyatt cut a wide ball from Inoshi Fernando straight to cover first up before Alice Capsey was run out disastrously after a mix-up with Maia Bouchier. Three wickets fell in the powerplay with regular losses continuing throughout the innings. Athapaththu finished up with two wickets in consecutive balls in her final over, first getting Kate Cross stumped before trapping Mahika Gaur in front first ball.

Sri Lanka’s opening partnership calmly went about chasing the total. Athapaththu hit two sixes as her partnership with Anushka Sanjeewani passed fifty. She was dismissed by Capsey for 44 off 28 balls. Sanjeewani fell in the next over, but Sri Lanka never looked in doubt of chasing the total. They wrapped up the result by seven wickets with three overs to spare – a Harshitha Samarawickrama four closing out the game.

It’s Sri Lanka’s first series win in any format over England, following their thumping eight-wicket win in the second match of the series. That match at Chelmsford was their first win T20I match-win over England ever. There, they bowled England out for 104, their lowest total ever against Sri Lanka in T20Is. The 114 they were bowled out for tonight was their third-lowest.

For Sri Lanka, the series win is a continuation of the momentum they’ve built up over this year. They recorded an ODI series win over New Zealand in July and also beat Bangladesh in both their white ball series in May. Before their T20I series against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka hadn’t won a T20I series since 2015, when they beat Pakistan 2-1.

England haven’t lost a bilateral T20I series since the 2021/22 Ashes series in Australia. They rank No.2 in the world in the ICC’s rankings for the format, while Sri Lanka sit at No.8. This series is the first time England have lost a bilateral T20I series to an opposition other than Australia since 2010.

The two sides will now face off in a three-match ODI series, which starts on Saturday, September 9 in Durham.