Buttler ton powers England to beat Sri Lanka

England 163 for 4 (Buttler 101*, Morgan 40, de Silva 3-21) beat Sri Lanka 137 (de Silva 34, Moeen Ali 2-15) by 26 runs

Sharjah: England are virtually guaranteed a place in the T20 World Cup semi-finals after beating Sri Lanka to claim their fourth successive win.

Another astonishing Jos Buttler knock helped England recover from three early wickets to post 163/4 batting first against Sri Lanka in Group 1 in Sharjah.

And wickets fell at frequent intervals through the first half of Sri Lanka’s reply, leaving them 66/4 at the halfway stage of the innings, still requiring 98 off 60.

Earlier, Sri Lanka’s Wandindu Hasaranga was the pick of the bowlers with three for 21 off his four overs, becoming the fifth-fastest bowler in history to reach 50 T20I wickets in the process.

But it was the Buttler show for England, and he reached his ton with a six off the final ball of the first innings. His brilliant 101* is the 31-year-old’s highest individual score in T20 international cricket.

England faced a new challenge after losing the toss and being put into bat on a low and skiddy Sharjah picked. But the Group 1 leaders started well, knocking 12 off the opening over with Jason Roy showing intent to take the attack to Sri Lanka.

However, Roy’s offensive lasted just one ball against Hasaranga, with the spinner skidding a googly under Roy’s attempted sweep and cleaning him up.

Dawid Malan, in at three, received a let-off on six when an inside edge off Dushmantha Chameera fell fractionally short of the keeper. But the top-ranked batter in T20I cricket fell the very next delivery, playing all around a peach of an inswinger to leave England 34/2.

Buttler was back in the thick of the action straight away in the field as he combined with Morgan to run out Pathum Nissanka off only the third ball of the innings.

England bowled four overs of spin in the Powerplay for the first time in T20I cricket, with Adil Rashid, Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone all called into action.

But it was an approach that paid dividends, with Rashid picking up the scalps of first Charith Asalnka and then Kusal Perera to leave Sri Lanka 34/3 and needing a sizeable rebuild of their own.

And when Chris Jordan struck, trapping Avishka Fernando in-front for 13, Sri Lanka’s hopes of reaching the 164-run target seemed some way off, with the score 66/4 at the halfway stage.