(ESPNCRINCINFO) – Chamari Athapaththu led from the front in a stunning all-round display — first with the ball and then with a rampant 26-ball fifty — as Sri Lanka secured their maiden T20I victory over England in extraordinarily emphatic style: by eight wickets, and with a crushing 40 balls remaining, as Heather Knight’s new-look team were served a dramatic reality check, only two days after cruising to victory in the series opener at Hove.

After winning her second toss of the series and choosing to bowl first, Athapaththu showed her team how it needed to be done by bowling the dangerous Danni Wyatt for 1 in her first over, and never let up in her leadership thereafter, as England were hustled out for 104 in 18 overs – a far cry from the 186 for 4 that they had posted in just 17 overs in Thursday’s opening fixture.
Then, sensing a chance to crush England from the outset of the chase, Athapaththu climbed onto the offensive with the bat, cracking eight fours and two sixes with similarly positive support from Harshitha Samarawickrama, who sealed the contest with a massive swipe over midwicket to finish unbeaten on 30 from 35 balls.

Chamari sets the powerplay tone
Speaking at the toss, Athapaththu insisted – with some justification as things turned out – there had been some “positives” to take from a one-sided series opener at Hove, but recognised that their bowling had to improve after England had romped along at close to two a ball on that occasion.

And so the skipper herself added that burden to her already broadly laden shoulders, to set the tone for an astonishingly unrelentingly display. Despite one loose ball that Maia Bouchier carved for four, Athapaththu’s remit in the contest’s first over was to keep the stumps in play as much as possible, on a hybrid wicket that offered a touch of grip for her spinners, and in sunny afternoon conditions a world away from the dank misery of Hove.

The gambit paid agenda-setting dividends with the sixth ball of Athapaththu’s over. A beautifully flighted offbreak lured Danni Wyatt on the drive, but a hint of dip and spin bowled her clean through the gate for 1. Suddenly a partnership that had realised 77 from 45 balls at Hove had been broken before it had begun, and that carefree youth that had so flourished in game one had a different scenario to counter.

Inoshi in on the action
Alice Capsey had made a belligerent 51 from 27 on that occasion; here she was restricted to an anxious 3 from 9 as Inoshi Fernando followed her skipper’s lead in her first outing of the series. First, her tall offbreaks pinned Capsey to the crease for five consecutive dot-balls and a single, then she snapped the trap shut in the field one over later. Itching to break the shackles, Capsey lashed through the line at Sugandika Kumari and Fernando was almost blown off her feet at mid-off as she clung on well to a flat chance.

Bouchier by this stage had connected well on another cuff through the covers, but Fernando’s impact was not done yet. The first ball of her second over was flapped in ungainly fashion straight to Kavisha Dilhari at extra cover, and Bouchier attempted to bend her bat around her helmet as she traipsed off for 12 from 10. Not only were England truly in the m(aia)ire at 21 for 3, but she’d missed a golden opportunity to rebuild a faltering innings, and seize the opportunity for seniority that she’s been handed in the absence of the likes of Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver-Brunt.