Will Jacks led the way before Jacob Bethell sealed the deal with a career-best haul of 4 for 11, as England closed out a 3-0 series win over Sri Lanka with a remarkable spin strangle on a turning track at Pallekele.

Their defence of a sub-par target of 129 was their lowest in T20I history, and in the end they did it with room to spare, as Bethell rounded up the tail with all four of his wickets coming from his final eight balls, including the winning moment – a skied slog from Maheesh Theekshana to Liam Dawson at short third.

The performance, and the hard-fought nature of it, confirmed that England will head to next week’s T20 World Cup with confidence high, after a three-match series that has drawn on all facets of their game, with bat and ball alike.

On this occasion, they were indebted to a battling half-century from Sam Curran, whose nous at the back-end of the innings revived a performance that had been flat-lining at 60 for 6 in the 11th over. Dushmantha Chameera was the main man of Sri Lanka’s bowling display, with his own career-best figures of 5 for 24, but Curran’s 58 from 48 balls proved the ultimate difference between the teams.

England started their day on the back foot when Phil Salt succumbed to a back spasm while warming up. Though Ben Duckett is, on the face of it, a like-for-like replacement at the top of the order, his form of late has been far removed from the buccaneer who began last year as a first-choice pick across formats. After missing much of the tour with a finger injury, he fell for a first-ball lbw, as Chameera pinned him on the back foot and extracted three reds on review (2 for 1).

Bethell is another whose poise with the bat has been lacking a touch on this trip, certainly compared to that magnificent Ashes hundred at Sydney. He failed to pick Matheesha Pathirana’s slower ball, and snicked a wild drive to the keeper for 3, before Tom Banton was done all ends up by Dunith Wellalage. Though he’s probably still done enough to earn a World Cup starting berth after his matchwinning fifty on Sunday, Banton was this time lured into a huge wipe through the line, only for the ball to dip and grip, and clip the top of his leg bail for a run-a-ball 7.

England were a ropey 28 for 3 after five overs when their captain arrived at the crease. Harry Brook knows only one response to adversity, and it doesn’t involve him backing down to rebuild. When it works, it’s magnificent; this, on the other hand, was somewhat predictable. Pathirana returned for a second over, and once again that sticky slower ball came up trumps. Brook was through his shot twice over before the ball arrived, and Janith Liyanage in the covers collected the simplest of lobbed slogs.

Jos Buttler endured through the chaos, though his own stay could hardly be described as serene. He so nearly lost his leg stump while inside-edging England’s first boundary (in the third over) off Pathirana, and the same bowler then skinned his off stump for good measure with the final ball of the powerplay. Buttler shrugged off that indignity to club Wellalage over extra cover for England’s first six, but then Theekshana bowled him through the gate for 25.

Pace off the ball was clearly the way to go, as Jacks discovered before England could pull out of their nosedive. Chameera’s second over induced a flimsy plink to midwicket, with the batter once again too far through his stroke, and at 60 for 6 in the 11th over, it was time for England’s fabled depth to come to the party.

In a measure of his lack of opportunity at this level, Curran’s 58 from 48 balls was his highest T20I score, and only his second fifty. However, anyone who witnessed his play-off-sealing half-century for Sydney Sixers last month, let alone his title-winning 74 not out for Desert Vipers in the ILT20 can vouch for his current form with the bat.

His response to England’s adversity was a pugnacious rearguard, studded with six fours and a six over long-on. He found a doughty ally in Dawson, who held up his end for 14 from 20 balls, and as they pieced together a 47-run stand in seven overs, England briefly harboured hopes of a 140-plus total.

Chameera, however, had other ideas. Dawson slapped another slower ball to long-on, before Jamie Overton was outfoxed by a trio of legcutters – his second was caught at long-on but had to be parried back into play by Wellalage, but the third did the needful, via a slog to point.

And, with Curran in his sights for the final over of the innings, he landed his wide yorkers with conviction, inducing a slice to deep third to seal his career-best figures, and keep England to their lowest total in T20Is against Sri Lanka.

Luke Wood made his presence felt in his first outing of the series. He prised out Kamil Mishara for a duck in his first over and so nearly made it two in two when Pathum Nissanka swatted him to deep square leg, only for Bethell’s attempted relay catch to end up on the wrong side of the ropes.

That let-off was the cue for a brief explosion from Nissanka – he struck two more sixes in his next four balls, but when he skewed a leading edge off Dawson to cover for 23 from 11, the stage was set for Adil Rashid entered the attack with his familiar ragging turn.

Pavan Rathnayake had no response to a wonderful googly that did him in flight to rip into his leg stump, and one ball later, Kusal Mendis top-edged Jacks straight to short backward square to depart for a run-a-ball 26.

At 62 for 4 in the 10th, Sri Lanka were now in a scrap. Though Dawson’s third over was picked off for a boundary apiece, Jacks’ leaping offbreaks proved the perfect foil to Rashid’s habitual class. After pinning Kamindu Mendis on the back leg for 14, Jacks should have made it two lbws in his third over, but England opted not to review an appeal against Wellalage that would have been hitting leg.

In the end, it didn’t matter. With 32 runs to defend from 30 balls, Jacks closed out a fine spell of 3 for 14 with the crucial scalp of Liyanage, whose slog-sweep picked out Bethell at deep midwicket. And then, after nudging a priceless boundary down through deep third, Wellalage launched into a slog-sweep off Bethell, under-edged into his leg, and Buttler scrambled round from behind the stumps to cling onto a brilliant, opportunistic catch.

It was the moment for England to move in for the kill. Bethell claimed his second in three balls as Chameera poked nervously to cover for a duck, then effectively sealed the contest with his third in the over – a beauty that dipped and straightened from round the wicket to leave Dasun Shanaka stranded as Buttler whipped off the bails. He returned with 14 to defend in his final over, and by then it was no longer in doubt.

Brief scores:
England 128 for 9 in 20 overs (Joss Buttler 25, Sam Curran 58, Liam Dawson 14; Dushmantha Chameera 5-24, Matheesha Pathirana 2-27,Dunith Wellalage 1-28, Maheesh Theekshana 1-16) beat Sri Lanka 116 in 19.3 overs (Pathum Nissanka 23, Kusal Mendis 26, Pavan Rathnayake 13, Kamindu Mendis 14, Janith Liyanage 17; Luke Wood 1-13, Liam Dawson 1-25, Adil Rashid 1-25, Jacob Bethell 4-11, Will Jacks 3-14) by 12 runs

[Cricinfo]