Just when you thought Sri Lanka had finally turned a corner by bowling England out inside 49 overs for 265 and sensed an opportunity to register their first win of the tour, along came another batting horror show to bring everyone crashing back to earth.

Bowled out for 176 in 37 overs, Sri Lanka slumped to yet another humiliating defeat. The statistic that really rubs salt into the wounds is that after four games on tour, not a single Sri Lankan batter has managed a half-century.

Had this happened with Jofra Archer breathing fire and blowing the top order away for under 200 you could perhaps have understood. Had Gus Atkinson made the new ball talk and run through the batting, as often happens to subcontinental teams in northern England, there might have been some mitigation.

But when a part time off-spinner walks away with a maiden five wicket haul and career best figures, there is nowhere to hide. To put it bluntly, the batters should hang their heads in shame.

There was no character. There was no application. Most worryingly, there was precious little evidence of batsmen thinking on their feet.

Against spin, the sweep appears to have become the only scoring option in the playbook, while footwork seems to have been thrown out of the window. The sweep, conventional or reverse, can be a devastating weapon when produced unexpectedly, before the opposition has set a field for it. But when it becomes your staple diet, bowlers do not need to be rocket scientists to work you out. Sooner or later, the high risk stroke will bring about your downfall.

That was precisely what happened at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday night.

Charith Asalanka was once one of Sri Lanka’s finest finds, a batsman capable of holding the lower order together and dragging the side towards competitive totals. An ODI average of 41 and five hundreds speak volumes about his ability. Of late, however, he has been dismissed tamely far too often. You can only hope this does not become another case of a rich talent being allowed to drift away.

One of the few things that has worked consistently for Sri Lanka in limited overs cricket over the last 18 months has been the opening combination of Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis. There is an old rule in sport: if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.

Yet Mendis has been pushed down the order and Kamindu Mendis promoted to open, leaving you wondering what exactly Sri Lanka are trying to achieve. Kamindu is badly needed in the middle order, particularly against spin. Removing him from that role merely weakens an area that is already crying out for stability.

Amid the wreckage, there was at least one encouraging sign in leg-spinner Sachindu Colombage. Hailing from Negombo, the 28-year-old has hardly set domestic cricket alight in recent seasons, but his unusual action caused England problems, with several batsmen struggling to pick him. He marked his debut with three wickets and gave the selectors something to think about.

More significantly, his inclusion kept Wanindu Hasaranga on the sidelines. After what unfolded in the final T20I, perhaps that was no bad thing either.

by Reemus Fernando

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Triple jumper Madushani Herath and the 4×400 metres mixed relay team face an uphill task as Sri Lanka’s track and field team begins its Asian Games campaign in Nagoya, Japan, today.

‎Bahrain, India and Kazakhstan, who claimed podium places in the mixed relay at the last edition, are joined by China, hosts Japan and Sri Lanka in what promises to be an intriguing battle for medals in the Games’ first relay event. Kazakhstan, China and India go in as favourites, having produced the leading times this season.

‎For Herath, 2026 has been a breakthrough year. She shattered the national record that had stood unchanged for seven years, with the national champion clearing a new mark of 13.68 metres earlier this season.

‎With a strong field of Uzbek, Chinese and host-nation athletes on show, Herath will need a top-level performance to secure a podium finish in the women’s triple jump. Uzbekistan’s Sharifa Davronova, a two-time World Junior Champion, leads the Asian rankings this season with a leap of 14.24 metres at the Asian Under-23 Championships in July, and she will look to defend the title she first won as a 17-year-old in China. At least three other athletes have also cleared the 14-metre mark this year — China’s Yi Li and Yingying Huang, and Japan’s Maoko Takashima.

‎Herath’s coach, Krishantha Kumara, said a personal best would be a realistic target for the former Nannapurawa M.V., Bibila athlete. “Anything can happen. We were targeting to peak during this period. She broke the national record during the preparation phase. However, we have set a realistic goal of her reaching a personal best,” Kumara said in an interview with ‘The Island’ on Wednesday.

‎The Asian Under-20 Championship silver medallist is currently an undergraduate at the University of Kelaniya.

Ashen Bandara and Niroshan Dickwella have earned recalls to Sri Lanka’s T20I squad for the AsiannGames men’s cricket competition. Bandara last played an international in 2023 while Dickwella’s previous T20I came in 2021.

Sineth Jayawardena, Sohande Livera, Wanuja Sahan and Garuka Sanketh received maiden T20I call-ups to the 15-member contingent to be captained by Sahan Arachchige. Sri Lanka opted to leave out most of their first-choice T20I players, and selected Bandara and Dickwella for their experience, even though they had an underwhelming LPL 2026. Bandara played only three matches for Colombo Kaps for 28 runs while Dickwella scored only 110 runs at a strike rate of 142.85 for Dambulla Sixers.

Left-arm spinning-allrounder Sahan picked up nine wickets in ten LPL outings this year at an economy rate of 6.30, including a Player-of-the-Match spell of 2 for 8 in theEliminator, for Colombo. He also contributed with a 15 ball 34 not out earlier in the tournament. Fast bowler Sanketh impressed with his pace in the LPL though he did not take any wickets in his four outings this year. In the Major Clubs T20Tournament that followed, he picked up 11 wickets at an economy rate of 8.87 while playing for Moors Sports Club.

Jayawardena and de Livera, both top-order left-hand batters, led the batting charts in the Major Clubs T20 Tournament with the former scoring 372 runs at a strike rate of 167.56 while the latter made 307 at 156.63. Jayawardena, who captained Sri Lanka at the Under-19 World Cup in 2024, smashed a 32-ball 82 to help Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club beat Sinhalese Sports Club in the final.

Legspinner Vijayakanth Viyaskanth found a spot after narrowly missing out on the England T20Is, his chart stopping 17 wickets in the domestic tournament only enhancing his credentials. Allrounder Chamika Karunaratne, who struck 253 runs at 157.14 and was a key part of Galle Gallant’s charge to the LPL title, was also brought back.

Ambidextrous spinner Tharindu Ratnayake and legspinner Dushan Hemantha completed the spin options while slinger Nuwan Thushara and left-arm quick Binura Fernando added experience to the pace department.

Sri Lanka have earned a direct qualification to the quarter-final of the Asian Games, and play their first game on September 29 in Nisshin. Arachchige had captained Sri Lanka in the previous edition, too, where they lost to Afghanistan in their only outing and crashed out.

Sri Lanka’s Asian Games squad

Sahan Arachchige (capt), Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Lasith Croospulle, Sineth Jayawardena, Nuwanidu Fernando, Sohan de Livera, Ashen Bandara, Chamika Karunaratne, Tharindu Ratnayake, Wanuja Sahan, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Dushan Hemantha, Nuwan Thushara, Binura Fernando, Garuka Sanketh

[Cricinfo]