England’s reply was not without its dramas, as Jos Buttler and Jacob Bethell were both prised out in the powerplay by Eshan Malinga, before Phil Salt was badly dropped by Kamil Mishara at deep midwicket off Wanindu Hasaranga’s first delivery. And though he did not get the rewards, nor possess the surname of Sri Lanka’s chief wicket-taker, Matheesha Pathirana was a persistent menace with his Lasith Malinga-style 90mph slingers.

However, Tom Banton – picked at No.4 in the absence of the injured Ben Duckett – provided the chase with true impetus, with a lively knock of 29 from 14. Salt then took charge with a composed 46 from 35 balls, eventually falling just shy of his fifth T20I half-century in eight innings. Despite all their angst across formats this winter, in T20I cricket specifically England are hitting an impressive vein of form.

Curran knows all about bouncing back in style after a tough knock-back. This time last year, he feared his “face didn’t fit” after Brendon McCullum had cut him from England’s white-ball plans in favour of a churn of 90mph options. Now, the star of their 2022 T20 World Cup triumph is back as a lock for their 2026 campaign, after claiming England’s first T20I hat-trick since Chris Jordan against the USA at Bridgetown in the 2024 tournament.

It wasn’t initially much of a night to remember for Curran, however. His first two overs were belted for 35 runs, with Kusal Mendis taking a particular liking to his medium-paced allsorts – Kusal’s two sixes in three balls came either side of Curran’s new trademark “moonball”, which plops out of the night sky at 53mph/85kph (as if it were a direct rebuke to McCullum’s predilections). In fact, he landed that variation so well first time around that he tried it again immediately… and got tonked over the sightscreen for his sins.

Curran’s third over, however, was rather different gravy. Sri Lanka’s innings was, by now, in tatters courtesy of England’s spinners, but all hope of a recovery ended when Dasun Shanaka slapped a drive to Harry Brook at mid-off for 20. Maheesh Theekshana then came and went with a wild hoick across the full length, to Jamie Overton at long-on, and with the ground rapt with expectation, Pathirana had no answer to the full, straight delivery that spread-eagled his stumps for Curran’s third career hat-trick across T20 formats.

At 75 for 1 after seven overs, Sri Lanka had seemed on course for a monster total. A clue to their incoming struggles, however, had already been glimpsed in England’s initial spin forays. Though Dawson’s first over went for 14 runs, that included a bizarre first delivery to Pathum Nissanka that deflected off his leg stump for four byes without dislodging the zing bail, while Rashid’s five singles and a dot were an obvious sign of things to come.

Sure enough, Rashid did for Nissanka in his second over, via a top-edged slog for 23 off 20, and thereafter, the spinners operated as a tag-team between overs eight and 12.

Dawson got his rewards with the scalp of Charith Asalanka, well caught at deep midwicket by Jacob Bethell for 2. Rashid then made it three wickets in as many overs when Kusal’s lively knock ended with a tame lob to long-on from 37 off 20. Back came Dawson with a quicker ball and a successfully reviewed appeal – his lbw appeal against Pavan Liyanage was so plumb that umpire Ravi Wimalasiri assumed there had to have been an inside-edge. And, after Rashid had induced Dhananjaya de Silva into another top-edged slog-sweep, to cap his ageless figures of 3 for 19 in four overs, Sri Lanka had crumbled to 100 for 6. From there, Curran would offer no let-up.

Archer’s rapid return to action has been the surprise development of this tour. He missed the final two Ashes Tests with a side strain, which can be notoriously tough for fast bowlers to shake off, but having been re-added to the squad ahead of schedule, he showed no ill-effects in a hugely encouraging first outing of the year.

Cruising to the crease with his pace touching 91mph on occasions, Archer so nearly struck in his first over as Dawson dropped a flying chance at short midwicket, and had conceded just two runs in eight balls before Nissanka and Mishara connected with a brace of off-side boundaries in his second over. A lusty launch for six from Shanaka would be the only other real dent to his figures.

It was perhaps surprising that England chose to risk Archer in such conditions. The outfield was still pretty slick after steady rain for much of the day in Pallekele – a rope continued to be dragged across the surface at intervals during the match – and they’d opted against his inclusion in another rain-shortened shoot-out in Cardiff last September. However, the desire to get him back up to match fitness was over-riding, and on this occasion, justified.

With all the attention elsewhere, the pick of England’s quicks was arguably Overton. Though Mishara swiped his first delivery over long-on for six, his heavy lengths proved hard to combat on this surface, and he topped and tailed the innings with 2 for 17 in 2.2 overs. Mishara was his first (via the first of many top-edged wipes, this time to midwicket) before Hasaranga lost his leg stump to sink Sri Lanka’s innings with four balls of their 17 overs left unused.

Brief scores:
England 125 for 4 in 16 overs (Phil Salt 46, Jos Buttler 17, Tom Banton 29, Harry Brook 16*; Matheesha Pathirana 1-18, Eshan Malinga 2-24, Dasun Shanaka 1-12) beat Sri Lanka 133 in 18.2 overs  (Pathum Nissanka 23, Kamil Mishara 16, Kusal Mendis  37,Dhananjaya de Silva 11, Dasun Shanaka 20, Wanidu Hasaranga 14;  Adil Rashid 3-19, Sam Curran 3-38, Jamie Overton 2-17, Liam Dawson 2-31) by 11 runs – DLS

[Cricinfo]