As he nears the end of a hectic summer, Harry Brook was offered the chance to rest rather than play this series and how Sri Lanka must wish Pakistan’s red ball side had extended him enough to force a layoff. As it turned out, the 27-year-old could hardly have looked fresher as he inspired his side to an overwhelming win over emphatically outclassed opponents, a brilliant century powering England to a 19th victory in 22 completed games since he took over the captaincy, secured by the margin of 119 runs.

Brook cavorted to triple figures off 42 balls, of which precisely a third were dispatched to the boundary, six of them beyond it, and ended unbeaten on 114 as England posted 254. But as much as his power his running impressed, using the size of the ground and manipulation of angles to maximum advantage, aided occasionally by the tourists’ imperfection in the field, as he scurried a succession of twos.

These teams have already met nine times this year, with potentially six more encounters to come between now and November. Having been left punch-drunk here, if Sri Lanka fail to recover their senses and create a plan to counter Brook in particular they are in for a miserable few weeks.

This was the 27-year-old’s second international T20 century, the other coming in Sri Lanka, against Pakistan during the World Cup earlier this year, the first time that he batted for his country at No 3. He has now done so eight times , scoring in addition to those two tons two unbeaten half-centuries and compiling an average of 95.2 at a ludicrous strike rate of 200.84.

Aneurin Donald, at 29 England’s oldest debutant since Dawid Malan in 2017, started strongly, hitting Maheesh Theekshana for a six and a four off the final two balls of the first over, but the next one he faced, the opening delivery of the third over and Dunith Wellalage’s first of the night, was skewed into the air, straight down the ground and easily caught.

Encouraged by an over that brought a wicket and just five runs, Wellalage – who would return to top score for Sri Lanka from No 8 – stayed on for a second, off which Brook flayed three sixes and as many fours, and from there England never let up.

England, put in to bat, had the best of the conditions but Sri Lanka’s innings featured nearly three times as many dot balls as theirs, and just over half as many boundaries. After six overs England had 90 for the loss of one wicket; the tourists at the same stage had 32 and had lost three, their task already far beyond forlorn.

It did not help that Sonny Baker, expensive against Ireland on T20 debut almost exactly a year ago, looked a player transformed on his second appearance, his four overs bringing three wickets and just 12 runs.

There were a few brief moments of fun as Dasun Shanaka hit Adil Rashid for successive sixes, struck with enormous power either side of long-off, but the next ball found his edge and Buttler’s gloves, and Wellalage’s cameo was the only succour for the tourists thereafter. They were eventually bowled out for 135, with an over unbowled.

England seem to have taken a liking to the Rose Bowl, and in their last three appearances here have thrashed South Africa by 342 runs in a record-breaking one-day international, comfortably beaten India in a T20, and now this.

Aahil Kaleel and Rehan Gunawardhane advanced to the boys’ singles quarter-finals of the ITF J60 Week Two tennis tournament with convincing victories at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts.

‎Kaleel continued his impressive run with a commanding 6-1, 6-2 victory over China’s Qiaoshen Guo in the second round. The Sri Lankan controlled the match from the outset, giving Guo little opportunity to settle and securing his place among the last eight.

‎Gunawardhane also produced a strong performance to overcome Hong Kong’s Jason Fu 6-4, 6-2. After a competitive opening set, Gunawardhane stepped up his game in the second to seal a straight-set victory and join Kaleel in the quarter-final line-up for the hosts.

Rehan Gunawardhane

‎The two Sri Lankan youngsters will now face another challenge as they look to progress further in the tournament, which is being conducted at the SLTA courts from September 14 to 19.

‎In the other boys’ second-round matches, China’s Mingrui Shi beat Sri Lanka’s Nevan Kannangara 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, while Poland’s Jerzy Filip Urban defeated Damsath Peiris 6-1, 6-4. Singapore’s Luke Jie Xi Hd beat Revan Amarasingha 6-3, 6-2, and China’s Yidu Yang overcame Andrew Wijemanne 6-2, 6-4.

‎In the girls’ singles, India’s Aleena Farid defeated Australia’s Sara Patil 7-5, 6-2. China’s Tianyi Gong beat Japan’s Miku Matsuo 6-0, 6/-3, while China’s Runyang Ye defeated Singapore’s Saina Jayesh Vaidya 6-3, 7-5.

The Bahrain National Cricket Team after a dissapointing performance at the Asian Cricket Council Men’s Premier Cup group stage matches played in Malaysia a few days back arrived in Sri Lanka to prepare for the upcoming 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Sub – regional qualifier A which is also scheduled to be hosted in Malaysia from 3 to15 October 2026.

The ‘2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Sub – regional qualifier A’ forms part of the qualification pathway for the 2028 T20 World Cup. Teams from Thailand, Kuwait, Bhutan, Qatar, Nyabnar, Mongolia and Bahrain scheduled to participate.

During their 20 day stay in the island, the Bahrain cricketers will avail the facilities including the coaching staff at Sri Lanka Cricket’ s High Performance Centre at Khettarama courtesy SLC and play four practice games at the Galle International Stadium .

The Bahrain National Team led by Asif Ali comprise Prashant Kurup [Vice captain and wk], Amish Rana, Junaid Niazi, Ali Dawood, Ahmer Bin Naser, Imran Javed, Monammed Waseem, Abdul Majid, Rizwan Butt, Yaseer Naser, Asif Shaikh, Sohail Ahmed and Shujath Rasool

The team is managed by Adil Ahmed and Nishantha Weerasinghe is the Head Coach while Isuru Weerasinghe is the Physio. The team’s inbound travel arrangements are being handled by Celebrate Lanka.