Game over, and a statement win
Chris Jordan at long-on seals the deal. England win by 26 runs in an outstanding team display, led by Jos Buttler, but sealed by a bowling attack lacking a key death option in Tymal Mills. They are all but assured of topping the group now, while Sri Lanka are all but out after yet another feisty but unfulfilled display.
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England's death options stand tall
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Ballsy bowling from Liam Livingstone, who must have thought his work was done for the day, but Mills' injury has pressganged him back into action. And he's come up with a precious scalp. Wanindu Hasaranga was dragging the match Sri Lanka's way with some clean striking, including a fine drive for four off Jordan. But with the ball turning out of his arc, one hack too many flies to wide long-off, where Jason Roy does brilliantly to cling on and relay the catch to the substitute Sam Billings. Three overs remain, four wickets in hand, 34 to get.
Make that three wickets left, as Buttler has run out Dasun Shanaka two balls later, with a direct hit from behind the stumps! With two batters yet to face a ball, it's England's to win now...
Make that two... a flick off the toes from the final ball of Jordan's spell, and Malan on the rope at square leg swallows Chameera's offering.
Make that one... as Moeen Ali, a gutsy offering for the penultimate over, drills his offbreak into the surface, and obliges Karunaratne to hoist down the ground, and straight at long-off.
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Mills limps out of England's attack
That's not good news for England, in this game but more importantly for the sharp end of the tournament. He winces midway through his run-up and immediately signals to Eoin Morgan that he'll need to get a substitute. Conundrums abound now for England. Woakes has been expensive, and Rashid is bowled out. The death options are limited. And in fact they are even more limited now, with Woakes completing the remaining balls of the over.
The England management have confirmed it is a right quad problem. He missed most of the 2018 season with a similar issue, which is a big worry.
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Rashid's work is done
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Another masterful display. He's got through his work early, and cheaply, to leave Sri Lanka needing to pick up the pace in the final eight.
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Another googly, and Rashid has two
It's an outstanding take from Morgan, sprinting back in the covers, and taking the ball comfortably over his shoulder, and Rashid has two for 4 in seven balls of the powerplay. Another googly to the left-handed Kusal Perera skews off a leading edge. And that's England's 13th wicket in the first six. Tidy. It's also the first time that England have bowled four overs in the powerplay, which is intriguing.
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Short and sweet for Asalanka
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No standing on ceremony from the pugnacious Charith Asalanka, as Sri Lanka's form batter picks up where he left in his earlier rampages. The Powerplay was a turkey shoot on their tour of England in the summer, but he's not messing around now, crashing his nemesis Chris Woakes for a galloping six down the ground before under-edging another four past his stumps. A brace of gutsy sweeps off Moeen Ali keep up the pressure, as England are made to sweat despite their early wicket.
But then, with Morgan perhaps mindful of the dew and its impact for the spinners, Adil Rashid is thrown the ball early and ends the charge, as a miscued googly steeples into the covers
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First-over run-out!
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Lightning work at square from Eoin Morgan, and Pathum Nissanka is gone already! A swift pick-up, a fast, flat shy, and Buttler grabs the ball in front of the stumps, goes with the momentum, and sprints off in celebration. He knows before the replay confirms it...
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Hundred for Buttler!
What. An. Innings!
It's the final ball of the innings. It's a juicy full toss on leg stump, and Buttler flicks it high and mighty over backward square, to leap from 95 to 101 not out. He's the second England batter to get three figures in T20 World Cups after Alex Hales against the same opponents in 2014. And he's given England a real chance in a dogfight of an innings.
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Hasaranga's googly breaks the stand
14 Wickets for Hasaranga at the T20 World Cup, including 13 googlies
A belting drive for six takes Morgan into strike-rate credit on 40 from 35, but one ball later, he's done in by the googly. Still, he's found his form at the back end of this innings, and shown the value of not panicking early on.
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Signs of dew as Shanaka suffers?
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The towels are out in Dasun Shanaka's second over, as Buttler's outstanding innings enters its over-drive phase. Two mighty swings for six and a firm flick off the legs take him to his highest T20I score, although an excellent yorker helps to regain some control for the back end of the over. Even so, England are eyeing an explosive finish now.
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Buttler at the wheel
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Here come England, at the death
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Right, it's taken a while, but with wickets in hand and two set batters, England are just beginning to stretch their legs now. Morgan, grinding for form after a desperate IPL, is gifted a freebie from Hasaranga, a full-toss on the legs that he flicks away for four, and from a nadir of 10 from 21 balls, he slams an inside-out drive for six off Lahiru Kumara to move closer to a run-a-ball. Buttler takes the cue, and Kumara goes the journey, 44 runs from his four overs, with two smashed sixes down the ground, again from that blockhole length. In five overs, they've more than doubled their half-way score, to reach 105 for 3 after 15.
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Buttler's wrists come to the party
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Now then. Chamika Karunaratne returns for his second over, with a subtle change to the methods that have served Sri Lanka so well, and the in-form Buttler is primed to take relative toll. With a fuller length, aiming at the blockhole, Buttler's strong wrists and dominant bottom hand allow him to wrench a four and a six over the leg side, before timing a drive sweetly out to the cover sweeper for only the fifth two of England's innings... which is a reflection of Sharjah's short dimensions. If you don't clear the ropes, you can't find much space to turn for the second.
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An actual boundary!
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All it took was a drink, clearly. First ball of the second ten, and Buttler drills a drive through the covers to bring up England's hard-worked fifty. This has been a slog. England haven't made this few in the first half of a T20I since that defeat to Netherlands in 2014...
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Morgan in the spotlight
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Dot, dot ... dashed?
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Well, this is different gravy now. Tight lines on a low deck, you miss, they'll hit. England are under the cosh now and no mistake.
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Malan and Bairstow depart, England toil
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All of a sudden, England have a bit of a battle on their hands. A brace of overs from the spinners Hasaranga and Theekshana put the brakes on, before Dawid Malan falls in Chameera's second over, and at the second attempt too, after an under-edged pull reaches the keeper on the half-volley. No matter, a fine cutter from round the wicket thuds into his off stump one ball later, as Malan's high hands come to grief on Sharjah's skiddy surface.
And two balls later, there's official drama in the air. Jonny Bairstow advances to the spin of Hasaranga and is thumped on the pad by the googly. It's not out onfield, but an excellent review shows it to be hitting leg. Three-down in the Powerplay, and now they have an insight into how their Group 1 victims might have felt.
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Buttler notches another landmark
2000 Runs for Jos Buttler in T20Is, in 86 matches
He gets there in the midst of a tight opening over from Maheesh Theekshana. A couple of wides undermine his impact, but his tight lines keep both Buttler and Dawid Malan under wraps for now
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Roy comes and goes in a hurry
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My inner nerd was braced for a breakout for the final ball of Dushmantha Chameera's opening over ... with England's openers having chalked up a dot, a one, a two, a three and a four in the first five balls. A six would have completed a full bingo card, but Jason Roy unsportingly tapped it through point. If only Adil Rashid had been on hand to offer some sushi...
Roy's eyes were rather wider one ball later though... a massive wipe across the line to Wanindu Hasaranga, and back went his off stump. He forgot the lesson he had shown so superbly with a firmly placed drive for four in that opening over, hitting through the line on this surface is the key.
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Permutations, permutations...
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Win the toss, win the match?
3 Teams that have lost at this T20 World Cup after winning the toss and fielding first.
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Sri Lanka win the toss and bowl
Dasun Shanaka has won the toss! England will have to set a target for the first time in the tournament... game on!
No team changes for either side. But there is a change for England's kit. They've rolled out the FRTs to meet with the ICC's regulations... "Due to ICC kit regs, we have to wear red trousers against Sri Lanka in the tournament," says an ECB spokesman. "If India and England meet in the latter stages, we will also wear red trousers for that match."
Well there you go. Never let it be said that the ICC don't sweat the important details. Though whisper it, it might be a bit of a long shot for England and India to meet now...
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Time Out Live
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England unchanged?
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Who can stop the Juggernaut?
Greetings. Well, here we are again. It's England versus Sri Lanka in the Super 12s, and to judge by the wallopings that Eoin Morgan's men have meted out of late, both on Sri Lanka in the summer, and on everyone they've so far encountered in this tournament, it's perhaps easy to jump to conclusions about where this one may be headed...
But hold on! We're in Sharjah, a ground where crazy stuff tends to happen. And it's where Sri Lanka have played three of their fixtures to date, to England's none. Also, England have yet to sample the traumas of bowling in the dew. And Sri Lanka, despite their lowly status in Group 1, have been a feisty outfit throughout their UAE stay. Here's wot I wrote earlier... let the jeopardy begin!
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