Sam Curran becomes second England bowler to claim T20I hat-trick
What's the story
England kicked off their T20 World Cup preparations on a high note, defeating Sri Lanka by 11 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in the first match of the three-match series in Pallekele. The victory was largely due to Sam Curran's stellar performance, who took a hat-trick as Sri Lanka was bowled out for 133 in just 16.2 overs. Notably, he became just the second England bowler to claim a T20I hat-trick.
Match highlights
Curran's hat-trick powers England to victory
Curran dismissed Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka, Maheesh Theekshana, and Matheesha Pathirana in quick succession to complete his hat-trick in the 16th over. The left-arm pacer finished with figures worth 3/38 from three overs. Meanwhile, leg-spinner Adil Rashid also took three wickets to halt the hosts' momentum. Despite a strong start from Kusal Mendis (37 off 20 balls) and Pathum Nissanka (23 off 22), Sri Lanka crumbled under England's spin attack.
Game progression
Rain curtails England's chase
England's chase was led by Phil Salt, who scored a quickfire 46 off 35 balls. Tom Banton also contributed with a rapid 29 off just 15 balls. However, rain interrupted the match when England needed just nine runs from the last two overs with six wickets in hand. The visitors were ahead on DLS calculations and were declared winners without the need for play to resume.
Stats
Curran joins Jordan on this list
As mentioned, Curran became the second Englishman to claim a T20I hat-trick. He joined veteran pacer Chris Jordan, who achieved the feat against the USA in the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup. As per ESPNcricinfo, Curran also became the sixth bowler with a T20I hat-trick against the Lankans. The others on this list are New Zealand's Jacob Oram, Pakistan's Faheem Ashraf, Pakistan's Mohammad Hasnain, UAE's Karthik Meiyappan, and New Zealand's Lockie Ferguson.
Stats
A look at Curran's T20I stats
With this spell of 3/38, Curran has raced to 60 T20I wickets from 65 matches at an average of 26.70. The tally includes a fifer and an economy of 8.57. Overall, in the 20-over format, the pacer now owns 306 wickets from 320 matches (305 innings) at 28.07. He owns 5 four-fers and 4 fifers (ER: 8.83).