England wrap up a comfortable win in the second T20I to go 2-0 up with one game to go

England Women 124 for 4 (Beaumont 63, Knight 39, Mair 2-22) beat New Zealand Women 123 for 9 (Satterthwaite 49, Davies 4-23, Sciver 2-25, Glenn 2-27) by six wickets

Opener Tammy Beaumont‘s 63 combined with superb bowling efforts from Freya Davies, Nat Sciver and Sarah Glenn helped England Women win the second T20I against New Zealand Women and seal the three-match series with one game to go.

After New Zealand were put in to bat, Sophie Ecclestone and Davies did the early damage by removing the openers within the first five overs. Amy Satterthwaite and Amelia Kerr then combined for a 58-run third-wicket stand and pushed the scoring rate up as they stayed together till the 12th over, but a double-strike from legspinner Glenn took care of Kerr and Katey Martin, which pegged New Zealand back.

Davies then caused further damage, removing Satterthwaite for 49 in the 15th over, and that put a lid on the scoring in a big way. New Zealand were 98 for 5 at that point, and after that they added just 25 more runs to push their total to 123 for 9. Davies finished with career-best figures of 4 for 23, while Sciver and Glenn picked up two wickets each.

England started their chase briskly thanks to Beaumont, who hit seven fours and a six on her way to a 53-ball 63. Rosemary Mair removed Dani Wyatt and Sciver for paltry scores, but Beaumont partnered with captain Heather Knight – who made a run-a-ball 39 – for 83 runs to put England in a winning position. Though both of them were dismissed before the close, England cantered home with 16 balls in hand.

The third – and final – T20I will be played in Wellington on Sunday.

At this point, Sri Lanka’s best hope is to bat ridiculously well and give their bowlers a chance

Big picture

How do you plan for West Indies? Their bowlers are varied and skillful – the first T20 at Coolidge featuring quicks like Dwayne Bravo, Jason Holder and Obed McCoy – who were adept at bowling a variety of slower balls that took advantage of a sluggish surface to flummox the Sri Lanka batsmen.

Their batsmen, meanwhile, can make something out of nothing. Not even a hat-trick to Akila Dananjaya could really derail the West Indies’ chase because they’ve got six-hitting batsmen down to No. 8. Within the course of an over, Kieron Pollard turned a tricky situation for his team into what became a cakewalk, withhis six sixes in an over. What do you do against that kind of power? If you have as many matchwinners in the side as they do – Andre Russell is not even a part of their equation for this series, by the way – this is a side that is as impervious to opposition analysis as any team around.

Sri Lanka’s best hope is to bat ridiculously well. It is possible there is no score that is beyond this West Indies team’s capability, but if Sri Lanka manage to fire collectively with the bat, they give their bowlers a chance. On Wednesday, none of their top seven batsmen had strike rates of even 120, which is clearly a problem. As a result, West Indies could take huge risks through the course of that chase, and those risks paid off.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka:: LLLLL
England: WLLWW

Battle to watch

West Indies’ power hitters vs Sri Lanka’s spinners. After the first match, Pollard suggested that his devastating six-hitting against Dananjaya was actually part of his team’s plan. The reasoning is this: West Indies’ batsmen can hit sixes like nobody else. And they particularly relish hitting sixes off spin bowling. On Wednesday, Dananjaya was the prime whipping boy, with eight of the 13 sixes for West Indies coming off his bowling. But Sri Lanka’s slow bowlers are likely to want to come back at the hosts. In their ranks, they can at least count on Wanindu Hasaranga, who is a wicket-taking threat as well as a more steady batsman when they need him.

Pitch and conditions

The pitch at Coolidge for the first match was on the tackier side, so perhaps this could become a theme of this T20I series. There is no rainfall forecast.

Team news

Despite the defeat, Sri Lanka may opt for the same lineup.
Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Niroshan Dickwella 2 Danushka Gunathilaka, 3 Pathum Nissanka, 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Thisara Perera, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Ashen Bandara, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Nuwan Pradeep

West Indies have no reason to change their XI either.
West Indies (possible): 1 Lendl Simmons, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 5 Kieron Pollard (capt), 6 Jason Holder, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Fabian Allen, 9 Kevin Sinclair, 10 Obed McCoy, 11 Fidel Edwards

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka have not won a T20I since October 2019. They have lost eight T20Is on the trot since then.
• Kieron Pollard hit 36 off his 38 runs via sixes in the last match – a staggering 95% runs.
• In general, West Indies hit 13 sixes to their six fours on Wednesday.

  Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo’s Sri Lanka correspondent. @afidelf

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