Harry Brook's unbeaten 114 steers England to 119-run win over Sri Lanka in first T20 at the Rose Bowl
England defeated Sri Lanka by 119 runs at the Rose Bowl in the first T20 international on 15 September 2026, as captain Harry Brook struck an unbeaten 114 off 49 balls to lead his side to 254 and a comprehensive victory.
Brook had been offered the chance to rest for the series but played and produced the performance, the 27-year-old registering his second international T20 century and inspiring England to their 19th victory in 22 completed games since he took over the captaincy. His other T20 hundred came in Sri Lanka against Pakistan during the World Cup earlier this year when he first batted at No 3; he has now done so eight times, and in addition to those two tons has two unbeaten half-centuries, compiling an average of 95.2 at a strike rate of 200.84.
Brook reached triple figures off 42 balls, of which precisely a third were dispatched to the boundary, six of them sixes, and finished unbeaten on 114 as England posted 254. His running between the wickets and manipulation of angles, aided at times by fielding lapses from the tourists, produced frequent twos and sustained the scoring. “I’ve been feeling there or thereabouts all summer, in all three formats,” Brook said. “I feel I’ve let myself down a couple of times, I’ve had opportunities to get a big score, and thankfully I didn’t give that opportunity up today.”
Ben Stokes posted on X after the innings, describing Brook as “an absolute freak” who was “not even the genius of KP could come close to talent-wise”, a reference to Kevin Pietersen, the new batting mentor. Jos Buttler contributed a 44-ball 80 but was overshadowed by Brook; Buttler had been dropped on 45.
Aneurin Donald, at 29 England’s oldest debutant since Dawid Malan in 2017, began aggressively, hitting Maheesh Theekshana for a six and a four off the final two balls of the first over, but was dismissed at the start of the third over to Dunith Wellalage, the ball skewing straight down the ground to be caught. Wellalage’s first over had produced a wicket and five runs, and his second over was walloped for three sixes and three fours by Brook; Wellalage would later top score for Sri Lanka from No 8.
England, put in to bat, had the best of the conditions and after six overs were 90 for 1, while Sri Lanka at the same stage were 32 for 3. The tourists’ innings contained nearly three times as many dot balls as England’s and just over half as many boundaries. Sonny Baker, expensive on T20 debut against Ireland almost exactly a year ago, returned with four overs for three wickets and just 12 runs, and although Dasun Shanaka struck successive sixes off Adil Rashid before edging the next ball to Buttler, Sri Lanka offered little resistance thereafter and were bowled out for 135 with an over unbowled.
Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka said: “It was a tough day for us. Positives-wise, it didn’t have anything.” England’s success continued at the Rose Bowl, following a 342-run win over South Africa in a record-breaking one-day international and a comfortable T20 victory over India in their two previous appearances at the venue, prompting the suggestion that giving Southampton an Ashes Test might not be a bad idea after all.