Sonny Baker didn’t just finish Sri Lanka off. He squeezed the life out of the chase, over by over, until the final wicket felt inevitable.
The last act came in brutal simplicity. Sri Lanka, already tottering, 124 all out. Dilshan Madushanka, on 0 from 5, tried one desperate swing to change the script. Baker went full, straight, right at the stumps. Madushanka cleared the front leg and aimed a slog across the line, but the bat turned in his hands and the ball flew off the leading edge.
Harry Brook waited at mid-off, calm under a swirling ball and rising tension. He took it cleanly. Madushanka gone, Sri Lanka done. Baker with the final nail.
Baker sets the tone early
The collapse had its roots much earlier, in Baker’s opening spell. From his very first over, he found movement, lift, and a rhythm that unsettled Sri Lanka’s top order.
Pathum Nissanka, usually so assured, felt both the sting and the squeeze. Baker started with a short-of-a-length ball seaming in from outside off; Nissanka stood tall and punched it crisply, but straight to cover-point. No release.
When Baker strayed down leg, it was only a wide, Jos Buttler flinging himself to his left to prevent more damage. The correction came instantly: a hard length ball jagging in from outside off. Nissanka adjusted late, used the pace, and steered it past short third for four. A classy way to get off the mark, but it didn’t dent Baker’s confidence.
Next ball, a good length on off, Nissanka could only guide it to deep backward point for a single. The message was clear: runs would come, but never cheaply.
At 0.5, Baker went into the sixth-stump channel, short of a length. Lahiru Udara stayed back and blocked, searching for timing that never quite arrived. The final ball of the over straightened off the seam, back of a length on middle and off, squaring Udara up. He survived, edging it off the outer half to third man for a single, but Baker had him thinking.
The breakthrough and the squeeze
The real damage began in Baker’s second over. The pace stayed high, the lengths nagging, the questions relentless.
He started with Kamil Mishara. From around the wicket, Baker hammered in a hard length on off. Mishara hopped, closed the face, and could only nudge it towards short mid-wicket. No run, no comfort.
Next ball, 135kph, skiddy, back of a length, shaping in on leg-stump. Mishara tucked it in front of square for a single, but the feel of the over belonged to the bowler.
Nissanka then faced a trio of searching deliveries. First, a fullish ball swinging in on off, pushed straight back to Baker, who made an awkward stop in his followthrough. Then a back-of-a-length ball outside off, Nissanka reaching for it and toe-ending a pull to short mid-wicket. The timing was off, the control fragile.
Baker’s reward came with the final ball of the over, and it was worth the wait. Lahiru Udara, on 10 off 7 with two boundaries, looked to impose himself. Baker banged in a hard length outside off, inviting the pull. Udara went for the big shot over mid-wicket, but only managed a top-edge that ballooned behind the wicket.
Buttler turned and went. He sprinted back, then drifted slightly left, eyes locked on a ball swirling in the wind. No fuss, no flourish, just a perfectly judged catch. Udara gone for 10. Baker had his first wicket, and Sri Lanka had lost their early spark.
The over cost just two runs and brought a wicket. Pressure, applied and banked.
Nissanka’s brief resistance
Pathum Nissanka tried to drag the innings forward. Baker, though, refused to let him settle.
When Baker returned, he came back heavy. A 144kph skiddy back-of-a-length ball on off forced Nissanka to wait and steer late towards gully for a single. Smart batting, but again, the bowler dictated terms.
The highlight from Sri Lanka’s perspective came when Nissanka finally broke free. Baker pitched it fuller, swinging in from outside off. Nissanka walked down the track, trusted his bottom hand, and whipped it with authority over deep backward square leg. Six, clean and soaring with the wind. A statement shot.
Baker’s response? Back to discipline. A full ball around off, Nissanka could only block it tentatively back towards the bowler. Then 143kph, full, on off, pushed back again. No room, no rhythm.
When Nissanka drilled one on the up towards mid-off, it looked four all the way. Brook, England’s captain, flung himself full length to his right and cut it off. A boundary saved, a message sent: England were as sharp in the field as Baker was with the ball.
No escape at the death
By the time Dilshan Madushanka walked in, the contest was already lopsided. Baker, though, treated him with the same ruthlessness.
The 18th over was a study in control. First ball: full, angling down leg. Madushanka played around it and wore it on the pads. A loud, chirpy appeal went up, but it was clearly sliding down. No wicket, but Baker had him pinned.
Next came a 141kph full-toss in line with the stumps. Madushanka stayed rooted, late on the shot, and inside-edged it onto his pads. Ugly, but just about safe.
Baker shortened his length, hitting the channel. Madushanka finally got behind one, blocking a back-of-a-length ball with something approaching composure. Another length ball followed, this time on middle and off as Madushanka backed away, trying to open up the off-side. He aimed a cut, but only managed a toe-end dribbling down the pitch. Four dots in a row. The noose tightened.
Then came ball five. Fuller, straighter, uncompromising. Madushanka, out of options and out of time, swung across the line. The leading edge flew to mid-off. Brook moved in, settled under it, and completed the job.
Madushanka gone for 0 from 5. Sri Lanka bowled out for 124. Baker with the last word.
On a day when every mistake cost Sri Lanka dearly, Sonny Baker didn’t offer many.
