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Sri Lanka vs England T20 Cricket World Cup Predictions - Banton to get England off to a winning start in the Super 8s

Simon Lewis

Editor

Last updated: 21 Feb 2026

Simon Lewis 21 Feb 2026

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Tom Banton hit three sixes in his 41-ball 63* against Scotland.
Pathum Nissanka has scored 23, 24, 100* & 62 in his last five innings.
Can England make it six T20I wins in a row against Sri Lanka in their first match in the Super 8s?

Expired

Tom Banton hits out against Italy (Getty Images).

Sri Lanka vs England Predictions

Sri Lanka were flying after their win over Australia, but their six-wicket defeat to Zimbabwe in their final group match has taken some gloss off their three-match winning start to the World Cup. England have been patchy in this World Cup but they are starting to gel as the tournament hots up. They are far from favourites but should by no means be discounted at this stage.

Sri Lanka vs England Predictions
Head-to-Head
Sri Lanka Form
England Form
Sri Lanka vs England Team News & Squads

England’s Tom Banton has scored 63* & 30 in his last 2 innings.
England’s Will Jacks hit four sixes in his 22-ball 53* against Italy.
Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka hit five sixes in his 52-ball 100* against Australia.
Sri Lanka’s Pavan Rathnayake hit two sixes in his 25-ball 4 against Zimbabwe.

Head-to-Head

England have won their last five T20Is against Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka Form

Sri Lanka’s three–match winning streak ended when they lost to Zimbabwe by six wickets with three balls to spare in their last group match.

Pathum Nissanka has hit form at the perfect time, with two big innings against Zimbabwe’s strongest opposition in their last two matches. Kusal Mendis is also enjoying a good World Cup, scoring 56*, 61, 51 and 14 in his four innings to date.

Pavan Rathnayake has done well in his last three matches (60, 28* and 44), while Dasun Shanaka (50), Kamindu Mendis (44 and 19*) and Kusal Perera (22) have made minor contributions with the bat.

Dushmantha Chameera was in superb form before being rested for Sri Lanka’s last group game having already qualified for the Super 8s. Chameera has taken 5/24, 1/25, 2/19 and 2/36 in his last four T20Is.

Dushan Hemantha (2/36) picked up two of the four Zimbabwe wickets to fall in their last group, having starred against Australia in taking 3/37. Pramod Madushan took 4/29 and 3/39 in Sri Lanka’s first two matches but struggled in their last two matches.

Maheesh Theekshana also got off to a good start in the tournament, starting with 3/23, 2/11 and 1/37. Dunith Wellalage has taken one wicket each of Sri Lanka’s four matches and is Sri Lanka’s most economical of their regular bowlers in the tournament (econ 6.56).

England Form

England started their World Cup by scraping home against Nepal off the last ball of their match, followed by a 30-run defeat by the West Indies. They secured their Super 8 spot by beating Scotland by five wickets and Italy by 24 runs.

Sam Curran has been one of the stars for England in this World Cup, scoring 43*, 28 and 25 in his last three innings. With the ball he has picked up 1/36, 1/33 and 3/22 in his last three matches.

Tom Banton has scored some decent runs in his last two innings (63* and 30), but it is youngster Jacob Bethell who has stood up to be counted, scoring 52, 33, 32 and 23 in his four innings in the World Cup.

Two of England’s batting kingpins - Phil Salt (30 and 28) and Jos Buttler (26 and 21) - have failed to fire during this World Cup, but both could still play a major part if England push deeper into the tournament. Harry Brook opened his World Cup account with 53 against Nepal but has scored just 17, 4 and 14 in his last three innings.

Jofra Archer has been on fire in the World Cup, taking 1/42, 1/48, 2/24 and 2/35 in his four matches, bowling with pace and aggression. Archer and Adil Rashid could be the keys to England’s success in this tournament, with the leggie putting in some superb bowling performances to pick up 2/16, 3/36 and 1/43 in his last three matches.

Jamie Overton has played a big role in their last two wins, returning figures of 2/33 in the defeat to the West Indies, followed by 1/23 against Scotland and 3/18 against Italy.

Sri Lanka vs England Team News & Squads

Rain is predicted for the afternoon, and that could have a huge bearing on the toss and how quickly the side batting first goes about their business. Seamer Dushmantha Chameera is set to return to the side after being rested for the final group game.

Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka felt his side were unlucky to lose to Zimbabwe in their final group game after posting a defendable score.

“We had a very good start. Some patches where we could have done better but we take the score, but it was a good score on this pitch. Plan was to take early wickets but we could not get that start. We could have done slightly better,” said Shanaka during his post-match interview.

England captain Harry Brook admitted that his side need a better performance with the bat. In his post-match interview he said that England “haven't played our best cricket but we're heading through and going to Sri Lanka”.

“We haven't stringed together the scores, but we’ve got to keep being brave and take our options on. We've played in Sri Lanka for a couple of weeks. We've got to be brave with the bat... that's been our downfall so far. We haven't been brave enough," said Brook.

England squad: Harry Brook (c), Tom Banton, Jos Buttler, Ben Duckett, Phil Salt, Jacob Bethell, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue, Luke Wood.

Sri Lanka squad: Dasun Shanaka (c), Kusal Mendis, Kamil Mishara, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Pavan Rathnayake, Charith Asalanka, Dushan Hemantha, Janith Liyanage, Kamindu Mendis, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka, Pramod Madushan, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage.

Verdict

Sri Lanka v England

I am backing England to win. I am also backing Tom Banton to top score for England.

Pathum Nissanka is a good bet to top score for Sri Lanka.

Dushmantha Chameera

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Simon is a talented sports writer in South Africa with a strong focus on cricket having played first-team level for UCT, including playing at two Universities Weeks.

From a young age Simon was an avid reader of cricket magazines and books, and went on to be Editor of The Googly, CricketScene SA and SA Cricket, in addition to being a Features Writer on SA Sports Illustrated.

He has interviewed most of South Africa's premier cricketers and was the first writer to interview a teenaged Jacques Kallis.

Simon has also written about English and local football, rugby and cricket, in addition to major international tennis and golf stars and competitions.

You can follow more from Simon at Muckrack, X and LinkedIn.