Sri Lankan fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera bowled a brutal ball which hit Jamie Overton on the leg during the high-pressure T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 match against England in Pallekele.
Dushmantha Chameera’s fierce delivery hurts Jamie Overton
The incident happened on the last ball of England’s innings at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Sunday (February 22). Dushmantha Chameera tried to bowl a yorker, but the ball slipped quickly into a full toss. It came back quickly for the England batsmen.
Also read: Lasith Malinga leaves Mumbai Indians ahead of IPL 2026
Overton swung hard but missed. The ball hit his inner thigh, very close to his knee. Overton was clearly in extreme pain. He was struggling for a moment and looked uncomfortable. The blow was powerful and apparently caused serious injury.
But despite the pain he did not give up. He ran fast and finished the innings with a leg bye. England scored 146 runs for 9 wickets at the end of their 20 overs against Sri Lanka in the Super 8 match.
– Drizzyat12Kennyat8 (@45kennyat7PM) 22 February 2026
Phil Salt fights alone as Sri Lanka spin web strangles England
Sri Lanka bowled really well after England were invited to bat first at Pallekele. England had a bad start and their score in the end was below normal. Sri Lanka bowled 12 overs of spin and conceded only 85 runs in those overs while taking 5 wickets. Except Phil Salt (62 runs on 40 balls), no batsman of England could face even 15 balls against Sri Lanka.
Only Will Jacques could score 21 runs while half the team was out on the score of one point. Sri Lanka was also excellent in fielding. He impressively took 6 catches and produced a brilliant run-out to dismiss Banton in the 8th over at Pallekele.
Also read: Navjot Singh Sidhu hits back at Mohammad Aamir for his shocking T20 WC prediction
Dilshan Madushanka (2/25) was excellent in the powerplay overs and later returned to bowl the second to last over, where he took two important wickets. Mahesh Theekshana (2/21) and Dunith Velez (3/26) were the standout bowlers for the Islanders. He cleverly used different variations and did not allow the England batsmen to hit big shots in the middle overs.
Dunit Velez reveals strategy before devastating batting
During the innings break, Dunith Velazquez said that the pitch was a bit slow, so he concentrated on bowling straight and attacking the stumps. He told that he had already studied England’s batting during the recent tour of Sri Lanka, which helped him to plan better in this Super 8 match.
“First of all, the wicket was a little slow. So, I backed myself to bowl wicket-to-wicket. I read the wicket; we played this England team before the World Cup, and I knew their batting. It’s a little slow (on the surface), so I wanted to vary my pace. Definitely, hopefully we can chase this down,” Velazquez said.
However, chasing a modest target, the Islanders got off to a poor start as they lost five wickets for just 35 runs inside the powerplay against England in the Super 8 encounter of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026 in Pallekele. Will Jacques and Jofra Archer broke the backbone of the Sri Lankan lineup.