Alice Capsey unsurprised by Mahika Gaur’s impact in England’s win over Sri Lanka

Player of the match Alice Capsey was not shocked by the impact of England debutant Mahika Gaur after the teenage pair helped safe victory in a rain-affected T20 opener towards Sri Lanka at Hove.

The hosts clinched a 1-0 lead in the three-match sequence because of a 12-run success on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern methodology.

Capsey, 19, hit a blistering half-century to assist England submit 186 for 4 in a innings lowered to 17 overs as a consequence of a delayed begin.

Sri Lanka had reached 23-0 from 3.1 overs in reply when play was halted for nearly 45 minutes by an extra downpour, earlier than being set a revised goal of 68 from six overs – 45 extra from 17 balls.

Fast bowler Gaur then marked her maiden cap by claiming the wicket of opposition skipper Chamari Athapaththu, who was caught by Amy Jones, to assist England over the road.

“We’ve all got along with her really well,” Capsey stated of 17-year-old Gaur.

“She’s fitted in completely, she’s only a actually good human. She’s simply somebody who doesn’t take an excessive amount of fuss.

“She gets on with it, she works really hard and I’m not surprised how well she went out there and bowled today.

“It was probably a different role to what she was expecting, having to go to her death overs pretty quickly, but she took that role on really well and it shows her character.”

Capsey smashed 51 off simply 27 balls, together with 5 fours and three sixes, to equal her highest T20I rating.

England had raced out of the blocks and have been 50 with out loss on the finish of 4 overs after the beginning of the match was pushed again by an hour due to moist climate.

Danni Wyatt contributed 48, whereas fellow opener Maia Bouchier made 22, captain Heather Knight chipped in with 23 and Freya Kemp added 20.

Capsey admits England’s gamers have been turning into “a bit itchy” because the prospect of a washout turned a real menace.

“I don’t think I was thinking too much about my 50, I was thinking more about getting the win,” she stated.

“We did the first half of the job really well. I thought Danni Wyatt at the top of the order did brilliantly and then cameos from Heather and Freya, who just kept the momentum going and really finished the game off well for us.

“We knew it was only half the job done. It was a bit frustrating coming off after 3.1 overs and we knew there was a cut off time so I think everyone was getting a bit itchy to get back out there.

“It was nice we were able to. We were put under pressure, which is what we wanted, and it was really nice to see how the team came back from that – it was a really good performance for us.”

The sides will meet once more on Saturday afternoon at Chelmsford forward of a ending the sequence on Wednesday at Derby.