England v Sri Lanka: Alice Capsey shines as hosts win rain-reduced T20 series opener

Alice Capsey hit a blistering half-century as England beat Sri Lanka by 12 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in a rain-affected T20 series opener at Hove.

The 19-year-old all-rounder hit five fours and three sixes in a dazzling knock of 51 from 27 balls to help England rack up 186-4 in an innings reduced to 17 overs after a delayed start.

Opener Danni Wyatt got the innings off to a flyer with a boundary-laden 48 from 30 balls.

In reply, Sri Lanka reached 23-0 from 3.1 overs before the rain returned and, when play resumed, the tourists were set a revised target of 68 from six overs - 45 more from 17 balls.

That was always going to be a hard ask and it became that much trickier when 17-year-old debutant Mahika Gaur removed Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu for her first England wicket.

Sri Lanka fought until the last with Nilakshi de Silva hitting three boundaries in a row to begin the final over but the visitors came up short, finishing on 55-3.

England take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, with the second T20 at Chelmsford on Saturday.

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Capsey shows class in destructive knock

The evening had started with a sense of excitement about the debut of left-arm pace bowler Gaur but it was another teenager who first shone in the south coast gloom.

Capsey has already become a fixture of the England T20 side and she showed why in a destructive innings.

Sri Lanka's spinners appeared to be dragging things back after England's rapid start, with Capsey initially content to wait to put away the bad balls.

But once she decided to go, it didn't seem to matter how good the ball was, it was met by the middle of Capsey's bat.

She has the touch but it was the power that wowed at Hove as Capsey launched three huge sixes over deep mid-wicket in one Inoka Ranaweera over to kickstart England's late-innings charge.

Her 26-ball fifty is England's fourth fastest in T20s - Capsey already holds the record with a 21-ball effort.

So while there are a number of players to look out for as Heather Knight's side experiment in this series, they will do well to match the excitement that Capsey provides.

'I have freedom to do it my way' - what they said

Player of the match, England all-rounder Capsey: "It took a couple of balls to get used to the pace of the pitch then we realised it was skidding on and just tried to hit the pockets as hard as possible.

"The messaging from [coach] Jon Lewis and Heather Knight has been pretty clear about how I go about my game.

"They've given me the freedom to do it my way and put pressure on the bowlers form ball one, really."

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu: "I'm not worried about the team performance, there were positives in the batting and we look forward to playing good cricket in the next two games.

"We tried our best, our bowling line-up struggled to grip the ball in wet conditions and the cold weather, Sri Lanka is not normally like this."

Former England spinner Alex Hartley on Test Match Special: "Alice Capsey could be as good as Nat Sciver-Brunt. She hits it as well as her. For 19, she is an incredible cricketer."