Aneurin Donald Handed England T20I Debut Against Sri Lanka, Archer Rested

Aneurin Donald will make his England T20I debut in the series opener against Sri Lanka at the Utilita Bowl in Southampton, opening the batting alongside Jos Buttler after being handed a surprise call-up by white-ball coach Brendon McCullum.

The 29-year-old Derbyshire batter comes in for the injured Phil Salt, who is out with a quadriceps issue, with Jacob Bethell (knee) and Sam Curran (groin) also unavailable. Donald earned his promotion off the back of an explosive Vitality Blast campaign, striking 489 runs at a rate of 214 with a tournament-high 37 sixes, and further caught McCullum's eye with a blistering 38 off 19 balls for Trent Rockets in last month's Hundred final. The Swansea-born wicketkeeper-batter, who previously played for Glamorgan and Hampshire before joining Derbyshire in 2023, becomes the county's first homegrown England men's international since Simon Jones in the 2005 Ashes. At 29, he becomes England's oldest batter to make a maiden T20I appearance since David Malan in 2017.

Jofra Archer has been rested after playing all three Tests in England's recent 3-0 sweep of Pakistan, with Josh Tongue retained in the T20I squad despite also featuring throughout that series. Sonny Baker is set for just his second T20I cap. The three-match series continues in Cardiff on Thursday and concludes in Manchester on Saturday, before both sides switch to a three-match ODI series beginning September 22.