Alex Hales has claimed that England are ready to defend their World Twenty20 title after beating Australia in a warm-up match in Colombo.

The Nottinghamshire batsman scored 52 at the top of the order on Monday and believes that Stuart Broad's side have every right to be confident about their chances in Sri Lanka.

"It's a great way to start the warm-up to this tournament, and we also had that good win against South Africa too [in Birmingham last week]," said Hales. "So we're feeling pretty confident heading into this tournament.

"It adds to the confidence in the changing room, which is already pretty good."

England's first match in the tournament is on September 21 against Afghanistan.

Written by
Callum Mulvihill