With a semi-final berth at stake, England put their best foot forward, the squad as a whole came to the party and Sri Lanka missed out in their Super 10 Group 1 league match of the ICC World Twenty20
With a semi-final berth at stake, England put their best foot forward, the squad as a whole came to the party and Sri Lanka missed out in their Super 10 Group 1 league match of the ICC World Twenty20 at the Kotla here on Saturday.
Needing 173, the defending champions were off to the worst possible start, losing Tillakaratna Dilshan, their best hope in a big chase early. From there on it was a bumpy downhill ride, but a brave charge nevertheless.
Inside the first 24 balls, four batsmen were back in the dugout, three of them caught variously in the deep (Dilshan), by the wicketkeeper (Dinesh Chandimal), at cover (Milinda Siriwardana) and one, run out (Lahiru Thirimane).
A brutal 80-run fifth wicket stand between skipper Angelo Mathews (73 n.o.) and Chamara Kapugedera (30), Thisara Perera’s 20 (11b, 1x4, 2x6) raised some hope, but the bowlers had leaked far too many runs first up.
Lanka finished on 161/8 to sadly leave their final league game against South Africa here on Monday a formality and England qualifying behind the West Indies for the semis.
Earlier, asked to take first strike, opener Jason Roy (42, 39b), his 61-run second wicket association with Joe Root (25, 24b), and the finishing power of skipper Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler carried England to a daunting 171/4.
Buttler and Morgan (22, 16b) put on 74 for the fourth wicket in just 6.3 overs, the former punishing the Lankan medium pacers with some superbly timed hitting. The wicketkeeper-batsman ended with an unbeaten 66 that came in just 37 deliveries and included eight boundaries and three massive sixes.
SCOREBOARD England: J. Roy lbw b Vandersay 42, A. Hales lbw b Herath 0, J. Root c Thirimanne b Vandersay 25, J. Buttler (not out) 66, E. Morgan (run out) 22, B. Stokes (not out) 6. Extras: (b1, lb5, w3, nb1) 10.Total: (for 4 wkts, in 20 overs) 171. FoW: 1-4, 2-65, 3-88, 4-162. Bowling: Mathews 4-0-25-0, Herath 4-1-27-1, Vandersay 4-0-26-2, Siriwardana 1-0-9-0, Chameera 4-0-36-0 (1nb, 1w), Perera 2-0-27-0 (2w), Shanaka 1-0-15-0
Sri Lanka: D. Chandimal c Buttler b Jordan 1, T. Dilshan c Hales b Willey 2, M. Siriwardana c Morgan b Willey 7, L. Thirimanne run out 3, A. Mathews (not out) 73, C. Kapugedera c Stokes b Plunkett 30, T. Perera c Willey b Jordan 20, D. Shanaka c Root b Jordan 15, R. Herath b Jordan 1, J. Vandersay (not out).0 Extras: (lb 2, w 7) 9. Total: (for 8 wkts, in 20 overs) 161. FoW: 1-3, 2-4, 3-15, 4-15, 5-95, 6-137,7-155, 8-157. Bowling: Willey 4-0-26-2, Jordan 4-0-28-4 (3w), Plunkett 4-0-23-1 (2w), Stokes 4-0-19-0 (2w), Rashid 2-0-31-0, Ali 2-0-32-0
