Sri Lanka, West Indies move into semis

Elmo Rodrigopulle - Reporting

Sri Lanka entered the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup when they pushed England aside by 19 runs in their final Super Eight game cheered on deafeningly and inspired by a full house of supporters at the Pallekele Stadium yesterday.

In reply to Sri Lanka’s 169 for 6 in 20, England could manage only 150 for 9 in 20 overs with bowler turned batsman Samit Patil making 67 in 48 balls with 8 fours and 2 sixes.

Slinger Lasith Malinga coming on to bowl the third over of the innings, ruined the England inning s when he took three wickets in that over that of Luke Wright 12, and Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow in the 5th and 6th balls to stay in line for a hat-trick leaving England in tatters on 18 for 3. He also had the wickets of Jos Butler and Patil to finish with 5 for 31 in 4. When England began their quest for victory and a likely slot in the semis, they had get 170 in less than 13 overs which was a big ask, unless an England batsman’s indulged in some Jessopian hitting.

After the game started 30 minutes late, owing to the previous game going into a ‘Super Over’, skipper Mahela Jayewardene and Tillekeratne Dilshan gave the Lankans a steady stat putting on 35, before Dilshan was caught behind by Jonny Bairstow off Steven Finn for 16 in 12 with a four and a six. Sangakkara and Jayewardene were going well and after adding 39 for the second wicket disaster struck when Jayewardene and Sangakkara were out at the same score – 74 – to off spinner Graeme Swann.

Jayewardene who raced to 42 off 38 balls with 5 fours and a six was middling the ball well and played some lovely reverse sweeps to the boundary. He swept a well timed six over square and fine leg. There was a banner held up acclaiming – MAHELA MASTER CLASS -.

Trying to loft Swann over mid wicket, he was caught by a diving Eoin Morgan. Next ball Sangakkara was taken behind for 13 and Swann was on a hat-trick. Jeewan Mendis played down the next ball.

At 74 for 3, the Lankan big batting guns had been silenced. Mendis and Mathews put on 52 for the 4th wicket and both were out at the same score 126. Mendis made 18 in 13 with a six and 2 fours and Mathews 28 in 19 with 3 fours and a six. Lahiru Thirimanne andThisara Perera added a quick 35 in 19 balls when Thirimanne was bowled by Broad for 13 at 161.Sri Lanka finally made 169 for 6 in 20 with Thisara Perera unbeaten on 26 with 2 sixes in 16 and Nuwan Kulesekera one not out. There were 13 foutrs and 7 sixes in the Lankan innings.

Stuart Broad had 3 for 32 and Graeme Swann 2 for 26. England won the toss and asked Sri Lanka to bat first. Kumar Sangakkara was captaining Sri Lanka and the probable reason being that with Jayewardene already fined for a slow over rate, a repeat could suspend him from the next game.

Sri Lanka brought in Akila Dhananjaya who had recovered sufficiently and left out Rangana Herath. England made three changes bring in Ravi Bopara,John Dernbach and Samit Patel and benching Tim Bresnan, Craig Kieswetter and Danny Briggs.

This was a game the reigning champions England had to win to keep their chances alive because the West Indies were having a better net run rate. Pallekele, Monday.

Sri Lanka 

M. Jayawardene c Morgan b Swann		42 
T. Dilshan lbw b Finn			16 
K. Sangakkara c Bairstow b Swann	13 
A. Mathews b Broad			28 
J. Mendis c Bopara b Broad		18
L. Thirimanne b Broad			13
T. Perera not out			26 
N. Kulasekara not out			 1 
Extras: (b4, lb2, w6)			12 
Total: (for six wickets, 20 overs)	169 
Fall of wickets: 1-35 (Dilshan), 2-74 (Jayawardene), 3-74 (Sangakkara), 4-126 (J. Mendis), 
5-126 (Mathews), 6-161 (Thirimanne).
Bowling: Finn 4-0-24-1 (w1), Dernbach 4-0-42-0 (w2), Broad 4-0-32-3 (w1), Swann 4-0-26-2, 
Bopara 2-0-12-0 (w2), Patel 2-0-27-0 (w1) 
England 
L. Wright c Dilshan b Malinga		12 
A. Hales lbw b Malinga			 3	 
J. Bairstow c Kulasekara b Malinga	 2 
S. Patel b Malinga			67
E. Morgan lbw b Dananjaya		10 
R. Bopara b J. Mendis			 1 
J. Butler c A. Mendis b Malinga		 8 
S. Broad c Jayawardene b Dananjaya	 1 
G. Swann b Kulasekara			34 
S. Finn not out				 1 
J. Dernbach not out			 2 
Extras: (b1, lb4, nb1, w3)		 9 
Total: (for nine wickets, 20 overs)	150 
Fall of wickets: 1-16 (Wright), 2-18 (Bairstow), 3-18 (Hales), 4-73 (Morgan), 
5-76 (Bopara), 6-91 (Butler), 7-93 (Broad), 8-144 (Patel), 9-147 (Swann).

Bowling: Mathews 3-0-21-0, Kulasekara 4-0-22-1, Malinga 4-0-31-5, 
Mendis 4-0-40-0 (w1), Dananjaya 4-0-26-2, J. Mendis 1-0-5-1