Ben Stokes hit a gutsy unbeaten 42 as England reached the Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals on Saturday with a tense four-wicket win over Sri Lanka and ended Australia’s title defence.
England wanted to win to make the final 4 from Group 1 alongside already certified New Zealand and so they achieved the feat in a nail-biting end with two balls to spare at Sydney Cricket Ground.
If they’d misplaced, hosts Australia would have gone by way of.
Sri Lanka seemed on observe for a giant whole after they reached 80-2 after 10 overs, however the aggressive Pathum Nissanka was out for 67 and the Asian champions crumbled to 141-8, with Mark Wood taking 3-26.
England raced to 75 with out loss in reply and seemed on observe for a simple win. But they collapsed to 111-5 below strain from the Sri Lankan spin assault and it went to the wire.
“Didn’t enjoy that match, how close it was,” admitted skipper Jos Buttler. “We simply needed to discover a method to win that recreation.
“These situations are built for him (Stokes),” he added. “He can play a lot of roles for us in this T20 setup.”
Man-of-the-match Adil Rashid, whose spin saved Sri Lanka’s batsmen at bay, was additionally filled with reward for Test skipper Stokes.
“It was a tight game, it happens in T20 cricket,” he stated. “They bowled well and created pressure but Stokesy played magnificent so we got over the line.”
The victory was not sufficient to dethrone New Zealand on the high of the desk with England settling for second and a semi-final in Adelaide. The destiny of Group 2 will likely be decided on Sunday.
Sri Lanka’s defeat ended Australia’s stuttering event, with their title defence by no means recovering after dropping closely to New Zealand on the opening day, then having to share the factors with England as a result of rain.
“I think the wicket played a part in this game, even the English batters struggled in the second half,” stated Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka.
“I think we played good cricket in patches, but we had a few injuries which cost us the tournament.”
Runs flowing
Sri Lanka, who haven’t crushed England in a T20 since 2014, received the toss and requested England to area, acutely aware that every one 5 earlier video games on the SCG in the course of the World Cup had been received by the group batting first.
Nissanka pulled Stokes for an authoritative six off the second ball and two extra sixes within the third over, off Wood, signalled their intent.
But an aggressive 39-run opening stand got here to an finish when Kusal Mendis (18) tried one other boundary from Chris Woakes and Liam Livingstone held a catch close to the ropes.
Nissanka saved the runs flowing however his new associate Dhananjaya de Silva (9) slogged at a slower Sam Curran ball and was caught by Stokes.
Sri Lanka reached 80-2 on the midway level, however then Livingstone took a easy catch to take away Charith Asalanka (8).
Nissanka introduced up his second 50 of the event and ninth total, however tight bowling from Rashid slowed the run fee and he ultimately accounted for Nissanka, who heaved to substitute fielder Chris Jordan at long-on after a 45-ball knock.
Sri Lanka by no means regained momentum, making simply 25 off the final 5 overs.
In reply, Alex Hales and Buttler plundered 70 off the six-over powerplay, smashing 11 boundaries within the course of.
Sri Lanka gave themselves hope when Buttler (28) and Hales (47) had been out within the area of three overs, with the spin of Wanindu Hasaranga accounting for each of them.
Harry Brook (4) rapidly adopted, caught and bowled by De Silva, then Livingstone (4) carelessly threw his wicket away with a slog and Moeen Ali (1) joined them again within the pavilion.
But Stokes saved his cool as the wickets tumbled and steered them into the final 4 alongside Woakes.
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