WC cricket 2011 match 46: Sri Lanka demolish England; ease into semis

By Team Bellevision
Bellevision Media Network

Colombo, 26 March 2011: Openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga slammed brilliant unbeaten centuries and put up a huge 231-run stand to power Sri Lanka into the semi-final of 2011 World Cup by demolishing England by 10 wickets at Colombo on Saturday. Their one-sided victory sets up a semi-final clash against giant killers New Zealand, who knocked tournament favourites South Africa out of the World Cup on Friday.

 

Both the openers took the English attack apart from the word go and scored freely. They took their team home through an array of entertaining shots against a bowling attack which lacked venom and imagination. Their attack had nothing with which one can be successful either on the sub-continental pitches or against the South Asian teams.

 

England’s gamble of bowling their best spinner Graeme Swann did not pay off as both the batsmen targeted him for special treatment. After that England bowling had no answers as the openers piled on the misery of the insipid bowling. Chasing 230 for victory on a typical Lankan pitch, they gave their team a flying start as they breezed past 50-run mark in just 8.5 overs. After that they never looked be any kind of trouble.

 

They slammed half-centuries to take Sri Lanka cross past 100-run mark in style. No English bowler proved to be lethal on a slow turf as the openers found the proceedings quite easy. Dilshan played in his customary fashion, hitting some entertaining shots all over the park while Tharanga was more composed and elegant.

 

 

Though Dilshan took past him in the early stage, Tharanga overtook him after crossing his fifty, and during their stay at the crease, they matched each other stroke for stroke. But once Dilshan sniffed victory, he went beserk and started using long handle with good effect. Dilshan first completed a masterful century off 107-ball with 9 fours and two sixes while Tharnga followed his senior partner after a little while. He reached his hundred off 122 balls. His fine knock consisted of 12 fours and a six.

 

Earlier, England middle-order batsmen Jonathan Trott and Eoin Morgan slammed contrasting fifties to guide England to a challenging 229 on a pitch that is slow and low, if not a rank turner, against a disciplined Sri Lankan bowling attack in the last quarter-final match on Saturday. Jonathan Trott’s dream-run with the bat continued as he scored yet another half-century in the tournament.

 

Trott hit a patient 86 off 115 balls. His innings consisted of just two four. Eoin Morgan, on the other hand, slammed a breezy half-century to take England to a position from where they could accelerate in the slog overs. But the duo of Malinga and Murali never allowed the English batsmen to break free, chipping in with the wickets of Morgan and Swann in the slog overs.

 

Despite building the foundation for over 250-run score, they finally had to settle for 229. Morgan, who played the typical unorthodox shots during his innings, hit four fours to reach his fifty off 53 balls. But immediately after reaching the milestone, Morgan, who got four ‘lives’ during his innings, was finally taken safely by Angelo Mathews off Malinga.

 

 

Sri Lanka, otherwise a good fielding unit, dropped catches at will which allowed the England off the hook despite finding them at 31/2 at the outset. Electing to bat first, England started off poorly. Part-time off-spinner Tillakaratne Dilshan, bowling with the new ball, gave Sri Lanka first breakthrough, bowling England skipper Andrew Strauss out for 5.

 

Dilshan’s quicker one did the trick! The ball was slightly short, flatter and Strauss was looking for the almightily pull which took the inside edge of his bat and hit the stumps. Angelo Mathews gave England their second shock as he forced opener Ian Bell to play a false shot which went to the backward short leg where Samaraweera took a simple catch. Bell made a fluent 25 off 32 balls with the help of three fours.

 

Sri Lanka decided to go with three spinners for this match. They included left-arm spinner Rangana Herath in place of paceman Nuan Kulasekara. England, on the other hand, opted the same combination that played the last league match. It was decided that Ian Bell, who plays spin well, would open the batting along with skipper Andrew Strauss while stumper Matthew Prior would bat down the order.

 

Match Summary 

 

ICC World Cup 2011 Sri Lanka vs England, 4th Quarter-Final R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, March 26, 2011

Match Information Umpires: Billy Doctrove (WI) & Simon Taufel (Aus) Third Umpire: Tony Hill (NZ) Match Referee: Jeff Crowe (NZ) Toss: England (Elected to bat) Match Status: Sri Lanka won by 10 wkts

Batting: Sri Lanka Innings

Batsmen Sri Lanka (231/0 in 39.3 ovs) Runs Balls 4’s 6’s SR Upul Tharanga not out 102 122 12 1 83.61 Tillakaratne Dilshan not out 108 115 10 2 93.91 Kumar Sangakkara (c) (wk)             Mahela Jayawardene             Thilan Samaraweera             Chamara Silva             Angelo Mathews             Ajantha Mendis             Muttiah Muralitharan             Lasith Malinga             Rangana Herath             Extras: b - 9, w - 6, nb - 0, lb - 6 21   Total:(231 for 0 in 39.3 overs) 231 Run Rate: 5.85

Bowling: England

Bowler O M R W Nb Wd ER Tim Bresnan 8 1 40 0 0 0 5.0 Graeme Swann 9 0 61 0 0 2 6.8 Chris Tremlett 7.3 0 38 0 0 1 5.1 Ravi Bopara 5 1 22 0 0 0 4.4 James Tredwell 6 0 38 0 0 0 6.3 Luke Wright 4 0 17 0 0 1 4.2

Batting: England Innings

Batsmen England (229/6 in 50 ovs) Runs Balls 4’s 6’s SR Andrew Strauss (c) b T Dilshan 5 19 0 0 26.32 Ian Bell c T Samaraweera b A Mathews 25 32 3 0 78.12 Jonathan Trott c M Jayawardene b M Muralitharan 86 115 2 0 74.78 Ravi Bopara lbw b M Muralitharan 31 56 1 0 55.36 Eoin Morgan c A Mathews b L Malinga 50 55 4 0 90.91 Graeme Swann lbw b A Mendis 0 1 0 0 0.00 Matt Prior (wk) not out 22 19 2 0 115.79 Luke Wright not out 1 3 0 0 33.33 Tim Bresnan             James Tredwell             Chris Tremlett             Extras: b - 0, w - 6, nb - 0, lb - 3 9   Total:(229 for 6 in 50 overs) 229 Run Rate: 4.58

Fall Of Wickets

1/29 (Andrew Strauss, 7.6 ov.), 2/31 (Ian Bell, 8.6 ov.), 3/95 (Ravi Bopara, 26.6 ov.), 4/186 (Eoin Morgan, 42.6 ov.), 5/186 (Graeme Swann, 43.1 ov.), 6/212 (Jonathan Trott, 48.3 ov.)

Bowling: Sri Lanka

Bowler O M R W Nb Wd ER Lasith Malinga 10 0 46 1 0 2 4.6 Tillakaratne Dilshan 6 1 25 1 0 1 4.2 Angelo Mathews 5 0 20 1 0 0 4.0 Rangana Herath 10 1 47 0 0 0 4.7 Ajantha Mendis 10 0 34 1 0 0 3.4 Muttiah Muralitharan 9 0 54 2 0 1 6.0

Future Match Schedule (all matches at 14.30, Day - Night):

Match 47, Semi-final 1 - March 29th, New Zealand vs Sri Lanka

Match 48, Semi-final 2 - March 30th, Pakistan vs India

Match 49, Final - April 02nd, Winner of match 47 vs winner of match 48