England seal nervy win over Sri Lanka, knock out Australia

MUMBAI: After an excellent start, England made heavy weather of their chase against Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cup match in Sydney on Saturday. Hopes, however slim, would have gone up in the Australian camp. The four-wicket win in the end though sealed England the second semi-final spot from Group 1, knocking the hosts and holders out. In the tournament’s seven editions, the hosts have never won, only Sri Lanka even managing to reach the final in 2012. Yet, Australia failing to reach even the last four feels like the biggest setback for a home team. England’s win tied them on seven points with New Zealand and Australia. A better net run rate meant New Zealand topped the group with England second, edging out Australia.

After restricting Sri Lanka to 141, Jos Buttler and Co were off to a flier but then kept losing wickets leading to the nervy finish. Sri Lanka fought back through spinners to get the equation to run-aball and England had only three batters left as Dawid Malan suffered a groin injury while fielding. Besides, in the previous five matches, no team had successfully chased at SCG.

How Ben Stokes loves these situations. In the 2019 World Cup final, he almost single-handedly took England to victory over New Zealand. On Saturday, it was comparatively easier, he just needed to keep his nerves. And Stokes again proved he was England’s crisis man with an unbeaten 42 off 36 balls.

“Didn’t enjoy that match, how close it was. We just had to find a way to win. These situations are built for him (Stokes), he can play a lot of roles for us in this T20 setup,” skipper Jos Buttler said.

When Buttler and Alex Hales registered the highest score in powerplay overs—70/0—it looked like it would be a cakewalk. But Lankan spinners started chipping away after Wanindu Hasaranga removed both openers. When Moeen Ali fell, England were 111/5 in 14.3 overs with 31 to get off 33 balls. Batting at No 3 after Malan’s injury, Stokes played out the spinners.

It was a tough battle against Hasaranga and Dhananjay de Silva, who produced spells of 4-0-23-2 and 4-0-24-2 respectively. Stokes was restrained even when Maheesh Theekshana (4-0-22-0), bowled the 17th over, content with six runs.

At 127/5 after 17 overs, the Lankan pacers too lifted their game. Lahiru Kumara conceded two runs and removed Sam Curran. It was now 13 off 12 balls. Stokes was ready. In the 19th over bowled by Kasun Rajitha, he helped get eight runs, making it five off the last six balls. He tapped the first ball for two, making it three to get off five balls. Chris Woakes triggered celebrations with the winning four off the fourth ball. England’s bowling hero was legspinner Adil Rashid (4-0-16-1), after opener Pathum Nissanka (67) had taken the score to 65/1 in seven overs. Sri Lanka could add only 76/7 in the last 13 overs. Brief scores: Sri Lanka 141/8 (P Nissanka 67; M Wood 3/26). England 144/6 in 19.4 overs (A Hales 47; W Hasaranga 2/23.