http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World Twenty20 - England's performance - An Overview - Part VI
Continued from Part V.....
A six-wicket win was just what England needed after two bad games, and having pushed the underdog Kiwis, England were now looking forward to their faceoff against hosts Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, a win against the black caps was also encouraging for the English skipper, who after receiving criticism for his poor performance in the previous two games, finally could look his critics in the eye.
"It was nice to bounce back. Steven Finn set the tone with the new ball. The wicket was a lot drier and it did turn a bit. We now have a huge game on Monday. We still have areas to improve,” said the lanky pacer after the match.
England v http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 (Sri Lanka won by 19 runs)
With stakes higher than ever before and with everything to play for, this was the clash that would carve http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013’s future in the tournament. The English knew that in order to defend their title or even play the semi-finals, they needed to surpass Sri Lanka
at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
After winning the toss Broad chose to field first, and in order to neutralise Sri Lanka’s strong batting line-up, the Poms needed to make an impression right from the start.
However, despite England’s best efforts, Sri Lankan openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TM-Dilshan-c2691 in front of stumps for 16.
It was then time for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KC-Sangakkara-c1779 to join his skipper and the veteran duo proved just too good for the Poms as Sri Lanka managed to post 74 runs before suffering the demise of their second wicket of the day when Jayawardene fell after hammering 42 runs.
On the next delivery Graeme Swann struck again by dismissing Sangakkara, who fell after bolstering a knock of 13.
With both experienced batsmen out of their way, England now needed to make a heavy comeback in order to rattle the remaining Sri Lankans.
Nonetheless, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/NLTC-Perera-c2121 managed to hammer 28 and 26 runs to help their side pile 169 runs.
Faced with a target of 170, England were certainly not in their comfort zone and needed a majestic batting performance from everyone to avoid getting booted out of the mega event.
Sadly for their fans, England went three down with only 18 runs on the board. SR http://www.senore.com/Cricket/EJG-Morgan-c1419 then looked defiant and hammered the score to 73, but just when the partnership was getting ready to take off, Dananjaya had EJG Morgan given leg-before
wicket for 10.
England then lost three quick wickets with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jonathan-Clare-c1729 Buttler and skipper Broad hitting the showers without making commendable contributions.
SR Patel was the only performer who justified his place in the squad as he smashed a brave innings of 67 before losing his wicket. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GP-Swann-c1501 was the second best with 34 to his name as England crumbled on 150 losing their final match of the tournament.
From Sri Lanka, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SL-Malinga-c2540 was their best bowler for taking five wickets in four overs.
"We've learnt a huge amount from this, we need to keep wickets in hand at the top, we fell short at the top of the order and are death bowling too. Samit also today showed what he could do," said Broad as he bid farewell.
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