Sri Lanka shocks England by staying alive in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 Champions Trophy – Cricket News
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 shocked everyone by beating favourites England by seven wickets on Thursday to stay alive in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy as they successfully chased down a mammoth target of 294 runs
at Kennington Oval, London.
After this result, England is at the second spot on the points table, while Sri Lanka is at third place.
On winning the toss, Sri Lanka chose to field first, aiming to restrict the hosts on a meagre score. While this was a do-or-die game for the Lankans, the English needed to win the match to secure a spot in the
semi-finals.
England made a decent start with openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IR-Bell-c1597 giving their side a stand of 48 runs, before this partnership met its end on the wicket of Bell, who faltered after scoring 20 runs off 37 deliveries.
Cook and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/HMRKB-Herath-c1559, who bagged the wicket of Cook after the batsman had scored
a brilliant 59.
With the captain back in the pavilion, England needed to regroup to continue the good work with the bat.
Trott and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Lumb-c1981 Root became another matter of concern for the Sri Lankans as the pair looked in supreme form and kept hammering away the bowlers to keep the scoreboard moving briskly. The two batsmen outmatched
the fielding side by hitting boundaries at random.
The duo led England towards 218 runs before the departure of Trott, who fell after hitting 76 runs. Root was then the next man to find his way off the field after he had smacked a fantastic knock of 68 runs.
At the time of this wicket, England was on 249 runs.
Later, with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RS-Bopara-c2373 jabbing an unbeaten 33, England managed to end the innings by posting a massive score of 293 on the board.
Losing their first wicket with only ten on the board, Sri Lanka looked in trouble. However, the second-wicket partnership between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KC-Sangakkara-c1779 was phenomenal as the two batsmen took
their side towards 102 runs before the wicket of Dilshan, who was removed after hitting 44 runs.
Sangakkara then forged a match-defining partnership with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DPMD-Jayawardene-c1397 to lead Sri Lanka towards 187 runs, before Jayawardene became the next wicket to fall after he had scored 42 runs.
Sangakkara was outstanding in this match as he remained unbeaten on 134 runs, leading his side across the finish line with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KMDN-Kulasekara-c1802 on 58. Sangakkara was later named as the Player of the Match.
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