Sri Lanka v England: three Asian teams in the semi-finals – ICC World Cup 2011
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391 at Colombo. Lankans, co-host of the tournament, have cemented their place in the semi-final with a convincing
win over England and will be at loggerheads with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 on 29 March at the same venue.
The Poms put on a modest total of 229 for the loss of six wickets as the hosts reached the total with 63 deliveries still to play and without losing a single wicket, becoming the third Asian team in the semi-finals. The other two
teams are http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
Tillakaratne Dilshan played a commendable knock of 108 runs from 115 deliveries and was fully supported by Upul Tharanga who also scored a century. Dilshan was declared the Player of the Match for his splendid knock.
English captain Andrew Strauss won the toss and opted to bat first. He and Ian Bell opened the innings for the Poms and looked good until Dilshan, who was experimenting with the new ball, slipped in though Strauss’s gates. Bell was
removed an over later by Angelo Matthews, at that point England were struggling at 31 for the loss of two wickets.
Ravi Bopara came in at the number four spot. He and Jonathan Trott steadied England’s innings by scoring 64 runs for the third wicket. Both batsmen took their time and scored at 3.55 runs per over during their partnership.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Muttiah-Muralitharan-c78157, all time leading wicket taker in One Day International’s, showed why he is a one man wrecking machine, when he trapped Bopara in front of stumps pushing England down into the shadows at 95 for the loss of three
wickets. Eoin http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Morgan-c77707 came in at a point where England desperately needed a partnership to challenge their opponents.
Morgan and Trott put up a solid partnership of 91 runs from16 overs that inspired the English team to a decent total. Though, England failed to capitalise on the death-overs scoring just 56 runs. Muralitharan was the pick of bowlers
with two wickets, though he was a bit expensive.
The Lankans started off their innings in blazing fashion. The opening pair of Dilshan and Tharanga showed aggressive intent from the start and scored 57 runs in opening ten overs. They did not waste any opportunity and fully capitalised
on the start.
By the end of thirtieth over, the Lankans were sitting comfortably at 151. Requiring 78 runs to win and 10 wickets at their disposal, both batsmen went berserk. They made use of their feet and come down the track.
Dilshan scored his hundred in the 37th over, as Tharanga reached his hundred by driving a delivery by Tremlett through the covers and scoring the winning run in 40th over.
It was the highest run chase in World Cup history by a team without losing a wicket.
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