New Delhi: With a semifinal berth at stake, England put their best foot forward, the squad as a whole came to the party and Sri Lanka missed out in their Super 10 Group 1 league match of the ICC World Twenty20 at the Kotla here on Saturday.
Needing 173, the defending champions were off to the worst possible start, losing Tillakaratna Dilshan, their best hope in a big chase, early. From there on it was a bumpy downhill ride, but a brave charge nevertheless. Inside the first 24 balls, four batsmen were back in the dugout. A brutal 80-run fifth wicket stand between skipper Angelo Mathews (73, 54b, 3x4, 5x6) and Chamara Kapugedera (30), Thisara Perera’s 20 (11b, 1x4, 2x6) raised some hope, but the bowlers had leaked far too many runs first up. Lanka finished on 161/8.
Earlier, asked to take first strike, opener Jason Roy (42, 39b), his 61-run second wicket association with Joe Root (25, 24b), and the finishing power of skipper Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler carried England to 171/4.
