Pallekele: Lasith Malinga blew away the England top-order by dismissing three batsmen in a single over as Sri Lanka defeated the defending champions by 19 runs in their last Super Eights match to qualify for the semifinals of the World Twenty20 along with the West Indies, on Monday.
England needed to chase the 170-run target in less than 13 overs to qualify for the semis, but paceman Malinga’s performance (5/31) made it a lop-sided affair.
England ended 150 for nine through a fighting 67-run knock from Samit Patel and and his 51-run stand for the eighth wicket with Greame Swann (34).
Sri Lanka’s win pushed England out of the tournament since they had just one win from three Super Eights matches in Group I while the Caribbean side had two.
None of the Sri Lanka batsmen played a big knock but they rode on a collective effort to reach a competitive 169 for six.
Mahela Jayawardene (42) and Angelo Mathews (28) got good starts but could not convert those into big innings after the hosts were sent in to bat.
Thisara Perera (25 not out) and Lahiru Thirimanne (13) blasted some big shots towards the end to lift the side to a fighting total.
But Malinga’s sensational over – the third of the innings – in which he scalped Luke Wright (13), Jonny Bairstow (2) and Alex Hales (3), took it away from England.
Malinga added the wickets of Jos Buttler and Patel later in the innings while spinner Akila Dananjaya contributed in the win of his side by dismissing Eoin Morgan and Stuart Broad.
Interestingly, Kumar Sangakkara led Sri Lanka in place of regular skipper Jayawardene. Sangakkara explained, in the post-match presentation ceremony, that this was because both Jaywardene and vice-captain Mathews are carrying warnings from previous matches due to slow over-rates; a captain can be banned if his side are guilty of the offence twice in a year.
“Lasith is unbelievable, both with the new ball or the old. All-in-all, it was a fantastic performance. It would be fantastic if we can win the tournament, we’ve got to keep our feet on the ground and see what comes,” Sangakkara added of his team’s performance.
“The guys tried really hard. We had quite an inexperienced side, so we want them to have learned from this,” England skipper Stuart Broad said. Losing three wickets in an over hurt quite a bit, we probably could have played Malinga a bit better.” (PTI)