SA survive scare to beat Netherlands
Chittagong: Alex Hales hit a sensational unbeaten hundred as England pulled off a dramatic six-wicket win over Sri Lanka to throw open Group I for the semifinal places in the ICC World Twenty20 here on Thursday.
Chasing a huge 190-run target, England rode on Hales’ magnificent maiden T20 hundred to overhaul the target with four balls to spare after losing two wickets for no score in the first over.
In an extraordinary display of power hitting, Hales punished the Lankan bowlers with half-a-dozen sixes and 11 fours as his blistering 116-run knock came off just 64 balls.
He finished the match with a huge six off Angelo Mathews to keep England afloat in the tournament.
Sri Lanka posted a huge 189 for four as Jayawardene came up with a blistering 89-run knock while Dilshan played a perfect second fiddle with a 47-ball 55 in their huge 145-run second-wicket partnership after being invited to bat.
England, who chose to field, were guilty of dropping at least four catches, twice letting Jayawardene off the hook.
Brief scores:
SL: 189/4, 20 overs (M Jayawardene 89, T Dilshan 55; C Jordan 2-28)
Eng: 190/4, 19.2 overs (A Hales 116*, E Morgan 57; N Kulasekara 4-32)
Meanwhile, in the earlier match, South Africa survived a mighty scare before their bowlers brought the turnaround to pull off a narrow six-run victory over minnows the Netherlands.
Put in to bat, South Africa suffered a batting collapse after a strong start to post a modest 145/9 as paceman Ahsan Malik Jamil recorded career-best figures of 5-19.
The Proteas were on course for an embarrassing defeat before the inexperienced Dutchmen let them off the hook in the Super 10 Group 1 match.
The Netherlands were seemingly cruising at 116/4 in the 13th over, thanks to a brilliant 28-ball innings of 51 from opener Stephan Myburgh, needing just 40 runs from more than seven overs with six wickets in hand.
But they lost way after that and their last six batsmen fell for just 20 runs to be all out for 139 in 18.4 overs.
Brief scores:
SA: 145/9, 20 overs (H Amla 43; A Jamil 5-19)
Neth: 139/10, 18.4 overs (S Myburgh 51; I Tahir 4-21, D Steyn 2-19) (PTI)