 Sri Lanka dream of playing the world twenty20 2010 final were shattered when they have been beaten comprehensively by England in the first semi final played at ST. Lucia. Chasing the modest target of 129 runs for victory England chased down the total in just 16 overs to enter the Final of world twenty20 to be played on 16th of May 2010.
After electing to bat first, Sri Lanka got off to disastrous start loosing their top three batters inside the first six overs of play which included the wicket of in-form Mahela Jayawardne. Sri Lanka once again tried to recover as they did it against Indians in their last game but this time England bowlers proved to be too clever for Kumar Sangakkara men’s as they kept picking up the wickets at regular interval of time. At one stage they were in horrible situation and looked like they will even not reach 100 run mark but thanks to new lad A.Mathews (58 runs of 45 balls) who helped his team to post at least 129 runs target on the board. By considering the form of England batsmen, it was always going to be tough for Sri Lankan bowlers to defend such modest target but further they made mess of all that by missing some silly run out opportunity as well as some straight forward chance put down by them, which helped England to get off to flying start. Both C.Kieswetter (39 runs of 29 balls) and M.Lumb (33 runs of 26 balls) made full use of the chances provided to them by the Sri Lankan fielders and blasted 51 runs in the first six overs of powerplay. From then it was always going to be an easy task for England to achieve the target which they did in end with style. K.Pietersen (42 runs of 26 balls), once again looked in great touch and remain unbeaten to guide England home comfortably with a seven wicket win over Sri Lanka. Now England will play against the winner of 2nd semi finalist in the Final of ICC World twenty20 on 16th of May at Barbados. S.Broad was declared Player of the Match for his all-round performance with ball and in the field. Match Summary (England Won by 7 Wickets) Sri Lanka– 128/6 in 20 Overs A.Mathews – 58 K.Sangakkara- 16 S.Broad- 4-0-21-2 G.Swann– 4-0-20-1 England – 132/3 in 16 Overs K.Pietersen– 42* Kiwisettr- 39 T.Perera– 2-0-19-2 L.Malinga- 4-0-33-1 |
