Sri Lanka crush poor Kiwis

Mendis puts Black Caps in a spin with two wickets in one over

Match Summary

Sri Lanka 158-5(T Dilshan 48)
New Zealand 110 all out (M Guptill 43)
Sri Lanka won by 48 runs.

Match Review

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Sri Lanka secured the last remaining semi-final spot at the ICC World Twenty20 with a 48-run win over New Zealand at Trent Bridge.

Spinner Ajantha Mendis claimed 3-9 in three overs as the Kiwis collapsed to 110 all out in reply to their opponents’ total of 158-5.

Martin Guptill made a valiant 43 but the Black Caps lost their last six wickets for 17 runs in the space of 25 balls to tumble out of the tournament.

Unbeaten record
Sri Lanka’s victory, which maintains their 100 percent record in the event, means they join Pakistan in qualifying from their Super Eight group.

Once again Kumar Sangakkara’s side produced a disciplined bowling performance after New Zealand had made a positive start in their run chase.

Aaron Redmond blasted 23 from 13 balls before being undone by Lasith Malinga, who deceived the opener with a superb slower ball that was chipped straight to mid-wicket.

By then the Kiwis had already lost Brendon McCullum, one of several players picked despite concerns over his fitness, at the end of the third over.

Mendis then turned the screw on a dry, worn pitch, removing both Ross Taylor and Scott Styris in his second over. He also tempted Peter McGlashan to cut straight to Jehan Mubarak as the innings fell away in a hurry.

Isuru Udana clean bowled the dangerous Jacob Oram for just seven and when Sanath Jayasuriya tempted Guptill into one big shot too many, Sri Lanka knew they were on their way to a comprehensive victory.

Golden duck
Jayasuriya had earlier failed with the bat, though, departing for a golden duck to the third ball of the innings from off-spinner Nathan McCullum.

But Tillekeratne Dilshan continued his fine run of form with a 37-ball 48, while captain Sangakkara made a run-a-ball 35.

It was left to Mahela Jayawardene to provide some much-needed fireworks in the closing overs, his unbeaten 41 coming from just 29 deliveries.

The former skipper hit Daniel Vettori for a six off a free-hit and also managed six boundaries to help post a challenging target that proved well beyond New Zealand.

England sent India Packing, Former Champs out of the T20

England crushed Indian emotions by 3 runs

Match Summary

England 153-7(K Pietersen 46)
India 150-5 (Y Pathan 33)
Englan won by 3 runs.

Match Review

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England knocked defending champions India out of the World Twenty20 tournament with a nerve-jangling three-run victory at Lord’s.

Paul Collingwood’s men looked to have fallen a bit short when they could only muster 153-7 when asked to bat first, but a superb bowling and fielding effort saw India fall just short.

Despite a fine late stand between skipper MS Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan India fell just three runs short on 150-5 and, after losing their Super Eights opener against West Indies, they now cannot make the semi-finals.

As well as dumping out the defending champions, England kept their campaign alive and they will now face West Indies in 24 hours’ time with Monday’s clash being a straight shoot-out for a semi-final spot.

Early loss
After losing Luke Wright in the second over, Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bopara added 71 before the latter was bowled by 20-year-old spinner Ravi Jadeja for a run-a-ball 27.

Pietersen also fell to Jadeja (2-26), as he was trapped lbw just a ball after clubbing the youngster high into the stands, leaving the hosts on 92-3.

England’s innings stalled as a result, with Dimitri Mascarenhas unable to get going after being promoted up the order and sent in at number four, and runs came exclusively in ones and twos.

Owais Shah perished in the deep for 12 when he finally tried a big shot, and skipper Collingwood went for five in the penultimate over when trying a reverse dab against Zaheer Khan.

Harbhajan Singh then took two wickets in two balls, James Foster and Graeme Swann, to restrict England to just 153-7, which looked a small target to defend.

The re-called Ryan Sidebottom got an early breakthrough as Rohit Sharma chopped on in the second over for nine, and he then removed Suresh Raina as he finally succumbed to the barrage of short balls by finding Wright out at deep mid-wicket.

Jadeja struggle
Young Jadeja came in at four, but he and Gautam Gambhir struggled to keep up with the asking rate, and when Gambhir went in the 11th over India were on just 62-3.

Danger-man Yuvraj Singh came in and smacked his first ball for six off Swann to signal his intent and also signal that the victory target was still well in sight.

The 14th over proved crucial, as just after Yuvraj had slugged a second six Jadeja tried the same only for Broad to pluck a fine catch out of the air right on the fence.

Three balls later and Yuvraj was heading back to the pavilion for 17 after some excellent work from wicket-keeper Foster, who showed lightning quick hands to stump the Indian after he had over-balanced out of his crease when missing a Swann delivery.

Dhoni and Pathan gave it everything, taking 11 from the 17th and 18th overs to leave 29 from 18 balls to win, and that came down to 19 off the last after Broad had gone for just nine in the penultimate over - although he did fluff a sitter of a run-out chance.

Perhaps showing that the duo should have come in earlier, Pathan hacked a straight six off the fourth ball to leave nine required from two, but Sidebottom came back with a superb Yorker for a single.

Dhoni reached the fence off the last ball but it was too late and champions India saw their title defence end far too prematurely after losing a three-run thriller.

Sri Lankan Team Proved to be too good for Ireland

Sri Lanka won by 9 runs

Match Summary

Sri Lanka 144-9(M Jayawardene 78)
Ireland 135-7 (J Mooney 31)
Sri Lanka won by 9 runs.

Match Review

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Ireland are out of the ICC World Twenty20 after losing by nine runs to Sri Lanka on Sunday.

Mahela Jayawardene’s rapid half-century helped Sri Lanka to a total of 144-9 after they had opted to bat first on a slow pitch at Lord’s.

And Ireland looked capable of claiming their second scalp of the tournament, having beaten Bangladesh in the initial group phase, when opening pair William Porterfield and Niall O’Brien put on 59 in nine overs at the start of the run chase.

But Sri Lanka’s star bowling trio of Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis and Lasith Malinga bailed out their team with a flurry of wickets, the required rate spiralled and Ireland finished up short on 135-7.

Defeat ends Ireland’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals, while Sri Lanka are now top of Group F on four points and almost certain to progress to last four.

Collapse
Muralitharan (1-13) started the collapse by having Porterfield caught behind for 31 with the first ball of the 10th over.

Andrew White (21) helped Niall O’Brien add 28 for the second wicket but fell to Nuwan Kulasekara, top edging an attempted scoop.

O’Brien was joined by his younger brother Kevin with the score at 87-2 but both departed in the space of four Mendis (2-22) deliveries.

Kevin top-edged a slog to Tillakaratne Dilshan at midwicket for a duck and Niall (31) was stumped after charging down the pitch and missing.

And Malinga speared in the yorkers superbly in the death overs, bowling Trent Johnston (9) and Andre Botha (0) with successive deliveries in the 18th over to reduce Ireland to 106-6.

Ireland required 36 off the final 12 balls and, after taking Kulasekera (1-47) for 18 off the penultimate over, still retained glimmer of hope.

But Malinga conceded just eight, including the run out of Alex Cusack attempting to take one to the wicketkeeper, to complete figures of 2-19 as Ireland closed just shy.

Poor start
Jayawardene had earlier hit 78 off off 53 balls as Sri Lanka recovered from a poor start to their innings.

Dilshan, the tournament’s second highest scorer, fell second ball when he mistimed an attempted pull off Boyd Rankin (2-27) to became one of four victims for wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien.

Dilshan’s early departure was quickly followed by captain Kumar Sangakkara (3), brilliantly caught stood up to the stumps by O’Brien off seamer Trent Johnston (1-18), to leave Sri Lanka struggling on 14-2.

Ireland restricted Sri Lanka’s powerful line-up to 28-2 at the end of the six powerplay overs - easily their worst start of the tournament.

But Jayawardene teamed up with 39-year-old opener Sanath Jayasuriya in a 67-run stand off 49 balls, including a spell of 37 off just three overs, to put them on course for a much bigger total.

Instead of pushing on to a major score, however, they stumbled again with Jayasuriya falling lbw to Kevin McCallan’s off-spin for 27.

Jayawardene departed to Alex Cusack in the 18th over having hit nine fours and a six, one of five Sri Lankan batsman to fall for 14 runs in 16 balls to leave Ireland facing a far more modest total than they would have expected.

Medium pacer Cusack finished with figures of 4-18 from three overs, all his victims coming in the space of nine balls.

Ireland face Pakistan in their final Group F fixture at the Oval on Monday, while Sri Lanka take on New Zealand at Trent Bridge the following day.

India Lost the 1st one

West Indies chased down 154 with ease

Match Summary

India 153-7 (Y Singh 67)
West Indies 156-3 (D J Bravo 66*)
West Indies won by 7 wickets.

Match Review

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India were restricted to a total of 153-7 after opting to bat first on a quick Lord’s wicket, despite Yuvraj Singh’s 67 off 43 balls.

It could have been much worse for the defending champions, who stumbled to 66-4 in the 13th over before Yuvraj and Yusuf Pathan revived the innings.

The big-hitting fifth-wicket pair put on 64 in just 5.3 overs to ensure their side reached a competitive total.

And India looked favourites when Yusuf removed dangerman Chris Gayle for 22 to leave West Indies 42-2 in the eighth over of their run chase.

But Bravo, promoted up the order to number four, shared rapid half-century partnerships with Lendl Simmons and Shivnarine Chanderpaul as West Indies completed victory with eight balls to spare.

The Trinidad all-rounder sealed the result by lofting Zaheer Khan over long-off for the third six of his innings.

Gayle returns

Gayle, who returned to West Indies’ line-up in place of Xavier Marshall in the only change to the side that lost to Sri Lanka last Wednesday, failed to fire at the top of the order as India’s bowlers initially dried up the runs.

His opening partner Andre Fletcher picked out mid-off for a duck in the second over of the run chase.

Gayle found the boundary four times but was otherwise becalmed on his way to 22 off 28 balls and the Jamaican’s departure, caught off a top-edged pull by Zaheer at fine-leg off Yusuf’s medium pace, left West Indies in trouble with the required rate spiralling.

But Bravo’s ability to manipulate the ball all around the wicket, married to his awesome striking, turned things around.

The match was finished in a hurry as Bravo and veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul (18no) blitzed 47 runs in the final 3.4 overs.

Having set up that late dash in a cunning alliance with Simmons, Bravo made the most of being afforded a life on 27 moments before his third-wicket partner holed out for 44.

A mix-up should have resulted in Bravo being run out by Mahendra Singh Dhoni but the India wicketkeeper’s failure to gather with the stumps at his mercy proved crucial.

Later in the same over, Bravo lofted the first of his three sixes and the second, a steepler over long-off in the 17th over, sent down by fast bowler Ishant Sharma, virtually sealed the contest.

A total of 16 runs came off that Ishant over and Harbhajan Singh - who bowled a maiden in the powerplay period - was taken for 15 in the next to leave eight required from the final two overs.

Only four further deliveries were required as Bravo went big for thr third time to finish proceedings in style.

Yuvraj assault

Earlier, Yuvraj’s blistering late assault had allowed India to recover from a poor start.

The fall of three wickets inside the powerplay overs forced Dhoni’s men to readjust their sights on a pitch which Sri Lanka and Pakistan also struggled to score fluently on earlier in the day.

Openers Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir were both undone by miscued pulls - the latter to a brilliant running catch, taken over his head, by Simmons.

When captain Dhoni drilled straight to deep cover, West Indies would have harboured hopes of chasing something closer to a run-a-ball.

But Yuvraj opened his shoulders to stunning effect during a quickfire half-century stand with Yusuf.

The most audacious stroke came off Jerome Taylor when Yuvraj whipped a full delivery off the stumps over the rope at deep midwicket.

Yusuf, whose own cameo reaped three fours and a six, perished in the final over when he picked out Simmons in the deep for 31.

But Harbhajan finished the innings in style by finding the boundary with the final three deliveries.

West Indies face South Africa on Saturday with the winner guaranteed a place in the semi-final, while India’s next assignment is against England on Sunday with both sides needing to win after losing their respective Group E openers.