Eng v SL World T20 Review: England sneaks into semifinal

England sneaked into the semi-finals of the World T20 2016 following a 10-run win over Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in the super 10s stage. The win sees England become the third side to cement their place in the semi-final after New Zealand and West Indies. As for Sri Lanka, it means that they will be unable to defend their World T20 crown, a title they won for the first time in 2014 in Bangladesh. Sri Lanka’s loss also means that the encounter between South Africa and Sri Lanka will be rather inconsequential as the Proteas too will be boarding an early plane home. This also marks the first time England has qualified to the semi-finals of the World T20 since 2010.

Angelo Mathews called the toss correctly once more and opted to field, perhaps hoping that his spin bowlers could extract some turn on the wicket. The ploy worked initially as Alex Hales was dismissed by the evergreen Rangana Herath. However, despite the wicket and the relentless spin barrage on the Brits, Jason Roy and Joe Root rotated the strike with the former finding the gaps and taking calculated risks in tandem.

Disaster struck soon after, as yet another Sri Lankan spinner in the form of Jeffrey Vandersay ensured that the dangerous Joe Root was sent back to the hut. Many eyebrows rose when Jos Buttler made his way to the wicket ahead of skipper Eoin Morgan. Morgan, however, would join his wicketkeeper batsman in the middle barely a few deliveries later following the controversial dismissal of Jason Roy. Roy was adjudged leg-before to a Vandersay delivery.

All eyes, however, were on Jos Buttler. The latter used his upper-body strength as he upped the ante. He slapped, pulled, whacked and hoicked the likes of Dushmantha Chameera and Thisara Perera to all parts of the Feroz Shah Kotla. Eoin Morgan also chipped in with a special innings of 22 including a massive six over cover. England couldn’t have asked for a better conclusion to their innings when Ben Stokes slammed the ball ten rows back into the deep extra cover crowd.

England carried their impressive momentum into the following innings when Sri Lanka batted. David Willey and Chris Jordan ran riot, wrecking the Sri Lankan top order. Dinesh Chandimal, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Milinda Siriwardana and Lahiru Thirimanne were all back in the dugout with the Sri Lankan total at just 15 runs. Left-arm pacer David Willey claimed two of those wickets within the powerplay.

The responsibility of rebuilding and putting Sri Lanka in a winning position fell on skipper Angelo Mathews and Chamara Kapugedera. The duo began knocking the ball around, rotating the strike with one eye on the run rate. With 103 runs required from 55 balls, Angelo Mathews decided that it was time to throw everything he had, behind the ball and see if he could make a game out of it for his side. Mathews initially targeted the spinners, thrashing Adil Rashid into the stands on several occasions. Next, it was Moeen Ali’s turn to get a sound hammering.

Despite the flurry of wickets lost at the other end and an unfortunate hamstring injury, Mathews refused to throw in the towel. He would stay and tough it out against a decent bowling attack. He was joined by Thisara Perera as the latter joined his skipper in ripping the English attack to shreds. A good penultimate over from Chris Jordan saw the Lankans requiring 15 runs from the last 6 balls. Eoin Morgan turned to his trusted lieutenant Ben Stokes. In a rather disappointing manner, Mathews’ hamstring couldn’t resist anymore, therefore, handing England the win along with the semi-final berth.

Brief Scores:

England – 171/4 in 20 overs (Buttler 66*; Vandersay 2/26)

Sri Lanka – 161/8 in 20 overs (Mathews 73*; Jordan 4/28)

Man of the match: Jos Buttler (England)