England beat Lanka, in final
Gros Islet (St Lucia), May 13: Once again Kevin Pietersen became the hero as he remained not out at 42 to see his team enter the final of the ICC Twenty20, beating Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the first semifinal here today. Craig Kieswetter was the other major contributor (39) as England easily chased down the target with 24 balls remaining.
Earlier, Angelo Mathews (58) stood among ruins with a fighting half century as Sri Lanka scored a modest 128 for six.
Mathews, who hit three fours and a six in his 45-ball innings, got little support from his batting colleagues as the next highest contributors were captain Kumar Saangakkara (16) and Chamara Kapugedera (16) after Sri Lanka elected to bat at a slow Beausejour Stadium pitch. Mathews was involved in two partnerships — 46 off 45 balls with Kapugedera for the fifth wicket and 33 off 20 balls with Thissara Perera for the sixth — which took Sri Lanka at least something to defend.
Broad was the most successful England bowler with two wickets for 21 while Bresman, Sidebottom and Swann chipped in with a wicket each. Except for calling the coin correctly, nothing worked for Sri Lanka as they lost their three key batsmen by the fifth over for just 26 runs.
Sri Lanka’s woes deepened with their best batsman in the tournament Mahela Jayawardene departing in the first ball of the fifth over off a beauty from Stuart Broad with the ball lifting and moving a shade away from the bat for wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter to do the rest. Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews tried to repair the innings before the former was out in the ninth over for a 19-ball 16 to leave his side in deep trouble at 47 for four. Brief Score: Sri Lanka 128/6 England 132/3 (PTI)
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