West Indies' win over New Zealand earlier in the day left England needing to beat Sri Lanka to progress to the last four.
But it proved beyond them as, chasing a victory target of 170 in Pallekele, they finished on 150-9.
England's run chase never fully recovered from losing three wickets in the third over when Lasith Malinga (5-31) removed Luke Wright, Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales.
That was despite the best efforts of Samit Patel, who hit 67 from 48 balls before becoming Malinga's fifth victim in the penultimate over to effectively seal his side's fate.
Earlier, Sri Lanka - who only needed to avoid a heavy defeat to progress to the last four - produced a solid team effort with the bat after being sent in.
Opener Mahela Jayawardene top scored with 42 and received solid support from all his top order colleagues, including Angelo Mathews' 28 off 19 balls and a final flourish from Thisara Perera, whose 26 not out contained a couple of sixes.
Stuart Broad was England's most successful bowler with 3-32, while spinner Graeme Swann dismissed Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara with successive deliveries on the way to 2-26.The result means West Indies advance alongside Sri Lanka to the semi-finals from Group One.
All four sides in Group Two still have a chance to make the last four. Australia play Pakistan and India take on South Africa in the final Super Eight matches in Colombo on Tuesday.
Struggled
For England there is only the flight home left to contemplate after their two-year reign as world champions in the shortest format came to an abrupt conclusion.Wins over Afghanistan and New Zealand failed to hide the deficiencies in the top-order batting, which misfired when chasing during all three defeats - to India, West Indies and now Sri Lanka.
Craig Kieswetter, man-of-the-match in the final victory over Australia in the Caribbean in 2010, paid the price for his recent poor form and was dropped in favour of Ravi Bopara for what turned out to be a tournament-ending loss.
But that personnel change made little difference as England once again found themselves in a deep hole after Malinga's early strikes.
Patel, who hammered eight fours and two sixes, briefly found an ally in Graeme Swann, the eighth-wicket pair putting on 51 in 28 balls after coming together at 93-7 in the 15th over.
Swann's contribution was 34 off 20 deliveries but Sri Lanka knew they had the trump card of Malinga's return to play in the closing stages.
Requiring 33 off the last two overs, England knew the game was up when Malinga sent Patel's stump cartwheeling with the penultimate delivery of his spell to complete his T20-best figures. http://www.skysports.com/cricket/match_report/0,,11066_13764_1,00.html
No comments:
Post a Comment