Sri Lanka crush England, into semis - TeluguPeople.com News

Colombo: Both of Sri Lanka's openers scored unbeaten centuries on Saturday as the World Cup's co-host cruised effortlessly into the semifinals with a crushing 10-wicket victory over England. England stuttered to 229-6 on an easy, slow wicket at the Premadasa stadium, making batting look difficult. Sri Lanka replied with 231-0 in 39.3 overs, scattering fours and sixes to the delight of the home crowd.

Openers Tillakaratne Dilshan, with 108 not out, and Upul Tharanga, with 102 not out, made striking the ball look easy for batsmen who had the confidence to use their feet. England's start-stop World Cup campaign ended with a whimper and Sri Lanka will play New Zealand on home ground again on Tuesday for a place in the final. Sri Lanka will now face New Zealand in Colombo in the first semifinal in Colombo on Tuesday, March 29.

England's batsmen, lacking the aggression needed to ensure a match-winning total, struggled to 229-6 at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo against Sri Lanka on Saturday. England had few answers to spin-dominated, disciplined bowling on a slow wicket and were on the defensive throughout the 50-over innings. Jonathan Trott crawled to 86 in 115 balls and England was helped by calamitous Sri Lankan fielding.

Eoin Morgan was dropped three times ' twice in one Muttiah Muralithan over ' on his way to a 53-ball 50. He also escaped an lbw decision that was there for the taking if Sri Lanka had asked for a review. The blunders left Murali fuming in what will be his last international match if Sri Lanka lose. The 38-year-old spinner finished with figures of 2-54 from nine overs and appeared to be limping at the end. The winner of Saturday's game plays New Zealand in the semifinal in Colombo on Tuesday.

England again left out pace bowler James Anderson, preferring Chris Tremlett on a wicket that offered little assistance to pace or spin. England made a poor start with captain Andrew Strauss immediately becalmed against the innocuous slow bowling of Tillakaratne Dilshan. He was eventually clean bowled taking a wild swing, having scored just five in 19 balls.

Ian Bell was promoted to opener, replacing pinch-hitter Matt Prior, and the experiment did not succeed. Bell started brightly and had reached 25 in 32 balls when he lazily clipped an Angelo Mathews delivery to Thilan Samaraweera at short midwicket.

At 31-2 England was sturggling and Trott and Bopara were contained by the spin attack of Dilshan, Rangana Herath, Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan. Disciplined, full-length bowling pinned the England batsmen down for long stretches but they persisted and pushed the scoreboard along.

Trott and Bopara had put on 64 when Muralitharan caught Bopara on the foot with a full toss and he was given out by umpire Simon Taufel. Bopara asked for the decision to be reviewed but replays confirmed Taufel's decision and he was dismissed for 31 in 56 balls.

England took 28 overs to reach 100 and the arrival of Eoin Morgan saw the first boundary in 17 overs. Only five fours were scored in the first 30 overs as England struggled to pierce the Sri Lankan field.

Morgan profited from Sri Lanka's poor catching to join Trott in a 91-run partnership for the fourth wicket, but it was achieved at a snail's pace. Mathews eventually accepted one of Morgan's catches and Graeme Swann followed against his first ball to leave England on 186-5.

The final batting powerplay netted just 23 runs in five overs for England, and Trott fell to Muralitharan in the 49th over having scored just two fours in his 86. Prior added some valuable runs near the end of the innings.