England v Sri Lanka, World T20 2022

Rambo2100 posted a photo:

Taking advantage of a cheapish ticket ($40, not like $215-$240 which is the cost for the World T20 Cricket semi-final), I caught the England – Sri Lanka game. Sri Lanka won the toss, batted first, but apart from opener Pathum Nissanka’s 67 from 45 balls, no-one really seemed to have a batting plan. The pitch had been used before in the tournament so perhaps a big total wasn’t expected, but 8-141 was underwhelming. Credit to Adil Rashid whose 1/16 from 4 overs kept the runs down, and Stokes’ 1/24 and Wood’s 3/26 were impressive. Wood was much faster than the other pacemen, hitting 153kph.

England’s innings started well with Jos Buttler the first wicket to fall at 1-75 early in the 8th over. Even when Alex Hales went for 47 at 2/82 England looked like they’d win easily. But wickets fell. England snuck over the line with just two balls to spare, mostly thanks to Ben Stokes who saw them through some anxious moments with a well-struck 42. Sri Lankan spinners Hasaranga de Silva (2/23), Maheesh Theekshana (0/22) and Dhananjaya de Silva (2/24) were tight but pace was played more easily by the England batters.

Not sure who from the England (in red) and Sri Lanka (in blue) teams is in the photo apart from Moeen Ali. The people on the screen will be England fans.

So England qualified for the semi finals along with New Zealand in Group A, knocking out Australia on run rate. Australia just missed out but haven’t been convincing. Group B has had a shock as the Netherlands beat South Africa (their newspapers will be fun to read tomorrow). Pakistan and India are the other semi finalists.

On a different note, Sri Lankan batting all-rounder (who was injured earlier in the tournament and did not play this game) Danushka Gunathilaka has been charged over alleged sexual assault of a woman in Sydney and refused bail, which is being reported in today’s news, including the Daily Telegraph and Sydney Morning Herald.

Police allege the pair met on a dating site last Sunday. ‘They met for prearranged drinks, had something to eat and went back to the woman’s home. The woman had taken all precautions, she met in a public place, it was just unfortunate,’ a police spokesperson said. ‘Following further inquiries, a 31-year-old man was arrested at a hotel on Sussex Street, Sydney, shortly before 1am today (Sunday 6 November)’. The police said the Sri Lankan team had no idea one of their players was about to be arrested. The rest of the team have flown home as planned. Investigators are still carrying out inquiries.