Sri Lanka eliminate Australia from World Twenty20

NOTTINGHAM: Skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan hit robust half-centuries as Sri Lanka sent Australia packing from the World Twenty20 with a six-wicket win on Monday.

Australia, asked to bat by Sangakkara in his first match as captain, managed only 159-9 in good batting conditions as mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis and fast bowler Lasith Malinga claimed three wickets each, AFP reports.

Opener Dilshan then plundered 53 off 32 balls and left-handed Sangakkara made an unbeaten 55 to fire Sri Lanka home with six deliveries to spare.

Jehan Mubarak hit 21 not out to keep his captain company till the end, which came when Mitchell Johnson sent down a wide off the first delivery of the final over.

Ricky Ponting’s men, beaten by the West Indies in their first match, bowed out of the tournament with their fifth successive Twenty20 defeat and ample time in hand to prepare for next month’s Ashes series.

Sri Lanka and the West Indies, who take the two Super Eights places from the group, play each other in the inconsequential last league match on Wednesday.

‘It’s disappointing to go out of the tournament and I can’t explain why,’ said Ponting.

‘The training was spot-on and there was a good attitude in the group. But in the big moments we haven’t been able to play and we made too many mistakes.

‘We knew that it would be a huge challenge against their spinners. We knew we had to play them well. We didn’t do that and Sri Lanka deserved to win the game.

‘Now we have to move on as quickly as possible and focus on the Ashes.’

Sangakkara said it was crucial to have confidence they could win.

‘It was a great performance. When you play against Australia the key is to believe you can win,’ he said.

‘Our strength has always been spin bowling and we played two guys whom the Australians haven’t seen much of. So their batsmen couldn’t really target one single bowler.

‘Now we want to beat the West Indies in the final group match. We can’t afford to be complacent.’

Mendis, who turns the ball both ways without a visible change in his bowling action, wrecked the top order in a match Australia had to win to stay in the competition.

Slinger Malinga took care of the lower order as Australia collapsed to 94-6 in the 15th over, before David Hussey and Johnson led a late revival.

The pair put on 41 off 21 balls for the seventh wicket with Hussey hitting 28 off 22 balls and Johnson smashing 38 off 13 with two fours and as many sixes.

Sri Lanka were playing their first international match since the terror attack on their team bus in Lahore on March 3 which left seven players injured and killed eight Pakistani security-men.

Sangakkara’s team was greeted to Trent Bridge by some 100 people waving banners in protest against what they claimed was killing of innocent Tamils by the Sri Lankan armed forces in the war against the Tamil Tigers.

Ireland upset Bangladesh to reach Super Eights

NOTTINGHAM: Ireland sealed a place in the Twenty20 World Cup Super Eights when Kevin O’Brien’s unbeaten 39 from 17 deliveries helped them to a six-wicket win over Bangladesh on Monday.

The result means Bangladesh, who were beaten by India in their opening game, have no chance of progressing from Group A, Reuters reports.

Ireland, a non-Test playing nation who also made it through the opening stage of the one-day World Cup in 2007, restricted Bangladesh to 137 for eight in their 20 overs at Trent Bridge.

‘We didn’t make anywhere near enough runs,’ Bangladesh’s Australian coach Jamie Siddons told reporters. ‘The par score on that flat wicket was 170. The cooler heads prevailed and under pressure our guys weren’t up to it.’

Ireland reached 138 for four with 10 balls remaining following an aggressive exhibition of hitting from O’Brien. He struck four fours and two sixes after coming in with the match closely poised.

Man of the match Niall O’Brien, Kevin’s brother, had laid the foundations for Ireland’s victory with an innings of 40 from 25 balls, including three sixes.

‘It’s always nice to bat well when there are 10-15,000 people cheering you on,’ said Niall O’Brien.

‘It doesn’t feel like an upset to us as we came here expecting to beat Bangladesh and we have done it again.’

Australian-born Trent Johnston earlier claimed three for 20 that helped to limit Bangladesh in their innings.

Bangladesh’s total might have been even lower had it not been for the 20 runs that Mashrafe Mortaza struck from the last over, bowled by Alex Cusack.

Twenty20 nothing serious: Younus

LONDON:Pakistan captain Younus Khan was left struggling to explain his side's lack luster display after their comprehensive 48-run loss to England in the ICC World Twenty20.

Sloppy fielding by the 2007 finalists helped England to a competitive 185 for five at the Oval on Sunday, featuring 58 from Kevin Pietersen, while the Pakistan reply never got going.

Three wickets in the power play left Pakistan well behind the run-rate and Younus, who finished unbeaten on 46, could only watch from the other end as a succession of batsmen came and went.

‘I would never had thought we would end up chasing 185,’ Younus told reporters.

‘Our fielding was bad and we easily gave away 20-25 runs.

‘This is a matter of concern for us. I have no idea why our fielders are unable to field properly. It is not as if we are not working hard butwe are not just getting it right for reasons unknown to me.’

Pakistan,whose homeland has become a virtual no-go zone for the rest of world cricket following the armed attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in March, have been starved of international competition in recent months.

And now they must not only beat the Netherlands, shock four-wicket winners over England in Friday's tournament opener, they must do so by a large margin at Lord's on Tuesday if they are to join the hosts in the Super Eights.

We will have to do it because if we don't we will be out of the competition,’ said Younus of the need for a big win against the Dutch.

‘Hopefully the senior guys will come forward and do a job for our team.

It's the only chance we have. The onus lies on the senior guys like Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik and myself.’

Butwhile the rest of the world's leading sides treat Twenty20 almost asseriously as nearly all other international cricket, Younus wasconscious of the founding principle behind its creation as aprofessional sport.

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Eng stay alive, transfer scare on Pak

That was a lousy effort from Pakistan to say the least. Pakistan gave away far too many runs due to some misfields and the dropped chances didn't help either. When they came out to bat, they had no plans at all and it all went haywire. They never really got going and that has cost them big here. They have a very bad net run rate and now they have to beat Netherlands by a big margin to ensure a place in the next round.

Luke Wright: The way we performed today was exceptional. It was a tough day on Saturday, we took a few things to notice, and I think we came out very well tonight. The guys really did very well and we are happy to have won big here.
Luke Wright is the Man of the Match

Paul Collingwood: The way the boys came out and batted was commendable. We really did well. Today, we came out very strongly. (On Mascarenhas opening the bowling) we will see how the conditions go through the tournament and then decide how to go about giving him the new ball.

Younis Khan: I think chasing 185 is always difficult and we lost early wickets. We dropped too many catches and we need to work on our fielding a lot. We are looking to do well against Netherlands as we need to win well against them to have a good net run rate.