Unorthodox - Sri Lanka beat Pakistan to enter final
YES THEY DID AND THEY WEILL DO
Rangana Herath, second right celebrates the dismissal of Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi, left PIC-with captain Mahela Jayawardena, third left and others during the ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup semifinal match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012. (AP)
A packed house of 35,000 adoring Sri Lankan fans celebrated yesterday as the national cricket team reached the finals of yet another ICC event when they beat Pakistan in the first semi-final of the ICC World T-20 at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The hosts will now meet the winners of second semi-final between West Indies and Australia in the grand finale on Sunday.
Defending a modest total of 139, the Sri Lankans came up with a spirited display to beat Pakistan by 16 runs to trigger wild celebrations, probably all over the country.
For a long while now, the Sri Lankans have held on to the belief that Pakistan are vulnerable against left-arm spin and that proved to be the case yet again as Rangana Herath coming in for rookie spinner Akila Dananjaya finished with figures of three for 25.
Herath was introduced to the attack in the ninth over of the Pakistani innings and after dismissing Shoaib Malik in his second over, he struck in successive deliveries in his last over to swing the game in Sri Lanka’s favour. First he had captain Mohammad Hafeez smartly stumped by Kumar Sangakkara and then the dangerous Shahid Afridi was foxed by the left-arm spinner’s carom ball as he fell for a first-ball duck. Incidentally it was exactly 16 years ago that Afridi had smashed the fastest hundred in ODI cricket carting the Sri Lankan bowlers all over the park at Nairobi, Kenya.
Pakistan had got off to a solid start having reached 55 for one in the ninth over and it was the tenth over bowled by Angelo Mathews that brought Sri Lanka back into contention. The vice-captain dismissed both Nasir Jamshed and Kamaran Akmal and then Herath put the game beyond Pakistan’s reach with his disciplined bowling.
Earlier, after electing to bat first, Sri Lanka looked solid as openers Mahela Jayawardene and Tillekeratne Dilshan added 63 runs for the first wicket. Jayawardene was clever making use of the fielding restrictions earlier on with his deft touches and nudges and then, later on, reverse swept and scooped the spinners with remarkable success. He went on to make 42 off 36 balls with seven fours before falling in the 11th over to Afridi.
Sri Lanka failed to push on and the promotion of Jeevan Mendis ahead of Thisara Perera didn’t pay off. Dilshan too struggled to clear the boundary as he faced 43 balls for his 35 and hit just three fours on the way.
Perera came up with a couple of big blows towards the end and was unbeaten on 11 but he came to bat with just two overs left and could have done more had he batted higher in the order.
A packed house of 35,000 adoring Sri Lankan fans celebrated yesterday as the national cricket team reached the finals of yet another ICC event when they beat Pakistan in the first semi-final of the ICC World T-20 at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The hosts will now meet the winners of second semi-final between West Indies and Australia in the grand finale on Sunday.
Defending a modest total of 139, the Sri Lankans came up with a spirited display to beat Pakistan by 16 runs to trigger wild celebrations, probably all over the country.
For a long while now, the Sri Lankans have held on to the belief that Pakistan are vulnerable against left-arm spin and that proved to be the case yet again as Rangana Herath coming in for rookie spinner Akila Dananjaya finished with figures of three for 25.
Herath was introduced to the attack in the ninth over of the Pakistani innings and after dismissing Shoaib Malik in his second over, he struck in successive deliveries in his last over to swing the game in Sri Lanka’s favour. First he had captain Mohammad Hafeez smartly stumped by Kumar Sangakkara and then the dangerous Shahid Afridi was foxed by the left-arm spinner’s carom ball as he fell for a first-ball duck. Incidentally it was exactly 16 years ago that Afridi had smashed the fastest hundred in ODI cricket carting the Sri Lankan bowlers all over the park at Nairobi, Kenya.
Pakistan had got off to a solid start having reached 55 for one in the ninth over and it was the tenth over bowled by Angelo Mathews that brought Sri Lanka back into contention. The vice-captain dismissed both Nasir Jamshed and Kamaran Akmal and then Herath put the game beyond Pakistan’s reach with his disciplined bowling.
Earlier, after electing to bat first, Sri Lanka looked solid as openers Mahela Jayawardene and Tillekeratne Dilshan added 63 runs for the first wicket. Jayawardene was clever making use of the fielding restrictions earlier on with his deft touches and nudges and then, later on, reverse swept and scooped the spinners with remarkable success. He went on to make 42 off 36 balls with seven fours before falling in the 11th over to Afridi.
Sri Lanka failed to push on and the promotion of Jeevan Mendis ahead of Thisara Perera didn’t pay off. Dilshan too struggled to clear the boundary as he faced 43 balls for his 35 and hit just three fours on the way.
Perera came up with a couple of big blows towards the end and was unbeaten on 11 but he came to bat with just two overs left and could have done more had he batted higher in the order.
Bolt like, Caribbean Kings storm into World T20 finals
all kinds of styles , whacked Ausi in Style
Whoever who purchased tickets and stayed away from the semi-final clash between the West Indies and Australia in the World T20 at R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday regretted not being there. After a packed house witnessed Thursday’s first semi-final between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the interests for yesterday’s clash was not much and half of the seats were empty, but nevertheless it provided the best batting display in the competition so far as West Indies smashed 205 for four wickets in their 20 overs.
The target proved to be way beyond Australia’s reach as they were bowled out for 131 inside 17 overs to lose by 74 runs. It was Australia’s second worst defeat in T20 cricket while West Indies’ total of 205 is the highest score on Sri Lankan soil by any team.
West Indies were the pre-tournament favourites and now that they are through to the finals against hosts Sri Lanka, the game will be a much anticipated one for many. Tickets for the game have been sold out.
West Indies were unstoppable after Darren Sammy won the toss and elected to bat first on Friday.
One thing Australia perhaps did right was to keep Gayle out of the strike for a good part of their innings. Of the 120 balls of the West Indian innings, Gayle faced only 41 deliveries and finished with an unbeaten 75 with five fours and six massive sixes.
Some of his shots were effortless. He once picked a length ball from Mitchell Starc and flicked it over midwicket for maximum. Gayle’s half-century came off a mere 29 balls and he provided a plenty of entertainment.
Gayle and Dwayne Bravo added 83 runs off 51 balls for the third wicket. When Bravo was dismissed in the 16th over, West Indies were 140. That was the target Sri Lanka set Pakistan to win the first semi-final. From there on Kieron Pollard and Gayle took the game away from Australia smashing 65 runs off the last four overs. Pollard’s 38 came off 15 with three fours and three consecutive sixes. The last over bowled by Xavier Doherty hurt Australia as it cost 25 runs including four sixes.
Once David Warner and Shane Watson fell for single digit scores, it was clear that Australia were going home early. Only captain George Bailey, who made 63 off 29 balls with six fours and four sixes showed any resistance.
In a sense the grand final on Sunday will lack some spice. Most middle-aged and elderly Sri Lankans have grown up watching the Caribbean kings of yesteryear from the Three Ws to Brian Lara. While they would still want their team to win, that desperation won’t be there on Sunday. That is not quite the case had Australia been the opponents. Ever since Sri Lanka’s acrimonious tour of Australia in 1995, Sri Lankan fans have enjoyed Australia being beaten. The words on a t-shirt of a Sri Lankan fan summed it up all yesterday. It said, ‘I support two teams. Sri Lanka and anyone playing Australia.’
The target proved to be way beyond Australia’s reach as they were bowled out for 131 inside 17 overs to lose by 74 runs. It was Australia’s second worst defeat in T20 cricket while West Indies’ total of 205 is the highest score on Sri Lankan soil by any team.
West Indies were the pre-tournament favourites and now that they are through to the finals against hosts Sri Lanka, the game will be a much anticipated one for many. Tickets for the game have been sold out.
West Indies were unstoppable after Darren Sammy won the toss and elected to bat first on Friday.
One thing Australia perhaps did right was to keep Gayle out of the strike for a good part of their innings. Of the 120 balls of the West Indian innings, Gayle faced only 41 deliveries and finished with an unbeaten 75 with five fours and six massive sixes.
Some of his shots were effortless. He once picked a length ball from Mitchell Starc and flicked it over midwicket for maximum. Gayle’s half-century came off a mere 29 balls and he provided a plenty of entertainment.
Gayle and Dwayne Bravo added 83 runs off 51 balls for the third wicket. When Bravo was dismissed in the 16th over, West Indies were 140. That was the target Sri Lanka set Pakistan to win the first semi-final. From there on Kieron Pollard and Gayle took the game away from Australia smashing 65 runs off the last four overs. Pollard’s 38 came off 15 with three fours and three consecutive sixes. The last over bowled by Xavier Doherty hurt Australia as it cost 25 runs including four sixes.
Once David Warner and Shane Watson fell for single digit scores, it was clear that Australia were going home early. Only captain George Bailey, who made 63 off 29 balls with six fours and four sixes showed any resistance.
In a sense the grand final on Sunday will lack some spice. Most middle-aged and elderly Sri Lankans have grown up watching the Caribbean kings of yesteryear from the Three Ws to Brian Lara. While they would still want their team to win, that desperation won’t be there on Sunday. That is not quite the case had Australia been the opponents. Ever since Sri Lanka’s acrimonious tour of Australia in 1995, Sri Lankan fans have enjoyed Australia being beaten. The words on a t-shirt of a Sri Lankan fan summed it up all yesterday. It said, ‘I support two teams. Sri Lanka and anyone playing Australia.’
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