T20 World Cup: England beat Sri Lanka by 4 wickets to qualify for semifinals, knock Australia out of the fray

Sydney, Nov 5 (IANS) England held their nerves to beat Sri Lanka by four wickets and qualify for the semifinals of the Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, here on Saturday.

With this win, England also knocked out defending champions Australia from the tournament. On the other hand, Sri Lanka were already out of the semifinals race before the game.

After winning the toss and opting to bat first, Sri Lanka scored 141 for 8 in 20 overs with the main contributions from Pathum Nissanka’s 45-ball 67 and Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s run-a-ball 22. For England, Mark Wood (3/26) claimed three wickets, while Ben Stokes (1-24), Chris Woakes (1-24), Sam Curran (1-27) and Adil Rashid (1-16) took one each.

In reply, Alex Hales (47 off 30) gave a flying but England suffered a collapse before Ben Stokes played a crucial unbeaten knock (42 not out off 36) and guided his team to victory with two balls to spare.

Wanindu Hasaranga (2-23), Dhananjaya de Silva (2-24), and Lahiru Kumara (2-24) were wicket-takers for Sri Lanka.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 141/8 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 67; Mark Wood 3-26) lost to England 144/6 in 19.4 overs (Alex Hales 47, Ben Stokes 42; Wanindu Hasaranga 2-23, Dhananjaya de Silva 2-24) by 4 wickets.