England hold nerve to secure semi-final spot

The Match In A Tweet: Angelo Mathews' brilliant fifty went waste as a Jos Buttler-inspired England reach semi-finals and eliminate Sri Lanka and South Africa

Roy and Root Tango With Spin: With the threat of dew later in the evening, Sri Lanka chose to bowl after winning the toss. Alex Hales was back for England after sitting out against Afghanistan, and he opened the innings with Jason Roy. Given the Kotla’s historical low bounce, spin was introduced early in the second over and Rangana Herath had Hales in all sorts of trouble.

Their duel lasted only three balls as the opener was trapped lbw, but it prompted Sri Lanka to put on their other left-arm spinner, Jeffrey Vandersay. It was a vital moment for England but Roy and Joe Root used their feet well to counter the spin. They ran their runs hard and played proper shots to defy the two bowlers.

Root was exceptional in his timing and placement, with a couple beautiful cover-drives off either bowler. He was already in the middle of a classical knock when he holed out to midwicket, trying to hit Vandersay out of the park, after scoring 25 runs from 24 balls. But he had done enough to provide a platform to his side, putting up 61 runs for the second wicket with Roy, who had also hit out at the other end.

The opener, whose 43 from 16 balls had laid the foundation of that sensational run-chase against South Africa in Mumbai, scored 42 runs from 39 balls, as England managed to reach 1-65 in the first ten overs of their innings. Roy then soon followed Root to the pavilion, lbw as he swung and missed, with Vandersay picking up 2-26 in his four overs. Herath took 1-27 in his four.

The Jos Buttler Show: Root’s dismissal brought Jos Buttler to the crease, and he had come with only one motive. He raced to double figures with three early boundaries and made his intentions clear from the get-go, even as Eoin Morgan joined him at the other end. But the two were subdued in the initial half of their 74-run partnership. England were placed at 3-99 with five overs to go and then urgency kicked in.

Eoin Morgan lit up the small ground with 18 runs coming off Thisara Perera. Buttler took over from there and smacked Dushmantha Chameera for three boundaries in the next over. Two more fours and a further two sixes flew from his bat, the last of which was a monster 97-metre hit, as he brought up his fifty in only 28 balls. England took 72 runs off the last five overs and ended up with 4-171, just about a par-score on this dewy ground.

Stuttering Start: In response, Sri Lanka stuttered and their top-order lay in tatters as early as the third over. David Willey took 2-26 and removed both Tillakaratne Dilshan and Milinda Siriwardana in his first two overs, while at the other end, Chris Jordan had Dinesh Chandimal caught behind in the second over. Lahiru Thirimanne was run-out after being sent back, and the scorecard read 4-15 in the third over, with the highest contribution from the top four batsmen being seven runs.

Angelo Mathews’ Fightback: For a better part of the past couple of years, skipper Angelo Mathews has been burdened with all-round responsibility of digging out this team from different downbeat scenarios. As long as he was at the crease then, there was hope of a miracle, and Mathews nearly pulled one out of his hat.

At first, he went into repair mode and found a partner in Chamara Kapugedera willing enough to stay at the crease. The duo added 80 runs for the fifth wicket, as Sri Lanka reached 4-59 at the halfway mark. The target was still a long way off, but things began to turn when Kapugedara was caught off Liam Plunkett in over 13. He scored 30 runs off 27 balls, but more urgency was the need of the hour.

Thisara Perera then smacked 20 runs from 18 balls to up the ante, and as England were pushed slightly on the backfoot, Mathews too brought out his shots as they put on 42 runs off just 22 balls. Perera lived by the sword and died by it too, but Mathews carried on, taking 21 runs off Moeen Ali in the 16th over.

The Turning Point: Mathews’ ability to stay at the wicket, whilst being bolstered by some lusty shots by his partner, had kept them in the chase thus far. Jordan had sent back Perera, only to see him replaced by Dasun Shanaka, who hit two fours and a six on his way to 15 runs from 9 balls. As the equation started to turn in their favour, Root took a stunning catch at mid-off, flying to his left, and sent Shanaka back.

Mathews had finally run out of big hitting partners and it all fell on his shoulders then, as Jordan bowled Herath to finish with 4-28. 15 runs were needed off the last six ball then, but Ben Stokes didn’t allow any leeway to Mathews as Sri Lanka fell short by 10 runs, finishing at 8-161. Mathews stayed unbeaten on 73 runs from 54 balls, single-handedly keeping his team as also South Africa in contention for long.

The Stat: Sri Lanka's sole WT20 victory in three previous meetings with England came on home soil in 2012, a 19-run win in Pallekele where the absent Malinga took 5 for 31, his best figures in T20Is. They can now add another loss in their fourth clash, with the next opportunity to reverse this trend some way off yet.

The Wash-Up: With three wins from four games, England have qualified as the second-placed side from Group One behind West Indies. Their 10-run victory knocked out both Sri Lanka and South Africa in one go, rendering the clash between these two sides on Monday (also in Delhi) meaningless. 

England will now take on Group Two winners New Zealand in the first semi-final on Wednesday, again to be played at the Feroz Shah Kotla.