For the first time since 1992, England have qualified for the final of a World Cup, easily beating last year's semi-finalists Sri Lanka by seven wickets. It's a result few would have predicted, but England have been the surprise team of the tournament; their consistency and form came up against a shaky Sri Lankan team that fell short on the day. England now wait for tomorrow's game to find out who their opponents for Sunday's World Cup final will be.
Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and Mahela Jayawardene hit a 4 from the first ball of the match, but that was about as good as it got for the Sri Lankans. Sanath Jayasuria's poor form continued as he fell to the first ball from Ryan Sidebottom, and one has to wonder if his stated goal of playing in the 2011 World Cup will ever happen. In the games that he opened the batting for Sri Lanka, he's scored 6, 5, 0 and 1. The bug got to Mahela Jayawardene, who fell to Stuart Broad's excellent first delivery. Tillekeratne Dilshan swiped two fours, but was removed by Tim Bresnan. With Sri Lanka in early trouble at 26/3, Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews found themselves in a similar situation their damage-control job in the game against India. But while that was a deflated Indian team on the verge of elimination, this was a scintillating England team that had everything to play for. The bowling was tight on a sluggish pitch that didn't offer anything to the batsman. Sangakkara fell trying to accelerate the scoring (caught Pietersen bowled Swann for 16), Chamara Kapugedera went for 16, and only a dogged 50 by Mathews and a sloppy 17-run over from Tim Bresnan helped Sri Lanka limp to 128/5 in their 20 overs.
With England needing just 6.45 an over to win on a drying pitch, Craig Kieswetter and Michael Lumb were under no pressure while chasing Sri Lanka's very par total. Mathews was very unlucky not to have Kieswetter plumb LBW in the third over (Hawk-Eye predicted contact with the bottom of middle stump), and to add insult to injury, the ball ran away for 4 byes. If that wasn't bad enough, Kieswetter hit the last ball of the over for 6. The Sri Lankans started to wilt under the pressure, with Ajantha Mendis missing a basic run out chance against Michael Lumb when the batsman was nowhere near his crease. Lasith Malinga removed Kieswetter for 39, and Perera bowled Lumb for 33 the following over, but the openers had given England enough of a platform. Perera accounted for Paul Collingwood (11), but England's hero (and new father) Kevin Pietersen hit consecutive boundaries to seal victory with 24 balls remaining.
If one stat can say everything about a game, it's that Angelo Mathews hit the only six in the Sri Lankan innings. England hit five 6s, and while the pitch had balanced out enough by the time they came out to bat, they were simply the better team in every department. They never let Sri Lanka recover after the top order collapse, and they pressured the bowlers and fielders into making basic mistakes that gave away any chance of a Sri Lankan miracle. England comfortably book their place in Sunday's final, confident that their form can challenge whoever they face. Revenge against Pakistan for the 1992 World Cup final? Or revenge against Australia for last year's 5-1 ODI drubbing? The way England are playing, neither Pakistan nor Australia would dare take them lightly.