England made every other competitor to stand up and look at an opponent capable enough to spoil the chance of at least one of the teams which is expected to sail to the next round. English players exhibited a rare fighting spirit which was missing so far in the tournament. The English fielded well and bowled with a disciplined line. They seldom gave chance to the Lankans who appeared to take the same strategy they employed against the Windies. They started cautiously but when they wanted to pace up the innings they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. They ended up making a target which was not enough but competitive given their bowling forte.
England’s reply started off with a disaster, losing 2 quick wickets. But the Bell-Pieterson partnership showed the required maturity to steady the English ship. It did not take long for Sri Lanka to come back and England were staring at a defeat which looked unavoidable. Then the dual team of Bopara and Nixon steadied the innings and brought them closer to the target and pretty soon, England was within the reach of a great victory.
This took the action until the last ball. Victory balanced on the control of nerves and Fernando did an impressive job claiming Bopara of the very last ball of the innings. At the end, England will be ruing over the loss but Sri Lanka will gladly add the 2 vital points to its kitty and the crowd could not have asked for a better entertainment in this otherwise boring,lengthy tournament.
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