World T20: SL crush Windies, England beat NZ

Luke Wright hit a belligerent half-century and Steven Finn grabbed 3-16 to keep defending champion England’s hopes alive at the World Twenty20 with a six-wicket win over New Zealand in the Super Eights on Saturday. Wright smashed 76 off 43 balls to guide England to 149-4 in 18.5 overs after New Zealand was restricted to 148-6 in Group 1 match. Fast bowler Finn never allowed New Zealand to build momentum by claiming 3-16 and the Kiwis owed their total largely to James Franklin’s 33-ball 50. England’s top order had crumbled in the previous two games, but Wright and Eoin Morgan (30) batted with plenty of aggression in an 89-run match-winning third-wicket stand in 10 overs. It was the second successive loss for New Zealand after losing its opening match in a one-over eliminator against Sri Lanka. West Indies defeated England by 15 runs in the teams’ first match. “It was nice to bounce back,” said England captain Stuart Broad. “Steven Finn set the tone with the new ball. The wicket was a lot drier and it did turn a bit.” [caption id=“attachment_473666” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  SL recorded a comprehensive win over the Windies. AP[/caption] New Zealand struck through spinners Daniel Vettori and Nathan McCullum, who clean bowled both openers — Craig Kieswetter (4) and Alex Hales (22). But Morgan and Wright ensured there were no more hiccups in the middle order with some clean hitting. Wright hammered five fours and five sixes while Morgan was more subdued in his nearly run-a-ball knock that featured a four and a flat six over mid on. Morgan was brilliantly caught close to the wide mid on boundary by a diving Doug Bracewell in the 17th over and Wright was caught in the covers by captain Ross Taylor when only seven was needed for victory. “I thought it was a decent score but not enough at the end of the day,” said Taylor. “We had our moments but we couldn’t capitalize on them.” Earlier, Finn took the wickets of Martin Guptill (5), Brendon McCullum (11) and Taylor (22) as New Zealand struggled to put on a partnership after winning the toss and opting to bat first. Guptill was trapped leg before wicket off a full-pitched delivery and Brendon McCullum sliced Finn to third man where Wright took a comfortable chest-high catch. Taylor put on 40 runs with Franklin off 28 balls and just when he looked for acceleration Finn had the Kiwi captain caught at deep midwicket in the 17th over. Franklin rebuilt the innings by smashing four boundaries and two sixes in his 50 off 33 balls and added 39 runs off 21 balls with Nathan McCullum before he was run out in the last over. Nathan McCullum blasted Stuart Broad for two sixes in one over to remain unbeaten on 16. England shuffled its bowling lineup and brought in Danny Briggs and Tim Bresnan in place of Jade Dernbach and Samit Patel. Briggs justified his selection for the first time in the tournament by bowling to a tidy line and length with the new ball and switched ends to get the wicket of Kane Williamson (17). However, Franklin blotted the leftarm spinner’s figures by hitting 16 runs in his last over. New Zealand was dealt a setback when allrounder Jacob Oram fell ill and was replaced by fast bowler Bracewell. New Zealand takes on West Indies in its last group game while England meets Sri Lanka on Monday. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka became a firm favorite to qualify for the World Twenty20 semifinals after crushing West Indies by nine wickets in the Super Eights on Saturday. Sri Lanka can advance with a win or narrow loss — because of an excellent net run rate — to defending champion England on Monday. West Indies needs to beat New Zealand on the same day and then wait for the outcome of the Sri Lanka-England match to qualify. Captain Mahela Jayawardene smashed an unbeaten 65 off 49 balls in Sri Lanka’s successful chase, reaching 130-1 with 28 balls to spare after West Indies put up only 129-4. The West Indians were buckled down by Jayawardene’s effective and regular change of bowlers. “Overall a very good effort,” Jayawardene said of his team’s convincing win. “When they were going after our bowlers I just kept changing the bowlers. And once we got through the first 12 overs I told Kumar (Sangakkara) we should finish this as quickly as possible.” Jayawardene and Sangakkara (39) shared a 108-run unbroken stand off 75 balls after Ravi Rampaul had Tillakaratne Dilshan (13) caught behind in the third over. Both batsmen batted comortably at Pallekele International Stadium and gave respect to only offspinner Sunil Narine, who gave away 23 runs but remained wicketless. Jaywardene hit 10 fours and a six in his unbeaten knock while Sangakkara faced 34 balls and hit five boundaries. Earlier, Sri Lanka finger spinner Ajantha Mendis bowled a miserly spell of 2-12 to help restrict West Indies. Marlon Samuels top-scored with 50 off 35 balls with four boundaries and two sixes and shared the best stand of 65 for the third wicket with Dwayne Bravo, who made 40. Mendis had opening batsman Charles Johnson (12) stumped in the fifth over and returned to clean bowl Kieron Pollard (1). “Their bowlers bowled really well to us and now the New Zealand game is a must-win for us,” West Indies captain Darren Sammy said. “We bowled too short and wide (while) the Sri Lankan bowlers bowled fuller and we didn’t do that enough.” Seamer Nuwan Kulasekara added to West Indies’ early problems when, two balls after Johnson departed, hard-hitting Chris Gayle was out for 2 playing a loose shot off a slow delivery. Gayle had struggled for nine balls against the change of pace by the seamers. Jaywardene — who lost the toss — never allowed the opening pair of Charles and Gayle to free their arms as they did against England in the 15-run win on Thursday. Jayawardene intelligently used four bowlers within the first six overs of the batting powerplay and was duly rewarded with the wickets of both openers. Samuels and Bravo revived the innings, but never looked to threaten to score boundaries at will as Jayawardene rotated his bowlers effectively. Dilshan took well-judged catches of both batsmen in the deep as West Indies tried to break the stranglehold. The only bright moment in West Inides’ knock came in the 17th over when Andre Russell (19 not out) and Samuels hit Kulasekara for two sixes and two fours. Sri Lanka was forced to leave out Akila Dananjaya after the 18-year-old offspinner broke his left cheekbone while trying for a caught-and-bowled during a thrilling victory in the one-over eliminator against New Zealand. West Indies recalled fast bowler Fidel Edwards and left out spinner Samuels Badree. AP