England rue middle-order collapse
Vaughan's men failed to grab the win on the final ball
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Wednesday, 04, Apr 2007 11:07
England suffered a middle-order collapse but a late-order rally failed to save them as they lost to Sri Lanka by 2 runs in a thrilling ending to their Super Eight World Cup match.
Sri Lanka were restricted to 235 all out after a good performance in the field by England but their batsmen could not capitalise on this good work as the Asian side showed all their class to claim the two points.
England finished on 233-8 after an amazing seventh wicket fighback by Ravi Bopara and Paul Nixon nearly gave them an unlikely victory.
England did well to shackle the dangerous Sri Lankan openers and were rewarded when Sanath Jayasuriya played on to his own stumps off the bowling of Sajid Mahmood.
Wickets fell at regular intervals which halted Sri Lanka's progress. Andrew Flintoff claimed two wickets in one over during his second spell and Mahmood finished with 4-50 from nine overs.
In their reply England had looked strong at one stage with Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen at the crease. With the side on 11-2 the pair rebuilt the innings with a partnership of 90 before Bell was unluckily run out on 47.
Pietersen (58) soon followed, chipping the ball back to Muttiah Muralitharan with the score on 126. Flintoff and Paul Collingwood then fell in the same Dilhara Fernando over to leave England struggling on 133-6.
Bopara and Nixon did their best to rally against Muralitharan and Fernando but could not keep up with the required rate which soared to ten runs an over.
However they set up the chance of an improbable victory with a stand of 87 before Nixon fell to Lasith Malinga for 43 in what was a valiant effort.
In the final over Bopara fell agonisingly short after scoring 52 off 53 balls. Needing a boundary to win off the final ball of the match he was dismissed by Fernando leaving England fans heartbroken and the Sri Lankans ecstatic.