England qualify after Pakistan series win
England qualify after Pakistan series win
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Wednesday, 22, Mar 2006 10:03
England have qualified for this autumn's ICC Champions Trophy after Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by four wickets to seal a 2-0 series victory.
England were battling with Sri Lanka to be ranked inside the top six in the world on April 1st, thereby automatically sealing their place for the tournament in India in October.
However, after Pakistan's win, England are now guaranteed to be in the top six, even if they lose their one-day matches against India scheduled for this month.
In the match in Colombo, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 224 before openers Shoaib Malik (46) and Imran Farhat (46) and Mohammad Yousef (53) helped Pakistan reach their target with 4.4 overs to spare.
Having been put into bat, Sri Lanka looked comfortable as they reached 93-1 after 22 overs.
However, when Chamara Kapugedera was run out for 50, Sri Lanka stuttered.
Stand-in captain Mahela Jayawardene made 31 before he too was run out, while Tillakaratne Dilshan added 44 from 46 balls batting at seven.
In reply, Malik and Farhat got Pakistan off to a flyer as Malik made his 46 from 38 balls before falling with the score on 61.
Farhat and Younis Khan (25) then added 56 before Farhat was stumped.
However, Pakistan always looked comfortable and despite losing Yousef and Shahid Afridi (1) towards the end, they made it home to seal the series.
Sri Lanka will now play a qualification tournament with the West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabawe for the final two spots in the Champions Trophy.