INDOOR
CRICKET WORLD
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World Cup 2002
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RESULTS |
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MEN finals GAME 4 England vs Sri Lanka (Winner Game 2 vs Loser Game 1) Preamble Result (Teams mentioned in the order they batted):
Another superbly played game against these two nations, and as in the first, the result was not confirmed until the last ball had been played. England bowled and fielded well to restrict the free-scoring Sri Lankans to 84. We've seen how well Sri Lanka can chase runs, now we're about to see how well they can defend.
Chasing 84, England openers Andy Walton and Michael Edmond posted 40 runs, setting their team well on the way to victory. With the second England pair making 21, England were 61 after 8 overs, requiring 24 runs from the remaining 8 overs.
But if the good crowd thought that England were going to coast home from there, the Sri Lankans certainly didn't. With some very high quality bowling and fielding from their front-half especially, Sri Lanka kept the third England pair to -3, for a total of 58 after 12 overs. 4 overs to go, 29 runs required. England's last pair were under pressure immediately. Giving up only 1 run from the 13th over, Sri Lanka were showing that they could indeed defend a score. England's chances improved markedly when the took 11 runs from the 14th over, then looked rock-solid after another 11 runs flowed from the 15th. A rebowled wide on the first ball of the last over put England in front by one run. A 2 and two singles took them on to a 5 run lead by the 5th ball of the over, but then a brilliant runout set the scores level. Two runs from the penultimate ball put the England team ahead by 2, and they successfully kept out the last ball for a thrilling win. England now play Australia later this afternoon, and the winner of that match will play New Zealand in tomorrow's Grand Final. Sri Lanka will play the loser of the England v Australia match in tomorrow's 3rd place playoff. |
