SL vs Eng : Sri Lanka thrash England to enter semis

England’s rollercoaster ride in the World Cup with a 10-wicket humiliating defeat against Sri Lanka in the quarter-final of the World Cup at the Premedasa Stadium here Saturday.

Sri Lanka will face New Zealand in Tuesday’s semi-final at the same ground.

England toiled to 229-6 on a slow track against Sri Lanka’s naggingly accurate spin attack with Jonathan Trott scoring a solid-even-if-somewhat-ponderous 86.

But Sri Lankan openers Upul Tharanga (102) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (108) scored unbeaten centuries as the co-host chased down the runs with 63 balls to spare.

With the win, the 1996 champions and last edition’s finalists entered their second consecutive World Cup semi-final.

It looked like a competitive total to chase under lights and pressure, but Sri Lanka’s batsmen scored quickly to prove otherwise.

Dilshan led the way with 10 fours and two sixes in his 115 balls knock while Tharanga battled cramps that forced him to call for a runner, and hit Chris Tremlett to the boundary to complete his century of 122 balls and also the winning runs.

Earlier in the day, Jonathan Trott’s 86 was the foundation around which England’s innings was built, although the 115 balls he took to make them may have been a price too high to pay.

Sri Lanka’s three-strong specialist spin attack – with Dilshan also bowling new-ball off-breaks – sought to stifle the batsmen and they largely succeeded.

England scored just 12 fours in their entire innings as they appeared to settle for a safe score on a slow pitch.

Trott shared stands of 64 for the third wicket with Ravi Bopara (31) and then 91 for the fourth with Eoin Morgan (50), who was dropped three times – on 16 and twice in the 30s – off Sri Lanka’s spinners. Matt Prior contributed a defiant 22 from 19 balls to push the score past 200.