England, Black Caps on their way home

England’s defence of their World Twenty20 title ended with a 19-run defeat against Sri Lanka, as the home side were cheered on amid a raucous atmosphere generated by a vibrant home crowd. Lasith Malinga ripped out the top order with three wickets in four balls, to immediately set back a tough chase of 170, then returned to finish with 5/31 just when Samit Patel offered England a glimmer.

Malinga had been relatively quiet in the tournament until this moment, ESPCricinfo reports, taking three wickets in five matches, but doubled his tally in the blink of an eye when he was brought on for the third over. Luke Wright, promoted to open after Craig Kieswetter was dropped, unleashed a fierce square cut but sent it straight to backward point, Jonny Bairstow was done by a slower ball to end a difficult tournament and next ball Alex Hales was pinned by an inswinging yorker, although replays suggested it was sliding down leg.

There were low expectations from outside the England squad before the tournament and they have never looked like being capable of defending their crown. Patel, at least, could hold his head high with a powerful 67 off 48 balls to show he has been under-used whereas others, like Jos Buttler, who gave Malinga his fourth when he hooked to long leg, often appeared out of their depth. Graeme Swann swung strongly, making the highest score by a No 9 in T20s, and the fifty stand with Patel came from 26 balls but, as against West Indies – whose progression was secured by England’s defeat – it always needed a miracle of Medinah proportions.

The top order has cost England throughout the tournament and reshuffling did them no good. From 18/3, their hopes were lifted by Patel, who before this innings had not faced a ball in the tournament. Sent in a No 4, in a failed attempt to keep Eoin Morgan away from the first six overs, he drove a straight six before adding five fours – including three off Ajantha Mendis’s first over – in his first 20 deliveries. For all the talk of spin, Sri Lanka bowled one over of it in the first eight.

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Sri Lanka became only the second team after Pakistan to reach the semifinal stage of the World Twenty20 in three tournaments. They were runners-up to Pakistan in 2009 and lost in the semi-final to England in 2010.

Sri Lanka’s win was their third in four matches against England. Their only loss came in the 2010 World Twenty20 game. It is also Sri Lanka’s sixth win in home Twenty20 internationals and their fifth batting first (home games).

Lasith Malinga became the eighth bowler to pick up a five-for in a Twenty20 international. His 5 for 31 is the third-best performance by a Sri Lankan bowler after Ajantha Mendis’ 6 for 8 and 6 for 16.

Samit Patel’s 67 is the second highest score by an England batsman against Sri Lanka after Marcus Trescothick’s 72 in 2006. Patel’s previous best in ten innings was just 25.

The 51-run stand between Patel and Graeme Swann is the highest eighth-wicket stand for England in Twenty20 internationals. Overall, it is the fifth highest eighth-wicket stand and the second highest eight-wicket partnership in World Twenty20 matches.

Sri Lanka’s total of 169 is their fifth highest in home Twenty20 internationals and their seventh highest in the World Twenty20.

Mendis continued to prove expensive when Patel collected two more offside boundaries and it was his 18-year-old team-mate, Akila Dananjaya, who struck the blow that hurt England the most when Morgan missed a reverse sweep. Ravi Bopara, surprisingly recalled as Kieswetter’s replacement, has looked a tortured soul with the bat of late and it was no surprise when he basically missed a straight delivery from Jeevan Mendis. It may be a while until he is back in an England shirt.

Unlike most of the strong totals at this tournament, Sri Lanka’s effort was not underpinned by one substantial effort but forged by free scoring throughout the line-up, which quietened the concerns about the middle order. Not that the top three, the big three, failed to lay the foundations and it was Mahela Jayawardene, curiously not officially listed as captain at the toss, who marshalled the first half of the innings with a classy display.

England’s bowling attack could be split in half. The combined eight overs of the three players brought into the attack who didn’t face New Zealand – Dernbach, Patel and Bopara – went for 81 while the established trio of Broad, Swann and Steven Finn produced 6/82 from 12.

Swann evened the contest when he had Jayawardene caught at deep midwicket and next ball Kumar Sangakkara was given caught behind, although he did not appear pleased with the decision, before a counterattacking response from the middle order. It was a fantastic response by Angelo Mathews and Jeevan Mendis to the loss of two key batsmen. Neither took a backward step – Mendis opening his innings with two boundaries off Swann – and Mathews showed elegant clean striking as the fifty stand came from 29 balls.

Again England hit back with Broad this time taking two in two balls when Mendis spliced to midwicket and Mathews dragged a pull on to his stumps. Still Sri Lanka kept on swinging and the 18th over, bowled by Dernbach, included a six apiece for Thisara Perera and Lahriu Thirimanne. The sixth-wicket pair added 35 in 19 deliveries to ensure the home side remained ahead of the game. When England’s chase reached the 13th over they were guaranteed a semifinal spot but by then an overwhelming victory was also in the bag. It will take a very good performance to stop them.

– West Indies took the New Zealand spirit, trampled on it, and handed over the broken pieces along with their boarding passes. The team that provided the most entertainment in the Super Eights, with two ties, lost both the Super Overs to end up with zero points. West Indies stayed alive, and were not leaving the ground anytime soon. They were done with their celebratory dances, and were now hoping for Sri Lanka to beat England and help them through to the semifinal.

There was no way New Zealand should have lost this, though. Not in regulation time, not in extra time. It was a day for heroes and villains, and they were often the same men. The same Tim Southee that foxed Chris Gayle and went for 3/21 in regulation time failed to defend 16 runs in the Super Over. The same Sunil Narine who bowled overs 17 and 19 for five runs and two wickets to keep the match alive fielded appallingly, most noticeably in the final over, allowing Ross Taylor to retain the strike, and force the tie.

What of Taylor, though? He didn’t deserve to be on the losing side. He braved that inexplicable pressure his team-mates found themselves under, 127kmph darts from Marlon Samuels delivered from two steps, managed a six each in both the final over and the Super Over, posted his highest Twenty20 score as captain, and yet found himself at loss to explain what just happened to New Zealand.

Let’s start with the early heroes then. Gayle was the first one, racing to 30 off 13, taking West Indies to 60 inside the Powerplay. Taylor then made his first good move, an admission that he had erred in the previous game. Doug Bracewell, who was bowled only after the match was practically lost against England, got the new ball, and got Johnson Charles and the promoted Andre Russell out in his first two overs.

For Southee, life was full of possibilities at this time. To the marauding Gayle he rolled his fingers on a short-of-a-length delivery, getting it to cut away, squaring Gayle up, taking the edge that kicked off wild celebrations, which have become the norm whenever teams dismiss Gayle before he has beaten them into submission.

Now New Zealand applied the choke hold through the spin combination of Ronnie Hira and Nathan McCullum. Even though they changed the ball just before Hira came on, a ball so new New Zealand were not happy with it, the spinners bowled eight straight overs for 43 runs and three wickets. Nathan McCullum was going to have his due villainous turn later.

Playing Darren Bravo – 16 off 21 – in place of the injured Dwayne, West Indies failed to kick on, scoring 79 for 8 in their last 13.3 overs. It was New Zealand’s game to lose now. And how they lost it.

The signs were there at the start. Rob Nicol played a horrible shot moving all the way across to Ravi Rampaul: 8 for 1. Brendon McCullum then played Samuel Badree, renowned for his non-turning legbreaks, for the turn and was bowled: 41 for 2. Martin Guptill – 21 off 27 – cut a long hop straight to point: 52 for 3. James Franklin and Taylor, though, soothed the nerves, with a chipped couple here, a placed four there. When Gayle’s villanous turn arrived, a 15-run 12th over, it seemed West Indies had got it all horribly wrong.

Narine, their attacking option, had bowled just one over, and New Zealand needed only a further 62 runs. Narine himself must have been under pressure after his numerous misfields. He even bowled a no-ball – also a wide – in the 13th, but he and Gayle were both about to play heroes. Off the last ball of that over, Narine induced an edge from Franklin with a carrom ball, and Gayle plucked a stunner at slip.

Taylor, though, had the chase under control. He had calculated it: he knew West Indies had two overs left from non-specialist bowlers. One of them, from Sammy, he looted for 14, bringing the equation down to 27 off 24. Narine, though, had two overs left.

Narine stopped bowling offbreaks, which the whole world knows by now that he bowls with a thumb sticking out. However, Jacob Oram failed to read the carrom ball and was out lbw. Narine was making up for his sins now. Sammy had to take the risk, leaving the last over for the non-specialist. When Narine began the 19th, New Zealand needed 17. Instead of taking six singles, Nathan McCullum tried six in one shot, and fell to the carrom ball again. The pressure was on New Zealand now.

A convention followed, with 13 to defend in the final over. Russell and Samuels were the contenders for the final over, before Samuels was given the ball. This was no easy task for Taylor: to face somebody delivering darts at around 125kmph from two steps into the blockhole. He received help from Narine, though. A hit to short fine leg would have meant game over but Narine misfielded and allowed Taylor to come back on strike. Cometh the over, cometh the innovation. Possibly for the first time in international cricket, Taylor played the ramp shot to counter the impossible Samuels trajectory, getting six over short fine leg.

Samuels held his nerve, bringing it down to two required off the last ball. West Indies were using their substitutes: Dwayne Smith was on for Ravi Rampaul. Taylor hit straight to Smith, who narrowly missed being a villain. With Taylor running for an impossible second, Smith, from deep midwicket, threw in a yorker, which Denesh Ramdin would have surely failed to collect … had it not hit the stumps direct.

For the second time in three matches, New Zealand were facing a Super Over. This time, though, Taylor got the better of Samuels with the ramp and then a huge six after he had played around with his length. Despite West Indies fielding their best substitutes for the slow men – absolutely allowed by the law – New Zealand managed 17, but West Indies only needed to level that score to win because of their better boundary count.

Southee has won matches with his yorkers in the past, including a Super Over against Australia at the Liliputian Jade Stadium in Christchurch, but he began with a no-ball here, which was also a length ball with width. Gayle clobbered it for six. Seven runs, no ball bowled. Despite a wide later in the over, Southee made a decent comeback, bringing it down to four needed of last two. Then he bowled a low full toss, which Samuels hit towards deep midwicket, missing a leaping Guptill by inches.

West Indies danced unabashedly, but when readying the ground for the next match, the groundsmen would have had to deal with pieces of broken New Zealand hearts.

ICC World T20

– West Indies 139 (Southee 3/21, Bracewell 3/31). New Zealand 139/7 (Taylor 62*). West Indies won Super Over.

– Sri Lanka 169/6 (Jayawardene 42; Broad 3/32). England 150 (Patel 67; Malinga 5/31). Sri Lanka won by 19 runs. — Cricket reporter, SportsCentral