Lasith Malinga blew away the England top-order by dismissingthree batsmen in a single over as Sri Lanka defeated the defending champions by19 runs in their last Super Eight match to qualify for the semifinals of theWorld Twenty20 along with the West Indies, here on Monday.
England needed to chase the 170-run target in less than 13overs to qualify for the semifinals and oust Sri Lanka but paceman Malinga'sperformance (5/31) made it a lop-sided affair.
England ended 150 for nine through a fighting 67-run knockfrom Samit Patel and and his 51-run stand for the eighth wicket with GreameSwann (34).
Sri Lanka's win pushed England out of the tournament sincethey had just one win from three Super Eight matches in Group I while theCaribbean side had two.
The West Indies had edged past New Zealand in a thrillingmatch early in the day to keep themselves in the hunt.
None of the Sri Lanka batsmen played a big knock but theyrode on a collective batting effort to reach a competitive 169 for six.
Mahela Jayawardene (42), Angelo Mathews (28) and JeevanMendis (18) got good starts but could not convert those into big innings afterthe hosts were sent in to bat.
Thisra Perera (25 not out) and Lahiru Thirimanne (13)blasted some big shots towards the end to lift the side to a fighting total.
But Malinga's sensational over -- third of the innings -- inwhich he scalped Luke Wright (13), Jonny Bairstow (2) and Alex Hales (3), tookit away from them.
England were reeling at 18 for three in three overs andnever recovered from that shock start.
Malinga added wickets of Jos Butler and Patel later in theinnings while spinner Akila Dananjaya contributed in the win of his side bydismissing Eoin Morgan (10) and Broad (1).
Broad (3/32) and Swann (2/26) did well for England in thesecond half of the Lankan innings as both of them got wickets in successiveballs to keep the side in hunt.
Interestingly, Kumar Sangakkara led Sri Lanka today in placeof regular skipper Jayawardene.
