Gros Islet: England Impressive reached the final of the Twenty20 World Cup after outclassing Sri Lanka to win by seven wickets with four overs to spare on Saturday.Paul Collingwood's side will face the winner of Friday's other semifinal between Pakistan and Australia in Sunday's (tomorrow) show piece at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.
It was another accomplished performance from England in all departments as they put themselves in a position to win their first ICC tournament.
Sri Lanka slipped to 26-3 inside the fifth over, with the seam bowling of Broad, Ryan Sidebottom and Tim Bresnan doing the trick.
Left poor Sidebottom gave England a fine start by removing the out-of-form Sanath Jayasuriya (1), who edged a catch to England skipper Paul Collingwood at second slip.
Bresnan added the wicket of Tillakaratne Dilshan (9) and Broad picked up the key scalp of Mahela Jayawardene (10) to leave the Sri Lankans reeling. Dilshan miscued a pull to deep square leg while Jayawardene edged to wicket-keeper Kieswetter.
Offspinner Graeme Swann (1-20) removed captain Kumar Sangakkara (16) to further set the innings back at 47-4 off nine overs, although Angelo Mathews (58) dominated the late overs to reach his first international Twenty20 half-century, off 40 deliveries.
The Seamer, in particular Stuart Broad (2-21) varied their pace well, plenty of making use of slower, short pitched deliveries and the spinners kept the pressure on.
"Full credit goes to the bowlers, who went there out and adapted to the conditions on a slow wicket. I'm delighted with how they performed today. The guys have really been preparing well, analyzing the opposition, and seeing where we can take wickets, "said Collingwood.
Matthews shared a 46-run partnership with Chamara Kapugedera (16) To ensure that Sri Lanka had something to bowl at, although afterwards Sangakkara said they had been around 30 runs short of a truly defendable total.
Though England made short work of their reply - the opening pair of South African born Craig Kieswetter and Michael Lumb put on 68 for the opening wicket in 8.1 overs of batting selective but positive.
That pairing have been absolutely crucial to the transformation from also-rans of England to finalists in this tournament with their confident stroke play Ensuring a strong foundation to the innings.
Kieswetter hit a brisk 39 off 29 balls decorated with five fours and two sixes were flattened before his stumps by a Malinga yorker in the ninth over.
The left-handed Lumb was also bowled for 33 off 26 balls as he moved too far across his stumps to a straight ball from Thisara Perera. He struck four fours and one six during his stay and when he fell off the fourth ball of the 10th over, England were 80-2 in the 10th over and well on their way to victory.
Kevin Pietersen, less than 24 hours after landing back in the Caribbean following his whirlwind round-trip home for the birth of his son, then saw things through with his unbeaten 42 showing no signs of fatigue.
He brought up England's victory With a six and flicked an on-driven boundary off successive deliveries Lasith Malinga, England to carry to 132 With Four overs to spare.
Australia are favorites to beat Pakistan to set up an 'Ashes final' between the game's two traditional test nations, something Collingwood would clearly relish.
"I think everybody would love to see an England-Australia final, but we've got to give Pakistan a lot of respect as well, they are a very good side and we'll be watching the match with interest."
Scoreboard
Sri Lanka won toss
Sri Lanka
D D P M Jayawardene c Kieswetter b Broad 10
S Jayasuriya c Collingwood b Sidebottom T 1
M T Dilshan c Wright b Bresnan 9
* † K. Pietersen c Sangakkara b C Swann 16
A D Mathews run out (Collingwood / Kieswetter) 58
C K Kapugedera c Bresnan b Broad 16
N L T C Perera not out 7
C Jayasinghe U not out 2
Extras (lb1, w7, nb1) 9
Total (6 wickets, 20 overs) 128
Did not bat: S Randiv, S L Malinga, B A W Mendis
Fall: 1-7, 2-20, 3-26, 4-47, 5-93, 6-126
Bowling: Bresnan 4-0-41-1 (4w), Sidebottom 4-0-24-1 (1w), Broad 4-0-21-2 (1NB, 2w), Swann 4-0-20-1, Yardy 4-0-21-0
England
† C Kieswetter b Malinga 39
M J Lumb b Perera 33
P K Pietersen not out 42
* P D Collingwood c Sangakkara b Perera 10
E J G Morgan not out 2
Extras (LB4, w2) 6
Total (3 wickets, 16 overs) 132
Did not bat: LJ Wright, TT Bresnan, MH Yardy, GP Swann, SCJ Broad, RJ Sidebottom
Fall: 1-68, 2-80, 3-113
Bowling: Dilshan 1-0-5-0, Mendis 4-0-19-0, 3-0-27-0 Randiv; Mathews 1-0-10-0, Malinga 4-0-33-1 (2w); Jayasuriya 1-0-15-0, Perera 2-0-19-2
Result: England won by 7 wickets
Man of the match: S C J Broad (England)
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and SJA Taufel (Australia). TV umpire: S J Davis (Australia). Match referee: A G Hurst (Australia)
