Sunday 30 October 2011

England into to Hong Kong Sixes Final



England have reached the final of the Hong Kong Sixes after beating Sri Lanka in the Semi Final by 7 runs.

The Sri Lankan captain Chamara Kapugedera won the toss and elected to field first. Darren Stevens and Chris Read once again opened the batting and once again got their side of to a great start, taking 20 off of the first over which was bowled by Shanaka. Thisara Perera, who played against England this summer, bowled the second over, but was carted around the ground as 23 came off of his over, leaving England on 43-0 after 2. Darren Stevens reached 32, so then had to retire which brought the England skipper to the crease.

RHB and Read continued to hit the boundary taking 16 off of Munaweera's over, but with the score on 60, Read was bowled by Peris for 20. Rikki Clarke joined his captain, but not for long, as in the same over, Hamilton- Brown was caught by Perera for 7. A great over from Peris, taking 2 wickets and conceding just 12. England were on 72 with one over remaining but Rikki Clarke showed what he has shown many times before, taking 29 off of the over, and retiring on 34 off of just 8 balls. England had reached 101-3 and had posted a good score.

Darren Stevens opened the bowling once again and got England off to a fantastic start. He first had Kusal Perera caught by Peter Trego for 0, and followed that up by having Kapugedera caught by Hamilton- Brown for 6. 2 wickets and just 8 runs off of the opening over. Thisara Perera came to the crease and showed what we know he could do, by taking 27 off of Tom Smith's over to get his side back into the game. However, RHB pegged them back again when he had Munaweera caught and bowled for just 2. Perera then had to retire on 31, with Sri Lanka 56-2 off of 3 overs.

Shanaka and Peiris came together in the middle and looked comfortable straight away hitting the ball left, right and centre. They took 22 off of the penultimate over bowled by Rikki Clarke, leaving them 23 to win off of the last over, bowled by Peter Trego. However, Trego kept it tight and only conceded 16 runs, to take England to victory and into the final.

England will play Pakistan in the final after they beat hosts Hong Kong in the other semi by 32 runs. Come back later for a report on that game.

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