Buttler brutality consumes Sri Lanka as England advance

Jos Buttler's late carnage and Sri Lanka's crumbling top-order ensured England recorded a 10-run victory at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi on Saturday (March 26) despite a near-heroic batting effort from Angelo Mathews who dragged the game till the final over with his commendable, unbeaten essay off 73 from just 54 deliveries. The victory takes England to the last-four and brings down the curtains on Sri Lanka and South Africa's campaign.

After Joe Root and Jason Roy set England up, Buttler entered the stage and set it on fire with a 37-ball knock of 66, that included eight fours and two sixes. The big-hitting Englishman pleased the Delhi crowd by flexing his muscles and, in the process, gave a glimpse of what he will bring to the table in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Mumbai Indians, who snapped him up for INR 3.8 crore in the player auction.

A determined Mathews was in no mood to throw in the towel and sent the England spinners on a leather hunt as he carted sixes at will. His vision and intention to pull off an exceptional run-chase was shared well by Chamara Kapugedara and Thisara Perera but the poor start by the top-order meant they were left far too many to get in the end.

Opting to field on winning the toss, Mathews shared the new ball with Rangana Herath, as the 38-year-old wily spinner opened up Alex Hales with his first delivery, from round the stumps, that held its line. The England opener, who returned to the side after nursing a back injury, was trapped leg before in the same over and trudged back to the hut for a four-ball duck.

Root and Roy came together to ride the spin wave as Mathews unleashed Jeffrey Vandersay, the leg spinner, from the other end. Roy particularly looked all at sea against the fuller deliveries bowled stump-to-stump and the many variations, but survived, to put away balls that offered him a bit of room to chance his arms. The spinners operated on a very small margin of error as Roy used his bottom hand well to play late on a few drives through covers.

Roy and Root did well to steer England clear of yet another batting collapse as Sri Lanka continued to knock on the doors for a breakthrough. When it eventually came, both the set batsmen walked back in the space of 17 deliveries, falling to Vandersay.

England then saw a brief lull of two overs as Sri Lanka looked to tighten the screws further. To keep out hitters of Buttler and Eoin Morgan's reputation, however, was not going to be straightforward. Morgan took Thisara Perera apart in an over that produced 16 runs while Buttler carted three successive boundaries off Chameera as England turned the tables on Sri Lanka again.

Buttler was particular merciless as the Sri Lankan pacers erred in their quest to dish out yorkers and offered full tosses instead. Dasun Shanaka, who was picked ahead of Nuwan Kulasekara, offered two more and the willow was dutifully wielded to great effect. The first was whacked over extra cover for four while the second was sent soaring over long off for a six, allowing Buttler to bring up a 28-ball fifty. Buttler finished on a 37-ball 66 as England smashed 72 runs off the last 30 deliveries to post a daunting target for the defending champions.

Sri Lanka's chase was soon in disarray as David Willey sent Tillakaratne Dilshan packing in the first over, and three more wickets fell inside the batting powerplay. Sri Lanka's batting woes, that Dinesh Chandimal highlighted as a concern in the pre-match press conference, continued as the onus fell on the shoulders of Mathews and Chamara Kapugedara.

The experienced duo arrested Sri Lanka's slide, ticking along while the four fast bowler operated, and then shifting gears as soon as Adil Rashid came on to bowl. The leg-spinner was at the receiving end of a two-way assault as he conceded four sixes - three to Mathews and one to Kapugedara - in the two overs he bowled. Liam Plunkett returned for his second spell and broke the partnership by dismissing Kapugedara for a 27-ball 30 and pegged Sri Lanka's chase back.

Thisara Perera, a reputed willow-swinger, joined his skipper and wasted no time in nudging the pressure back onto England as he went after Moeen Ali's off-spin. With the equation down to 66 off the last six overs, Willey returned for his third over and put a lid on all the six-hitting. Just five came off his over as Mathews seemed to be struggling with a hamstring. However, it was a night when his steely resolve was unmatched. His feet weren't moving but his bat swung enough for him to welcome Ali's second over with two successive sixes. Two balls later, Perera made it three in the over as the two dwarfed the equation down to 40 off the last four overs.

Jordan returned to the attack and removed Perera but Dasun Shanaka walked out with similar vigour to cart Willey, England's best bowler of the night, for a six and four as the equation narrowed down to 22 off 12 balls.

There was more drama in store as Joe Root pulled off a blinder at mid-off to send a streaky Shanaka packing in the penultimate over. Jordan doubled that effort up with an inch-perfect yorker that disturbed Herath's furniture. With 15 to get off the final six, a hamstrung Mathews was cramped for room exceptionally by Ben Stokes, who unfurled yorkers and low full tosses, and took his team to a narrow 10-run win.

Brief scores: England 171/4 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 66*, Jason Roy 42, Jeffrey Vandersay 2-26) beat Sri Lanka 161/8 in 20 overs (Angelo Mathews 73*, Chamara Kapugedera 30, Chris Jordan 4-28) by 10 runs