World T20 Champs, Second Round, Oct 22 - Nov 13

[bigfluffylemon]

Sri Lanka off to a bit of a flyer, England haven't coined the right line at all. Need to take the pace off a bit.

[Durhamfootman]

after a blistering start that saw England knock off half the required runs in the power play, they have now inevitably found their reverse gear again

it shouldn't matter, with the required rate around 6, but another couple of wickets might get the Jonny Fartpants clouds coming out of the backs of the players trousers

[Durhamfootman]

and straight away Brook falls

[Durhamfootman]

followed by 2 more as England continue their quest to try and stumble over the finish line

assuming they get there, it won't be the statement win it looked like it was going to be

[Durhamfootman]

they've hit one boundary in the last 6 overs, btw

it's just as well that Buttler and Hales only left them an RRR of 5 an over, because that's pretty much all they've got in them when they chase


and they aren't there yet. I can see them needing 8 or10 off the last over, despite only needing 15 off the last 3

[Durhamfootman]

5 needed off the last over

2 boundaries hit since the end of the power play

The Daily Star will need another wet lettuce to compare with England's batting

[Arthur Crabtree]

Presume Malan is injured. Otherwise it's odd be's not batting.

[Durhamfootman]

Woakes hits a 4 to secure the limpiest of limp finishes

I rather imagine he was only able to do that because every fielder was in tight and he only had to miss one of them

[Durhamfootman]

still..... it don't matter how you get there, they'll say

Better win the toss in the SF or this lot will be going home

[Durhamfootman]

It's hard to believe that with half the runs knocked off in the first 6 overs, it then took another 14 overs to collapse in a heap 1mm over the finish line

[Arthur Crabtree]

Shame the Aussies got eliminated on NRR.

Expect SA and India will prefer to play England, rather than NZ.

[Durhamfootman]

A new match, a new start, of course, and anything can happen in the knock outs, but if England lose the toss and have to chase, this match will have further dented any small confidence they might have had chasing anything other than a tiny target

[Durhamfootman]

and where on earth was Malan in the batting order. Did he get injured in the first half, or are England just being bloody stupid again?

If he doesn't bat at 3 then he hasn't got a place in the side imo, and England should be picking someone else. Stokes can do the sucking the life out of a run chase role equally as effectively

[Durhamfootman]

I'm not having a go at Stokes, btw, he got England over the line and did whatever it took to get there, but every other batter in the side below him need to take a long hard look at themselves. Underwhelming ain't in it

[Durhamfootman]

still.... the Aussies have been limp lettuced out of the competition, so something to celebrate at least