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4th over: England 38-0 (Buttler 14, Hales 21) Hales drives Lahiru perfectly, like a man in a maths test splitting a circle, two bounces and over the rope. The next is batted for four more. Sri Lanka then have to endure a free hit, which only brings what has a watchword. Buttler pings Lahiru up, up and away, but not long before diving Rajapaksa ends up on the ground looking for rogue potatoes from a torn brown paper bag. Buttler ends the over with a gut punch.
3rd over: England 24-0 (Buttler 11, Hales 12) Buttler is done as a kipper by Maheesh, completely gone as the ball goes over mid-on and into – and out of – Mendis’s gloves. But there is an encouraging response with four on the floor.
A message arrives from Italy. Hi Colum Fordham!:
“Beginning to regret my decision to sign up for a football match in the pouring rain outside Naples when I could have been watching England’s response and enjoying the OBO in the warmth of my own home. So much Well Buttler and co will produce the fireworks I think are in order for November 5.”
2nd: England 15-0 (Buttler 2, Hales 12) Completely distracted by a deluge of emails to EM Foster.
John Starbuck: “I would have thought Oscar Wilde a better choice: ‘languid’ positively reeks of Dorian Gray.”
Tim Sanders: “Hi Tanya, I’m with Robert Lewis in the OBO EM Forster fan club. His characters generally have too much going on beneath the surface to be languid. It’s the Merchant-Ivory films that perhaps improve things a bit. I think Aziz in “A Step into India” is the most likely character to draw the elegant boundaries. Lucy Honeychurch from ‘A Room With A View’ would be busy at the crease and hitting the ball with passion and vigor.”
And Hales smashes the military middle Rajitha for four down the ground, then over extra cover for four more.
England begins its pursuit
1st: England 3-0 (Buttler 1, Hales 2) Tall Maheesh opens Sri Lanka’s account, Hales, wearing a thick black wristband, is rather stuck at the crease at five and –ooof– is – I think – dropped the last ball from Mendis behind the stumps as the ball barely gets off the ground and cuts inelegantly.
@tjaldred hi – following the game from Thingeyri in the Wesfjords region of Iceland… but I was in Reykjavík a couple of weeks ago and stayed only a block from the church. As an Aussie it’s bad to see us probably out of the final but I’ll keep score hopefully… pic.twitter.com/1Iji9hTJas
— scott (@scottp1964) November 5, 2022
Beautiful!
And the players are already out again and I haven’t made another cup of coffee…
“Adil Rashid,” writes Tom Atkins. “Who goes for *sixteen* off a full over in a T20? Absurd.” Too true! 4-0-16-1, if you will. Putting on the breaks when England seemed to be losing their minds.
Adil Rashid had taken 1-168 in 19 overs since England arrived in Australia, but this is a super performance – 1-16 from his four overs, not conceding a boundary and pushing the batsmen to hit on the longer side. But Hasaranga must have looked at him with interest
— Tim Wigmore (@timwig) November 5, 2022
Updated at 09.54 GMT
“Was it my imagination or did Wood shout ‘Ginola’ as he tried to hit the ball on the stumps?” asks Joseph Matthews. Damn, I didn’t get it, but the eagle-eyed/eared OBOs may have…
England need 142 to win and reach the T20 World Cup semi-final in Adelaide.
20th over: Sri Lanka 141-8 ( Chamika Karunaratne 0) And breathe. Rather a wet handshake of an end to Sri Lanka’s innings after being 52 for one after five overs. Three wickets in Wood’s final over, a well-deserved wicket at last for Adil Rashid and a tremendous innings from Pathum, a shame he couldn’t find much support in the end.
WICKET! Maheesh Theekshana c Hales b Wood 0 (Sri Lanka 141-8)
And another, as Maheesh Theekshana takes a big step back and makes a desperate cut at Wood’s last ball, it takes off and Alex Hales is bundled onto the rope.
Updated at 09.39 GMT
WICKET! Wanindu runs out (Wood) 9 (Sri Lanka 141-8)
WAnindu fell short as Sri Lanka took a desperate bye, well collected by Wood at the bowler’s end.
WICKET! Bhanuka c Curran b Wood 22 (Sri Lanka 140-6)
Bhanuka tries to pull Wood but he is done for speed (only 152km/h), Wood hits the top of the bat and the ball goes to Sam Curran at mid off.
19th over: Sri Lanka 134-5 (Bhanuka 18, Wanindu 9) A hit between Wanindu’s ankles off Sam Curran’s fourth ball brings up a boundary, having served three runs off the first four balls. But just eight off the last over and Sri Lanka will be lucky to get to 150 here after a raucous start.
18th over: Sri Lanka 128-5 (Bhanuka 18, Wanindu 1) Five from the over, Mark Wood is incredibly quick and excellent at the death here.
“On behalf of the EM Forster fan club,” writes Robert Lewis, “I object to your description of Over 13. I think F Scott Fitzgerald would have been a more appropriate author to quote here.”
Surely, very languid leaning in a room with a view?
WICKET! Dasun c Buttler b Wood 3 (Sri Lanka 127-5)
Sri Lanka are reeling in the Sydney night as a frustrated Dasun gets a feather in a shot from Wood.
17th over: Sri Lanka 123-4 (Bhanuka 16, Dasun 2) Bye leg, one, one, dot, dot, dot. Sam Curran run, run, tight genius.
16th over: Sri Lanka 120-4 (Bhanuka 13, Dasun 1) Finally a World Cup pitch for Rashid, after a very uncharacteristic fallow. Sri Lanka misses the gas pedal with four overs to go.
Hi Tanya, “Hello Tim Father!”
At the top of Sri Lanka, in an auditorium for presentations about a technology innovation center doing great projects… more than me in the audience checking your coverage, I didn’t realize Guardian cricket was so well thought out . Fella on stage definitely confused by some of the reactions her presentation is getting.”
Well that’s good news! Hello everyone at the Tech Innovation Showcase in Sri Lanka, thanks for tuning in.
wicket! Pathum c Jordan b Rashid 67 (Sri Lanka 118-4)
The end of a brilliant innings, cleverly caught by Chris Jordan, passed to the injured Dawid Malan (what a sub he has) who sprinted from the ropes.
Malan’s injury
15th over: Sri Lanka 116-3 (Pathum 66, Bhanuka 13) Dawid Malan limps off the field after tweaking his groin and immediately signals to the dressing room. As he makes his slow way around the SCG, Ben Stokes performs a ballet of fielding, sprinting, turning and throwing at full speed, and restricting a potential boundary to one run. Pathan makes the boundary a couple of balls later, through cover as the ball accelerates away from Sam Curran. And an uppercut from Bhanuka to finish off four, effortlessly done.
14th over: Sri Lanka 104-3 (Pathum 60, Bhanuka 7) Rashid may not have been England’s wicket-taking machine in this competition, but another priceless miser around here, shirt off and silent accuracy .
13th over: Sri Lanka 100-3 (Pathum 57, Bhanuka 6) Pancake time: Pathum looks up, lifts his thigh forward and puts Stokes into the stands for six. A few balls later, he leans in languidly, like an EM Forster character, and cuts the ball over the two fielders chasing for four more.
Updated at 09.04 GMT
12th over: Sri Lanka 89-3 (Pathum 50, Bhanuka 2) Spin doing the business here for England after Sri Lanka’s opening attack. Five from Livingstone as Pathum moves to an excellent fifty off just 33 balls.
11th over: Sri Lanka 84-3 (Pathum 47, Bhanuka 0) Great stuff from Stokes: Pitching the ball, just three narrow runs and a wicket.
“Tanya morning.” Hi Simon McMahon! “Whatever happens on the field, the Sri Lankan fans are having an absolute ball it seems. All kinds of face painting, costumes, bands and drums in the stands. Tremendous things. We hope that the game will adjust.”
That’s right, lots of joy all around. And the Sydney sky is now flaming orange. If you’re there, I’m incredibly jealous.
WICKET! Charith c Malan b Stokes 8 (Sri Lanka 84-3)
Ben Stokes hammers the ball down the ground and Charith reaches a calm Malan like you.
10th over: Sri Lanka 78-2 (Pathum 45, Charith 4) And finally the over continues, as it began, with a single on every ball of Moeen Ali’s first over, except the last. And halfway through, Sri Lanka’s momentum has slowed, but they are still in a tasty position.
9.3 overs: Sri Lanka 78-2 (Pathum 45, Charith 4) The ball that sees the Sri Lankans slip away for a run, but they don’t hurt themselves as they hit mid-off in their rush The Docs come out and while the beaters are fixed, they have DRINKS.
9th over: Sri Lanka 75-2 (Pathum 44, Charith 2) – another wicket for Sam Curran in what has been an excellent World Cup – is the second highest wicket-taker. One pocket in the pocket, and only four from the top.
Sorry for being slow on the email front. Tom VD Gucht writes:
“Everyone seems to be talking about how England just have to do enough to win. In my experience, that’s fraught with danger. I remember an essay at university only had a pass or fail grade – the pass grade was about 40% so I called work thinking it would do enough instead of bursting when there were no 2:1’s or even Desmonds on offer. Unfortunately I underestimated what 40% should be and I ended up going below the pass mark, spending the Easter holidays rewriting the damn thing. I’m worried England will do the same and collapse before blowing it with a flurry of wickets when chasing a small score.” .
WICKET! Dhananjaya c Stokes b Curran (Sri Lanka 72-2)
Dhananjaya goes for one more but fails to cross the rope on the short side and Stokes does well, taking it sideways, keeping his feet just on the right side of the boundary.
8th: Sri Lanka 71-1 (Pathum…