Defending champions England was knocked out of the T20 World Cup after they were thrashed by a clinical Sri Lanka in the last match of Group 1.

Batting first, Sri Lanka rode on some useful knocks by their batters and posted a challenging target of 170. In reply, English batters never looked comfortable against the Lankans bowling and lacked intent. They were couple of good knocks, but then that was not enough and eventually lost the match by 19 runs.

Here are some of the hits and flops of the match:

Sri Lanka:

Mahela Jayewardene:  Mahela Jayewardene opening the batting led the Sri Lankan innings from the front and scored 42 off 38 deliveries including five fours and a six. He played beautifully, maneuvered the ball very well and kept English players on their toes.

Angelo Matthews: Sri Lanka at one point were cruising but then two quick wickets by Graeme Swann halted their run charge. It was Angelo Matthews quick fire innings during the later stages helped Sri Lanka reach an imposing target. He scored 28 off 19 deliveries that included three fours and a six.

Thisara Perera: The burly all-rounder led a late charge and scored 26 off 16 deliveries laced with couple of sixes to help Sri Lanka sign off their innings on a high note.

Lasith Malinga: Malinga was the wrecker- in- chief for Sri Lanka in the match. He rattled England’s top order and picked up three wickets in his first over. And then later on in the innings, he came back to haunt them and stop their charge. He ended with career best figures of 5-31.

Flops:

Ajantha Mendis: After taking a six wicket haul in opening game of the tournament, Mendis has looked pretty average. And in yesterday’s match, when all the bowlers bowled a tight line, he was busy giving away runs. He was carted for 40 runs in his spell of four overs.

England:

Samit Patel: Patel had a bad outing with the ball but batted beautifully to keep England’s hopes alive in the match. Wicket were tumbling at the other end but then he held on to his nerves and scored 67 off 48 deliveries, He hit eight fours and a couple of sixes.

Graeme Swann: Graeme Swann made a late assault on Sri Lanka and was looking good but then ran out of steam eventually. He scored a quickfire 34 off 20 deliveries that included four boundaries and a six. And while bowling, Swann took two wickets by giving away just 26 runs.

Stuart Broad: The skipper led their bowling attack and accounted for three wickets. He was very intelligent and hardly bowled any loose deliveries. He took three wickets by giving away just 32 runs off four overs.

Flops:

Jade Dernbach: Jade Dernbach being one of the best bowlers in the side was expected to bowl lot more responsibly. But then he could never find his rhythm and was carted for runs all over the park. He gave away 42 runs in four overs and ended wicketless.

By Indian Sports News Network