Sri Lanka march to semi-finals in style

Sri Lanka 158 for 5 (Dilshan 48, Jayawardene 41*, Sangakkara 35) beat New Zealand 110 (Guptill 43, Mendis 3-9, Udana 2-17) by 48 runs

Ajantha Mendis transformed the game by taking two key wickets in four balls 

Sri Lanka's bowlers once again made up for their batsmen's inability to post a large total by slicing through New Zealand at Trent Bridge, securing a 48-run victory to cement their spot in the semi-finals of the World Twenty20. New Zealand challenged the target of 159 briefly but Ajantha Mendis turned the game Sri Lanka's way by dismissing Ross Taylor and Scott Styris within the space of four balls.

New Zealand began their chase brightly with Aaron Redmond biffing 20 runs off Sanath Jayasuriya's first over, the second of the innings. He blasted the ball past mid-on, carved it over cover, blazed another through extra cover before smacking the final over the long-off boundary. The versatility of the bowling, though, meant New Zealand's batsmen had to keep their wits about them and no one was able to stay long enough to cause significant damage.

Isuru Udana struck first, inducing a top-edge from Brendon McCullum to point before Lasith Malinga suckered Redmond into chipping a slower full toss to square leg. New Zealand, however, were decently placed at 64 for 2 after eight overs. Their position deteriorated rapidly in the next over. Mendis first delivered a wide ball from well behind the crease and had Ross Taylor stumped, he then beat Scott Styris' bat with a carrom ball and knocked off stump out of the ground. New Zealand had slipped to 66 for 4 and never recovered. Only Martin Guptill offered resistance, hitting the ball sweetly down the ground, during his innings of 43. The New Zealand challenge ended when he flat-batted Jayasuriya straight to the fielder at deep square leg.

Sri Lanka's bowlers had once again proved that they could make a fight of what ever total their batsmen gave them to defend. They were given 158 today, thanks to a curiously conventional innings from Tillakaratne Dilshan and substantial contributions from the experienced pair of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.

Daniel Vettori emphasized the importance of separating Sri Lanka's explosive openers early and he sought to do that by opening the bowling with the offspinner Nathan McCullum. The ploy worked immediately for Jayasuriya top-edged an attempted sweep to short fine leg, leaving Sri Lanka on 3 for 1. New Zealand's start grew better when Chamara Silva, who was promoted to No. 3, was caught at mid-on off a leading edge as he tried to close the face against Kyle Mills. Sri Lanka were losing direction at 25 for 2 when Sangakkara joined Dilshan for a 62-run stand for the third wicket. Sangakkara took the initiative, driving Ian Butler to the cover boundary off the front and back foot to begin his innings with consecutive fours. He added a third in the over by edging Butler to third man. Dilshan, who had made a scratchy start, ensured that Sri Lanka cashed in during the last over of the Powerplay. He pulled Mills to the midwicket boundary before cutting him twice through backward point for fours. Sri Lanka scored 24 off the last two Powerplay overs and got the innings back on track, reaching 51 for 2 after six overs. Dilshan, however, played neither the scoop over the wicketkeeper not the reverse swats past short fine leg, shots that have mocked the opposing captain's field placements in this tournament. Instead he resorted to more orthodox strokes - driving Scott Styris' first ball to the cover boundary - before he was caught at cover by Brendon McCullum off Vettori for 48 off 37 balls.

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de Villiers helps South Africa stay unbeaten

South Africa 130 for 5 (de Villiers 63) beat India 118 for 8 (Rohit 29, Botha 3-16, Steyn 2-25) by 12 runs

The real difference between the sides was AB de Villiers, who batted quite magnificently for a 51-ball 63 on a pitch where no other batsman excelled

On a spin-friendly Trent Bridge surface, South Africa's slow bowlers rubbed salt and some spices into India's gaping World Twenty20 wounds, defending a modest total of 130 with consummate ease. The real difference between the sides though was AB de Villiers, who batted quite magnificently for a 51-ball 63 on a pitch where no other batsman excelled. With the ball, Johan Botha took 3 for 16, and was superbly supported by Roelof van der Merwe (1 for 13) as India stumbled from 47 for 0 at the end of the Powerplay overs to 69 for 5.

The two Punjabis, Yuvraj and Harbhajan Singh, briefly floated some hope, but Botha and Dale Steyn snuffed out the challenge to send South Africa through to the semi-final undefeated. They will face Pakistan at the same venue on Thursday. In conditions that could have been anywhere in the subcontinent, India will wonder just how they were so well beaten.

They had started with some panache, as Gautam Gambhir creamed both Steyn and Wayne Parnell through the covers. Soon after, Rohit Sharma took over, clipping both Parnell and Albie Morkel through midwicket to keep well ahead of the asking rate. But as soon as spin was introduced, India fell apart.

Gambhir spooned Botha to deep cover, and Suresh Raina clubbed one straight to long-on. Rohit then miscued a big heave off JP Duminy to point as South Africa restricted the Indians to just 17 from six overs. But the calamity didn't end there. MS Dhoni scratched around for 5 before deciding on a headless-chicken charge down the pitch with Yuvraj not remotely interested. Morne Morkel gathered Mark Boucher's throw and removed the bails.

Yusuf Pathan may have been the scourge of spin in the IPL but he made no impression on this match, popping a van der Merwe delivery to short cover. Yuvraj pulled Steyn for four and went down on bended knee to swipe van der Merwe for six, while Harbhajan wound up and thumped Morne Morkel straight down the ground, but it was all a little too late.

South Africa's innings had followed a similar sort of pattern. None of the other batsmen looked remotely at ease once the pace was taken off the ball, and India's pace bowlers were left to watch from the outfield until Zaheer Khan was called on to complete the innings.

Despite losing Herschelle Gibbs to a inside-edged mow off RP Singh, South Africa had made a dominant start, racing to 44 from the first five overs. Both Graeme Smith and de Villiers cut powerfully, and there was one magnificent straight drive from de Villiers when Ishant Sharma pitched too full. That was enough for Dhoni to decide that his pacemen weren't the answer. Ravindra Jadeja came on and conceded only three in the last of the Powerplay overs, and thereafter Dhoni rotated his slow bowlers rapidly. Rohit, a bit of a bowling star in the IPL, came on, as did Yuvraj, but the breakthrough came courtesy the specialist as Smith top-edged a heave off Harbhajan to square leg. After that, it was a struggle.

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