ANTIGUA: CRICKET: The captains of Sri Lanka and England discuss today's match in Antigua

Sri Lanka pulled off a dramatic two-run World Cup victory over England after young batsman Ravi Bopara was dismissed off the last ball having almost snatched the Super Eights game on Wednesday (April 4) at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. Sri Lanka's second victory in their third Super Eights match gave them six points and left them on the verge of a semi-final berth while England have just two points from two games with four left to play. Sri Lanka fast bowler Dilhara Fernando bowled England's 21-year-old Ravi Bopara with three runs needed off the final delivery to leave England stranded on 233 for eight chasing Sri Lanka's 235 all out. Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene commented on how the match almost slipped away. "When they batted up to the fourty-fifth, fourty-sixth over I obviously knew that if the two batsmen would manage to drag the game up to that point and they could take chances which they promptly did against Murli who was sweeped for a six and a boundary, he said. But the Sri Lankan bowlers kept their poise, Obviously at that stage, I knew it was going away from us but I thought Mali bowled a brilliant fourty-ninth over that probably changed the game for four or five runs scored the wicket. I think that set it up nicely, and obviously I'll go for my go-to-guy I mean Dilhara bowled really well today. Englands Bopara, whose selection had been questioned, proved to be the man of the match and made the final overs a struggle for the Sri Lankan bowlers. He smashed 52 off 53 balls after a brilliant chase with wicketkeeper Paul Nixon (42), the duo adding 87 runs for the seventh wicket. Bopara took a four, two and a single off three successive deliveries to leave England needing four off the last two. Bopara, in only his fifth appearance for England, also displayed maturity by refusing to criticise Fernando for stopping his run up on the last ball, as if to put the England man off. "I'm not sure what he was trying to do. I can't stop him from stopping. At the end of the day I was just thinking about what I was trying to do, he said. England skipper, Michael Vaughn, praised his sides performance. I feel we played a good game. I think not many people gave us any chance of turning up today and putting in a performance, he said. The way that Ravi played and Paul Nixon in that partnership, to get so close we thought we were going to get over the line in that last over but it wasn't to be. But the players can be very proud of the way they played today. England probably now have to beat defending champions Australia on Sunday or top-ranked South Africa on April 17 to have a realistic chance of making the semi-finals.

ITN Source | April 6, 2007

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