Hales century propels England past SLanka in T20
CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Alex Hales cracked a career-best 116 not out as England ran down Sri Lanka by six wickets with four balls to spare in another gripping World Twenty20 match on Thursday.
Hales' 64-ball knock, the first century by an England player in T20s, also earned England's highest chase win in a T20 as they zoomed to 190-4 in response to Sri Lanka's daunting 189-4.
After Sri Lanka had England 0-2, Hales and Eoin Morgan combined for a record third-wicket stand of 152. Morgan made 57 off 38 balls.
Coming off a duck in his last outing in the loss to New Zealand, Hales struck 11 fours, and his sixth and last six legside off Angelo Mathews fittingly won the match.
England's first win of the tournament kept it in semifinal running, while Sri Lanka's first loss in three matches left it leading Group 1 on run difference over South Africa, which beat the Netherlands by six runs earlier.
Nuwan Kulasekara's double strike in the first over of the innings dented England's chase but Hales and Morgan revived the innings.
They picked on spinner Ajantha Mendis, who was largely rendered ineffective by the considerable amount of dew. Hales and Morgan scored 25 runs off his last over, the 15th of the innings, that tilted the match towards England. Hales hit three sixes and one four in that over.
Kulasekara returned and again picked up two wickets in an over, removing Morgan and Jos Buttler for 2. Morgan hit seven fours and two sixes.
But Hales was unstoppable. He struck consecutive sixes off Kulasekara, whom the England batsmen found tough to deal with, as England surpassed its previous best chase of 181-4 against India in 2012.
Kulasekara grabbed a career-best 4-32.
Earlier, Mahela Jayawardene hit 89 and Tillakaratne Dilshan made 55 for Sri Lanka.
Jayawardene and Dilshan added 145 for the second wicket, aided by the England fielders, who dropped several chances.
Jayawardene could have been out off the first ball he faced from Dernbach. Michael Lumb dived forward at full length to intercept it before it hit the turf. He claimed a catch but Jayawardene felt it bounced. The replay was inconclusive.
He was let off twice more on 21 and 80 off Tim Bresnan and Dernbach.
Dilshan was also put down on 21 as Bresnan failed to hold the catch off Stuart Broad. After being reprieved, he played scoop shots to further unsettle the England bowling attack.
Jayawardene played sweep shots at will until Chris Jordan produced a beauty to crash his wicket. Jayawardene smashed 11 fours and three sixes off 51 balls.
Dilshan hit four fours and two sixes in his 47-ball knock.
Jordan and Dernbach claimed two wickets apiece.
