Eoin Morgan: Anything can happen at WT20 now

Omnisports

March 26, 2016 8:55 AM

After England booked their place in the last four of the World Twenty20, Eoin Morgan said: "We'll take a lot of confidence from tonight."

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Eoin Morgan expects England to play with freedom in the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 after they came through an unexpectedly tense Super 10 encounter with Sri Lanka to reach the last four on Saturday.

England appeared set to register a thumping win against the defending champions in Delhi when Sri Lanka slumped to 15-4 in pursuit of 172.

However, a superb counter-attacking innings from Angelo Mathews took the game down to the wire, Sri Lanka's skipper enjoying particular success against spin on his way to 73 not out from 54 balls.

Chris Jordan and Ben Stokes ultimately held their nerve to get England over the line, the former finishing with 4-28 as his fellow death bowler proved economical.

At the post-match presentation, Morgan acknowledged his side had been given a scare, but looked forward to a likely last-four meeting against New Zealand with optimism.

"It was a little tighter than we'd hoped given the position we started from in the first six overs," said Morgan.

"To take three or four wickets as early as we did and put Sri Lanka under pressure was fantastic.

"We'll take a lot of confidence from tonight. To get to the business end of the tournament allows us to play with a bit of freedom. Anything can happen in a semi-final or the final."

Jos Buttler, the star of England's innings with an unbeaten 66, paid tribute to Mathews and Stokes.

"I felt like I played well to get us up to a good score, but yeah, Angelo was chasing it down there," said Buttler.

"It turned out to be a fantastic game. We needed Stokesy to hit that last ball [of England's innings] for six as well. Those things in Twenty20 become huge things and he bowled a fantastic over at the death.

"We set up a really good score and were very confident in defending. We expected it to be more comfortable than that, but we got there in the end.

"We're delighted to get through. A young bunch of guys going to the semi of a World Cup is very exciting."

Omnisports

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