Well that was a turnaround. I went to bed all grumpy for nothing.
I guess losing 4 straight against Bangladesh on this vey ground a few months ago was good for New Zealand. Kind of hard to believe they’ve made the semis after losing something like 13 ODIs in a row before the tournament - maybe they’ve got their losses out of the way for the year?
I would love to see Vettori hold that trophy for all he has contributed to NZ cricket.
35/2 in 11 overs. England in trouble.
They really need the luck of the Irish today.
Just read this n Cricinfo:
Mills was fined 60% of his match fee for breaching Article 2.2.4 of the ICC Code of Conduct, which is a Level 2 offence relating to “inappropriate and deliberate physical contact between players”. He was also fined a further 60% of his fee for breaching Article 2.2.11 of the code, a Level 2 offence which relates to conduct that is “contrary to the spirit of the game” or “brings the game into disrepute”.
How do you get fined 120% of your match fee?
And come on Sri Lanka. Dream come true for the sub-continent with all three teams there - if it happens that way. Bangladesh were very unlikely to ever make it.
This is a pretty weak capitulation by England. If no-one tries anything they will lose anyway. Someone has to take some risks.
86/2 in 24. Good recovery. They can still get to about 250-260 if the build on this.
SL have dropped Morgan repeatedly. He’s the only one of our bats that look fluent.
Naturally he’s not English.
Without putting too fine a point on it, not many are. 
Two in two balls. Sri Lanka back on top. Trott is going to be crucial. They finally got Morgan.
Don’t fancy England’s chances here at all - they’re going to have to bowl and field very well.
Murali looks injured…bowled his heart out today though.
230 to get for SL.
The TV guys in the UK keep battering on about the fact that this is a reasonable score - apparently the average first inning score on this ground is less than 200 - which suggests that this is a decent total. The pitch is also quite slow.
Still don’t like it much though - Sri Lanka should knock this off.
Murali is clearly injured. Hobbled in today. Wonder if they will risk him in the semi (should they get there).
Murali is not the force he was a few years ago.
I didn’t see a lot of the England innings- that which I did see didn’t suggest much wrong with the pitch.
How could you ever write England off in this tournament?
131 for nowt.
I confidently predict that England are going to lose this one, definitely. Absolutely. There can be no doubt. It would require a choke of extra-RSA magnitude for us to stand a chance.
Ain’t going to happen.
Is it?
Nope.
bugger!
that is all.
Ah well, the India - Pakistan game is going to be a corker I’m sure.
Well, that got somewhat exciting at the end, but only to see if Tharanga could get his century.
Wow, how many did England need. 350?
Eh, another curb-stomping, but after all the chopping and changing the England team were looking like Theseus’s ship and I for one wasn’t expecting great things.
England missed Kevin Pietersen, Stuart Broad.
So now we have Sri Lanka - New Zealand as the appetiser to the epic Pakistan - India game on Wednesday night.
Some random trivia:
My picks:
New Zealand stumble to a loss in Colombo.
India’s batsmen wilt against Pakistan and the chase goes down to the wire (assuming Pakistan show up with their A game).