Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara said the team had no-one else to blame but themselves after a seven-wicket World Twenty20 semifinal loss to England here on Thursday.
Last year’s losing finalists were all but out of the game after being restricted to 128/6, having lost their first three wickets inside five overs after Sangakkara won the toss at the Beausejour Stadium.
“In the first six overs if we’d got 40 runs with wickets in hand we could have accelerated through the middle but we lost three wickets early,” Sangakkara, who himself only made 16, said.
“Angelo Mathews played very well but we didn’t bat smartly today.”
Sri Lanka were particularly perplexed by the England seamers’ use of the slow, looping bouncer. “Everyone has those sorts of deliveries these days but it’s how you use them that counts and I thought England did that very well,” Sangakkara said.
Veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya made just one on Thursday to complete a poor tournament for the left-hander, who finished the World T20 with just 15 runs from six innings. But Sangakkara refused to say whether the 40-year-old, the oldest player at this event, had represented Sri Lanka for the last time.
“Unfortunately he didn’t have a great run but to his credit he stuck with the team through a difficult period and the team stuck with him,” Sangakkara said. “He showed a lot of support. He didn’t deliver but we still had more than enough quality to do better than we did today (Thursday), he added.” — AFP