GROS-ISLET, St. Lucia, CMC – For different reasons, the first men’s semifinal of the Twenty20 World Cup today at the Beausejour Cricket Ground is special for England and Sri Lanka.

England have never won a World Cup under any format, and they will be hungry to reach the Final on Sunday at Bridgetown to hunt their first.

Sri Lanka, on the other, have lifted a World Cup previously, but they were the runners-up in last year’s T20 World Cup in England, and in the One-day International World Cup staged in the Caribbean three years ago, when Australia pummelled them for a third straight title also at Kensington Oval.

England reached the semifinals, following a three-wicket victory over New Zealand on Monday here, which put them at the top of their Super Eights group.

Paul Collingwood’s side has played confidently, and the only blip on their copybook came in a badly weather-affected match against hosts West Indies, in which they looked set to also win.

“The guys are ready; they are excited,” Collingwood on the eve of the match. “If there was a feeling around the camp that the guys are nervous or anything like that, then maybe something would have to be said.

“But the guys are so focused in the jobs they’ve got to do, roles they’ve got to play. We’ll have a team meeting, but let me tell you, I’m not going to come out with any rip-roaring speech.”

He said: “The guys are just so confident in the jobs they’re doing. We look at areas we can improve, and you can be a little bit pernickety. But we’re confident that if we put similar performances in, we’re going to win.

“We’re not going overboard because we’ve got to give Sri Lanka a lot of respect – they’re a great Twenty20 side – but if we play anything like we can, we’re confident we can win.”

Sri Lanka overcame fellow Asian side India by five wickets, when Chamara Kapugedera lashed a last-ball six on Tuesday, to scrape into the semi-finals.

Their chances had appeared slim, following an 81-run defeat to Australia in their previous Super Eight match, but their victory over Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side, and West Indies’ capitulation to the Aussies in the final Super Eight match, opened the door for Kumar Sangakkara and his men.

“We put ourselves in a hole after the Australian game,” said Sangakkara. “Even if we had lost, and maintained a good run-rate, we would still have loved to win.

“We had different options in play. After that game it was just about going out and try to win a game.”

He said: “It’s been good for Sri Lanka, we’ve managed to do well, and hold our own in big tournaments. Hopefully, in our game against England we can maybe convert that into another win and another final.

“Hoping, wishing, and wanting is one thing, but actually doing it is another. We’ve got a lot of preparation to do, and then to execute that on the field.”

Sri Lanka have won the only T20 encounter these two sides have played before, when they prevailed by two runs in another last-ball thriller four years ago in Southampton, England.
Collingwood admitted that Sri Lanka are one of the most unorthodox sides in the World, and this makes it hard to plan for them at times.

“The one thing Sri Lanka have got is that they are quite unorthodox in terms of a lot of the bowlers,” he said.

“That is something the batters will have to come up against. But we have a lot of strength in our side now, so as much as we will prepare for Sri Lanka and the kind of unorthodox styles that they do have we also have to remember our strengths as well.”

Sangakkara acknowledged that England have a lot more balance than they have ever had before.

“A lot more depth, a lot of all-rounders,” he said. “We know what they can do, and what they are capable of doing.

“We are trying to concentrate a lot on what we do best and how we can get England reacting to us with our bowling, our field placings, and our batting. It’s going to be about how we exploit the conditions to our strengths.”

For England, Kevin Pietersen returns, following the birth of his first child, and will replace Ravi Bopara, but there is not likely to be many other changes, even though fast bowler James Anderson is yet to play.

Sri Lanka made three changes for the previous match, including dropping mystery spinner Ajantha Mendia, and it is likely they would tinker again to find the right combination.
Squads:
ENGLAND: Paul Collingwood (captain), James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Craig Kieswetter, Michael Lumb, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Ajmal Shahzad, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy
SRI LANKA: Kumar Sangakkara (captain), Dinesh Chandimal, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Suraj Randiv, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Thisara Perera, Thilan Thushara, Chanaka Welegedara
UMPIRES: Aleem Dar, Simon Taufel
TV UMPIRE: Steve Davis
MATCH REFEREE: Alan Hurst
RESERVE UMPIRE: Rudi Koertzen