The whole team contributed to the victory

By Wijedasa Rajapaksha (Politician)
The Sri Lankan team played extremely well with Dilshan and Tharanga contributing the best towards the victory.

When it comes to fielding, at the beginning several catches were missed. But the overall performance was great. If we can learn from these lapses and be cautious, facing New Zealanders would not be a hard task.

By Indu Dharmasena (Actor)

The whole team contributed to the victory and the two excellent cricketers in an exceptional performance.

The few fielding errors took place but that should be mainly due to pressure and excitement. But we will see more winning matches.

By Keheliya Rambukwella (Minister)

The victory on Saturday was a good opening in preparation for winning the final. We have had a problem regarding the middle order, but they will perform at the right time. We also have a good bowling attack compared to other teams. We effectively used four spinners to pressure on the England team and restrict their score.

By Major General Mahinda Hathurisinghe ,Security Forces Commander for Jaffna,

The way the openers performed last night is a clear indication that we are a strong team which can go on to win the finals. We have been able to beat a country that has been good in cricket.
The performance so far shows that we have a talented side to bring back the world cup playing against any team. “Certainly we will win the final”.

By Nimal Mediwaka, Former Deputy Inspector General of Police

We played well against England, but we should not be complacent and take thing easy at the upcoming semi-finals. We have been performing well so to reach the semi-finals and should go on to maintain the same standard.

By Amani Fatima

We have been closely following the Sri Lankan team and they have been entertaining us. Particularly the performance yesterday was one of the best. We have reached the semi finals in a grand way and we wish they will keep up the same standards.

One thing we should remember is not to panic and keep playing the natural game. Sangakkara and his team have been working hard and we are sure they can bring back the world cup to the country.

By Jayantha Amarasinghe (Former Test cricketer / SLC Match Referee):

This was a great win. It was such a great thing to win without losing a wicket. The wicket was bad but it was not at all that worrying. The English after winning the toss misread the wicket. Against spin they lost control of the game. Sri Lanka put a great effort to keep England to a lower total but then again experienced a much bigger issue with the fielding.

Sri Lanka correctly picked the bowlers for the game. England probably over reacted by thinking of the outcomes they experienced at other venues in Asia. Even though they won the toss they failed to post a challenging target. Had they scored something closer to 300, I think with the form of the top order Sri Lanka could still have achieved that without a problem.

By Nizam Jamaldeen (Former national Rugby captain)

“It was a great win with the Sri Lankan openers giving a positive start. We could carry this momentum with the next couple of games and complete with winning the final. Though at start there was a doubt of having a close finish after losing the toss, which itself plays a major role at R Premadasa Stadium yesterday it proved otherwise.

Sri Lankan bowlers handled the situation very well to sustain the English batsmen to a low total. The Sri Lankans were not at their best in fielding yesterday but there are days when teams experience such setbacks. Sri Lanka is a professional side and I think they will come back very strong against New Zealand in the semi-final. But we should be more careful and must not take risks in fielding as yesterday.

By Dinesh Deheragoda (Race driver)

Yesterday’s game went on very well. Sri Lanka set a mark to the rest of the two teams that is New Zealand and the team that we’ll meet in the final. With yesterday’s form Sri Lanka proved that they have the best of possibilities to win the World Cup. It’s important that we rectify the fielding errors that were committed before going into the big games.

It’s important to win the toss but yesterday our bowling was at the best but England couldn’t have gone for the total of 229 not for the bad fielding. That’s an area Sri Lanka will have to look into very seriously before setting off with the rest of the campaign.”

By Sachithra Perera (Leading wicket-taker of 2010/11 school cricket season)

“I think playing three spinners against England was a very good move. It displayed that Sri Lanka are really focused on the tournament. The opening stand between TM Dilshan and Upul Tharanga was a great boost for the batting line up but yesterday’s fielding was really not up to the standard.

Sri Lanka made very good bowling changes, at the correct time and not for the missed catches could have restricted England to a much lower total. We should be more committed in our fielding as there will be no second chances in the rest of the tournament.

Against New Zealand at the semi-final I think we should play the same team as we are playing at the same venue and facing a similar team as England. There is a great possibility of Sri Lanka going it all the way to win the cup if we take things a bit more seriously, especially in fielding.”