England alive at World Cup but drama not over yet

CHENNAI, India:Somehow, England are still alive in the World Cup, but the drama may not be over yet.

England ended their Group B campaign with a now-customary late scramble to remain in contention with an 18-run win over West Indies on Thursday.

Andrew Strauss's team hopes the upset losses which have complicated their progression - and left their fate still hanging - don't strike the likes of South Africa and India.

If an under-strength South Africa lose to Bangladesh today in Dhaka and an under-pressure India fall to West Indies tomorrow in Chennai, England will almost certainly be sent home from the World Cup and all the great escapes will have been for nothing.

Only a heavy defeat for India in that scenario would save England on run rate - and send the co-host packing instead.

It's finally out of England's nervous hands after a hair-raising run where the team lost games it should have won and somehow saved games seemingly beyond them to finish the group stage with three wins, two losses and a tie.

"We have obviously got to rely on the other results going our way and if we do progress in this tournament, we have got to be a lot better than we have been,'' Captain Strauss said. "We are not going to hide behind the fact that we won (versus West Indies).

And England are still in it, with only an unlikely slip by both the proteas and pre-tournament favourite India enough to bring the rollercoaster ride to a sudden, shuddering halt.

England have had a testing time off the field, with Kevin Pietersen, Stuart Broad and Ajmal Shahzad ruled out of the World Cup with injury - Shahzad on the morning of the crucial West Indies match.

battles with illness

Strauss and key spinner Graeme Swann have both struggled with illness, stalwarts James Anderson and Paul Collingwood have lost form badly and were dropped, and the squad is feeling the draining effects of a long, long time on tour. England have been playing near-constant cricket since its build-up to the Ashes in Australia began five months ago.

But those struggles have been nothing compared with the trials on the pitch.

England had a huge scare in their first World Cup game against Netherlands, rallied from a seemingly no-win position for a tie with India, lost from a near-unbeatable position to Ireland, squeezed home with little to spare after a batting collapse against South Africa and then self-destructed in Bangladesh.

On Thursday, with elimination so close when the West Indies needed just 22 with wickets and overs in hand - England lifted themselves again and suddenly rattled off the final four wickets in another nerve-jangling end.

SCOREBOARDS

CALCUTTA, India:

Scoreboard after Ireland's six-wicket win over Netherlands Friday in the World Cup Group B match at the Eden Gardens:

Netherlands Innings

E. Szwarczynski c N. O'Brien b Johnston 1W. Barresi lbw b Stirling 44T. Cooper c Porterfield b Rankin 5R. ten Doeschate c Mooney b Stirling 106A. Kervezee c K. O'Brien b Mooney 12P. Borren c Porterfield b Mooney 84A. Buurman run out 26M. Bukhari run out 11P. Seelaar run out 0A. Raja run out 0B. Loots not out 0Extras: (1b, 8lb, 5w, 3nb) 17

Total: (all out) 306

Overs: 50; Batting time: 234 minutes.

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-12, 3-53, 4-113, 5-234, 6-287, 7-305, 8-305, 9-305, 10-306.

Bowling: Boyd Rankin 9-0-74-1 (3nb, 3w), Trent Johnston 10-1-50-1, John Mooney 10-0-59-2, George Dockrell 3.4-0-15-0, Paul Stirling 10-0-51-2, Alex Cusack 2.2-0-15-0, Kevin O'Brien 5-0-33-0 (2w).

Ireland Innings

W. Porterfield c Buurman b Cooper 68P. Stirling c Kervezee b Seelaar 101E. Joyce b Buurman b Cooper 28N. O'Brien not out 57G. Wilson c Buurman b Ten Doesche 27K.n O'Brien not out 15Extras: (10lb, 1w) 11Total: (for four wickets) 307

Overs: 47.4; Batting time: 204 minutes.

Fall of wickets: 1-177, 2-179, 3-233, 4-279.

Did not bat: Alex Cusack, Trent Johnston, John Mooney, George Dockrell, Boyd Rankin.

Bowling: Mudassar Bukhari 7-0-42-0, Adeel Raja 8-1-44-0, Bernard Loots 2-0-29-0, Ryan ten Doeschate 9-1-58-1 (1w), Pieter Seelar 9.4-1-55-1, Peter Borren 5-0-38-0, Tom Cooper 7-1-31-2.

Result: Ireland won by six wickets.

Toss: Ireland

Umpires: Billy Doctrove, West Indies, and Ian Gould, England.

TV umpire: Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lanka. Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle, Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka vs New Zealand

MUMBAI, India: Scoreboard after Sri Lanka's 112-run win over New Zealand in Friday's World Cup Group A match at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium:

Sri Lanka Innings

U. Tharanga run out 3T. Dilshan c Oram b Southee 3K. Sangakkara b N. McCullum 111M. Jayawardene lbw b Southee 66A. Mathews not out 41T. Samaraweera c B. McCullum b Styris 5C. Silva c & b N. McCullum 3N. Kulasekara c Guptill b Southee 1L. Malinga c B. McCullum b Oram 6M. Muralitharan run out 7A. Mendis not out 0Extras: (4lb, 12w, 3nb) 19

Total: (for nine wickets) 265

Overs: 50. Batting time: 235 minutes.

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-19, 3-164, 4-210, 5-219, 6-224, 7-232, 8-239, 9-260.

Bowling: Tim Southee 10-0-63-3 (5w), Jacob Oram 10-1-57-1 (1nb,1w), Hamish Bennett 4.1-0-16-0 (1nb,1w), Jesse Ryder 3.5-0-18-0 (1nb,1w), James Franklin 3-0-11-0, Scott Styris 8-0-44-1, Nathan McCullum 10-0-48-2, Kane Williamson 1-0-4-0.

New Zealand Innings

M. Guptill lbw b Kulasekara 13B. McCullum c Jayawardene b Mathews 14J. Ryder c Sangakkara b Mendis 19R. Taylor lbw b Muralitharan 33K. Williamson st Sanga b Muralitharan 5S. Styris c & b Muralitharan 6J. Franklin c Dilshan b Muralitharan 20N. McCullum c Jayawardene b Dilshan 4J. Oram not out 20T. Southee lbw b Mendis 8H. Bennett b Malinga 0Extras: (4lb, 6w, 1nb) 11

Total: (all out) 153

Overs: 35.

Batting time: 173 minutes.

Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-33, 3-82, 4-88, 5-93 6-102, 7-115 8-129, 9-144, 10-153.

Bowling: Lasith Malinga 5-0-38-1 (3w), Nuwan Kulasekara 7-0-19-1 (2w), Angelo Mathews 3-0-19-1, Ajantha Mendis 6-0-24-2 (1w), Tillakaratne Dilshan 6-0-24-1, Muttiah Muralitharan 8-0-25-4 (1nb).

Result: Sri Lanka won by 112 runs.

Toss: Sri Lanka.

Umpires: Richard Kettleborough, England and Asad Rauf, Pakistan.

TV umpire: Amiesh Saheba, India. Match referee: Andy Pycroft, Zimbabwe.