Sri Lanka who had never beaten England in the Cricket World Cup were about to change the history. In the first quarter-final of 1996 World Cup, Sri Lankan team crushed England by 5 wickets with more then 9 overs left in the innings.
On 9th March 1996 at Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad, England won the toss and elected to bat first. Sri Lankan bowlers specially spinners had done well to restrict English team for 235 for 8. Philip DeFreitas (67) scored a quick fifty and remained the top scorer for England. Muralidaran, Jayasuriya and Dharamsena picked 2 wickets each.
Sri Lankan team who were on a winning streak, continued the momentum in this match as well. Kaluwitharana was dismissed early but Sanath Jayasuriya was in a different mood and he showed his intention by smashing four consecutive boundaries in the fourth over of the innings bowled by Richard Illingworth. He reached his fifty off just 30 balls and smashed 82 off just 44 deliveries. His 85% of his runs had come in boundaries with 13 fours and three sixes. Jayasuriya was the second Sri Lankan batsman to be dismissed but he had set the platform for his team victory. He was stumped off the bowling of Dermot Reeves.
It was Jayasuriya's day whose allround performance first with the ball (2/46) and then with the bat (82) helped Sri Lanka to enter the semi-final of the World Cup for the first time. He was awarded man of the match for his allround show in the match.
Sahir