SYDNEY: Sri Lanka coach Chris Silverwood said on Saturday he took a lot of positives from the Twenty20 World Cup after his side’s narrow loss to England in Sydney, but admitted there were areas to work on.

His young team only defeated sides in Australia they were expected to beat — Netherlands, UAE, Ireland and Afghanistan — while losing heavily to New Zealand and Australia. But they ended their campaign by pushing England hard and Silverwood was content.

“Disappointed at losing today, but I did see a lot of character from my boys out there,” said the former England coach. “We were finding ways of getting into the game and we pushed England.”

Silverwood’s side came into the tournament after winning the Asia Cup in the UAE in September. “The methods that we put in place which started in the white ball series in Sri Lanka before we went to the Asia Cup, [we] can see things progressing,” he said.

Standings

(Tabulated under played, won, lost, no result, points, net run-rate):

Group 1:

New Zealand 5 3 1 1 7 2.113

England 5 3 1 1 7 0.473

Australia 5 3 1 1 7 -0.173

Sri Lanka 5 2 3 0 4 -0.422

Ireland 5 1 3 1 3 -1.615

Afghanistan 5 0 3 2 2 -0.571

Group 2:

India 4 3 1 0 6 0.730

South Africa 4 2 1 1 5 1.441

Pakistan 4 2 2 0 4 1.117

Bangladesh 4 2 2 0 4 -1.276

Zimbabwe 4 1 2 1 3 -0.313

Netherlands 4 1 3 0 2 -1.233

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2022