England beat Sri Lanka to make Twenty20 final

England are in the final of the World Twenty20 after brushing aside Sri Lanka with contemptuous ease in St Lucia. Their seven-wicket victory means they will play the winner of tomorrow's semi-final between Pakistan and Australia, and should they win Sunday's final in Barbados it will be England's first success in a major tournament in any format.

Once again it was an excellent all-round display by the Englishmen in an almost flawless performance with bat and ball. One Tim Bresnan over apart – which went for 17 runs and included three wides – England barely put a foot wrong and Sri Lanka crumbled in the face of the suffocating pressure.

Their skipper Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and chose to bat first, and he was soon ruing his decision as one by one his batsmen trooped back to the pavilion.

With the wicket at the Beausejour Stadium playing slow but sure the Sri Lankans should have been capable of compiling a big score in their 20 overs, but the English bowling quartet of Ryan Sidebottom, Stuart Broad, Grahame Swann and Michael Yardy conceded just 86 runs in 16 overs. Only Bresnan proved expensive, going for 41 runs in his four overs, but nonetheless he took the wicket of dangerman Tillakaratne Dilshan when he had made just 9.

Only youngster Angelo Mathews stood up to the England attack, striking 58 in 45 balls before the 22-year-old was run out at the death. But Sri Lanka knew their total of 128-6 would require a special bowling display if they were to prevent England reaching the final.

As it was Sri Lanka never managed to peg back England as they spilled catches and missed run outs. And even when Mathews had Craig Kieswetter plumb LBW in the fourth over, umpire Simon Taufel shook his head.

The Englishman capitalised on his good fortune to share an opening stand of 68 with Michael Lumb. Both men went in quick succession, first Kieswetter for 39 and then Lumb for 33, followed by skipper Paul Collingwood for 10. But Kevin Pietersen (above), back in the Caribbean after a dash back to England to be present at the birth of his first child, was at his swaggering best, smashing 42 in 26 balls to send England cruising into Sunday's final with four overs to spare.

Afterwards a glum Sangakkara admitted his side had been beaten all ends up, saying: "We didn't start off too well. Angelo Mathews tried to get us to a good total but it was way too short. Anything over 150 we would have done well to defend - so we were 30 runs too short." Asked to assess England's chances in the final, the Sri Lanka skipper said Collingwood's men "have a great chance... they have great balance and great depth".

Collingwood himself is worried he's running out of superlatives to describe his side's wonderful cricket in the West Indies. "I'm going to sound like a broken record here but full credit to our bowlers again," he  said.

"We lost the toss and adapted to conditions on a slow wicket and put them under pressure. I'm delighted with how they performed." And as for their opponents on Sunday, Collingwood made no secret of who his boys want to play. "Everyone would love to see an England versus Australia final." ·