We planned to go sight seeing this morning but somehow never quite made it. Down in the coffee shop I had a real Sri Lankan style breakfast of fruit followed by rice and a variety of curries. Simon, however, stuck to eggs and bacon.

It was soon time to make our way to the Premadasa stadium to see England play New Zealand in the semi-final of the ladies competition. We decided to risk taking a 3 wheeler tuk tuk as the cost was less than one fifth the price of taking a hotel car. We picked one up at the gate as the hotel does not allow them inside and were pleased to see that we had one with a meter. The ride was quite an experience and of course, in a small, open vehicle, we were up close to the traffic and fumes, but it was quite good fun and only took around 10 minutes to get to the ground.

On arrival we had to go through similar, basic security measures as in Kandy but in the streets outside the ground. You then had to wander round until you found a gate that was actually open. We found our seating in the un-reserved area and discovered that these are not actually seats as such. They are, in fact, terraced rows of concrete steps, and we found ourselves a spot just out of the sun with a good view sideways on to the wicket. Overall the ground seems to be much better organised than up in Kandy and at least the police spread themselves around and watch the crowd rather than simply huddling together and watching the match like their counterparts up north.

The spectators for the ladies match were very few and far between which was a pity as the standard of cricket was very good. Even better for English pride, our ladies won, scoring a well-deserved victory over their opponents. They were fantastic in the field and (our men's team please take note) very good at batting too.

By the end the crowds were beginning to build up in readiness for the1st men's semi-final which was to be Sri Lanka against Pakistan. It was quite a walk to the beer stand from where we were sitting but that's ok because Simon needs the exercise! By the time the men's match was well underway there was no more question of trying to get back out onto the concourse for drinks, food etc because the seating terraces where we were sitting were packed to capacity with no walkways or space to get past, and impossible to find your way back if, indeed, you did leave for any reason. Luckily the crowd was fairly good natured but I wouldn't like to be one of the opposing team's supporters if Sri Lanka were to lose.

At half time hundreds of people were on the move, trying to get out on to the concourse for drinks so we went along with the flow. We drifted with the flow towards the exit on the lower level, only to found as the crowd approached that the gates were locked and there was no way out which was quite scary with a crush pushing us towards it. We could see people bending down at either side of the gate and squeezing one at a time into what looked like a little tunnel or gap underneath the side. We were being pushed towards it and almost thought to try to go through but claustrophobia kicked in on my part and I just couldn't face it. You couldn't even see where it was leading to so that was that.

We forced our way back through the crowd by the gate and then up through the crowds on the terraces towards an upper exit. Not an easy task but panic was giving me strength and we made it. Even up there the gaps through the gates were very small and hundreds of people pushing through. Down, finally, on the other side of the locked gate on the lower level we could not see any place where the people were managing to squeeze out so very glad we didn't try it.

The thought of trying to force our way back into the seating area to try to see the second half was too much and it would probably have been impossible anyway so we decided to go back to the hotel to watch the remainder in comfort on the big screen. We hailed a metered tuk tuk but, just our luck, he deliberately took us in completely the wrong direction to try to get a bigger fair. He took on the wrong people though and, after much argument, we made him stop so we could get out. A long walk later we picked up another tuk tuk which took us to the right place.

We were in time to see most of the second innings and to see the host nation make it to the final, helped considerably by the umpire making a mistake and gifting them the wicket of one of Pakistan's best batsmen early in the innings.