Defending champions England are mathematically all but ruled out of the Cricket World Cup as Sri Lanka cruised to an emphatic eight-wicket victory in Bangalore.
Jonny Bairstow (30) and Dawid Malan (28) put on an opening stand of 45 runs after England won the toss and elected to bat, only for a flurry of wickets to dismiss Jos Buttler’s side for just 156 in 33.2 overs in Bangalore.
Ben Stokes top scored with 43 in an innings where six players failed to reach double figures, while Lahiru Kumara (3-35), the returning Angelo Mathews (2-14) and Kasun Rajitha (2-36) Helping England bowl out for their lowest total of an already disappointing tournament.
David Willey (2-30) took two early wickets to briefly raise England’s hopes, before Pathum Nissanka (77 not out) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (65no) fired an unbroken 137-run partnership for the third wicket to take Sri Lanka to a emphatic victory in the 26th over.
England have yet to be officially eliminated from the competition despite having only two points from five matches and being bottom of the table, although they would need to win all four of their remaining matches and for several other results to work in their favor if they have to have any chance of reaching the semi-finals.
How Sri Lanka put England on the brink
England – who made three changes from their record loss to South Africa – were fortunate not to lose a wicket from the opening match as Sri Lanka decided not to review a Madushanka yorker that fell first into Bairstow’s path, with replays showing that this would have continued later. flapping leg stump.
Bairstow and Dawid Malan negotiated a moving new ball to put on 45 for the opening wicket, including 15 from one Rajitha over as they scored quickly on a fast outfield, only for Angelo Mathews to make the breakthrough in his first ODI bowling spell since March 2020 .
Mathews needed just three balls to put Malan (28) behind after a successful review, with England suffering another setback in the 10th when a huge mix-up saw Joe Root (three) sent back by Bairstow as he chased a risky single and was seen running away and trying to dive back into his crease.
Stokes almost knocked one off for extra cover as he struggled for rhythm early in his innings, while Bairstow (30) hacked a long ball from Rajitha to leave a simple take on halfway and captain Jos Buttler (eight) fell to an excellent Mendis -catch. from Kumara and left England languishing at 77-4.
Livingstone (one) lasted just six balls until he was trapped by Kumara, with his immediate assessment unsuccessful, while Moeen Ali (15) offered a brief reprieve with a 37-run stand for the sixth wicket until a loose shot resulted in a routine catch. at backward point.
Samarawickrama at one point produced a brilliant diving catch to dismiss Woakes off Rajitha without scoring, with Stokes’ one-man strike and boundary burst ending when he picked out the sub fielder deep mid-wicket.
Sharp work from Mendis saw Rashid (two) run out at the non-striker’s end after seeing the England batsman come out of his crease, before the Sri Lanka keeper ended the innings with a stump on Theekshana after Wood ( five) had danced. along the wicket.
Willey gave England a strong start as a lead from Perera (four) ran to Stokes at mid-on, while Mendis almost fell with the next ball when his nick just evaded Root at slip and raced for a boundary.
Mendis (11) outpaced Willey to leave a huge catch for Buttler behind the stumps, leaving Sri Lanka 23-2, before Nissanka and Samarawickrama confidently scored a chanceless half-century to push them towards their victory target.
Sri Lanka crossed the 100 mark in the 17th over and brought up their century mark four overs later, before Nissanka secured victory in style when he hit Rashid for a huge six with the fourth ball of the 26th over.
Victory moves Sri Lanka to four points and fifth in the standings, with the top four reaching the semi-finals at the end of the round-robin campaign, while England drop one place to ninth in the ten-team table and their net series sees the percentage – which could determine the qualification – deteriorate to -1.63.
More to follow…
What’s next?
The Cricket World Cup continues on Friday as Pakistan take on South Africa (9am on Sky Sports Cricket, start 9.30am), before Australia take on New Zealand in a double-header on Saturday (5.30am on Sky Sports Cricket, starts 6am) and the Netherlands plays against Bangladesh (9am on Sky Sports Mix, starts 9.30am).
England are next in action against hosts India on Sunday (8am on Sky Sports Cricket, start 8.30am), where defeat will officially end their hopes of qualification. Sri Lanka are next in action on Monday with a must-win match against Afghanistan (8am on Sky Sports Cricket, start 8.30am). Stream the Cricket World Cup and more top sports with NOW.