Sri Lanka hand England crushing defeat

BENGALURU: England's reign as the 50-over World Cup champion sunk into serious jeopardy as resolute fifties by Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama along with a set of on-the-money bowlers spurred tenacious Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket victory in Bengaluru on Thursday.

England, opting to bat first, suffered a baffling batting implosion and were bundled out for a paltry 156, courtesy the five wickets shared among themselves by comeback man Angelo Mathews (2/14) and impressive Lahiru Kumara (3/35).

Despite losing a couple of early wickets, Sri Lanka confidently finished their chase as Nissanka (77 off 83 balls) and Samarawickrama (65 off 54 balls) led the process with an unbroken 137-run stand for the third wicket.

With just two points from five matches, England retain a mere theoretical chance to make it to the semifinals, while the Islanders, who now have four points, can eye a few stronger outings in the remaining four matches.

England might have hoped for a miracle when they dismissed opener Kusal Perera and Lankan captain Kusal Mendis through left-arm pacer David Willey to reduce their opponents to 23 for 2.

But Nissanka and Samarawickrama, two of SL's best ODI batters this year, combined to produce a solid partnership to ease Lanka's nerves.

Nissanka brought up his fifty, his fourth in the tournament, with a flowing cover drive off pacer Mark Wood and Samarawickrama reached his second half-century of this edition with a wristy single to mid-wicket off Chris Woakes.

But otherwise, the Lankans batted within themselves and gathered runs in a determined fashion to keep England bowlers at bay. And England lacked determination on the day. It was just a matter of a couple of batsmen sticking out in the middle for the Three Lions to reach a far better and competitive total.

But none barring Ben Stokes (43) and Dawid Malan (28) did not even remotely attempt to bat with purpose for a team that was playing in a must-win match. Agencies

SCOREBOARD

ENGLAND:

Jonny Bairstow c de Silva b Rajitha 30

Dawid Malan c Mendis b Mathews 28

Joe Root run out (Mendis) 3

Ben Stokes c (sub) Hemantha b Kumara 43

*Jos Buttler c Mendis b Kumara 8

Liam Livingstone lbw b Kumara 1

Moeen Ali c Perera b Mathews 15

Chris Woakes c Samarawickrama b Rajitha 0

David Willey not out 14

Adil Rashid run out (Mendis) 2

Mark Wood st Mendis b Theekshana 5

Extras: 7; Total: 156-10 (33.2)

FOW:Malan (45-1, 6.3), Root (57-2, 9.4), Bairstow (68-3, 13.2), Buttler (77-4, 14.5), Livingstone (85-5, 17), Ali (122-6, 24.4), Woakes (123-7, 25.5), Stokes (137-8, 30.1),Rashid (147-9, 31.5), Wood (156-10, 33.2)

Bowling:

Dilshan Madushanka 5 0 37 0

Kasun Rajitha 7 0 36 2

Maheesh Theekshana 8.2 1 21 1

Angelo Mathews 5 1 14 2

Lahiru Kumara 7 0 35 3

Dhananjaya de Silva 1 0 10 0

SRI LANKA:

Pathum Nissanka not out 77

Kusal Perera c Stokes b Willey 4

*Kusal Mendis c Buttler b Willey 11

Sadeera Samarawickrama not out 65

Extras: 3; Total: 160-2 (25.4)

FOW:Perera (9-1, 1.5), Mendis (23-2, 5.2)

Bowling:

Chris Woakes 6 0 30 0

David Willey 5 0 30 2

Adil Rashid 4.4 0 39 0

Mark Wood 4 0 23 0

Liam Livingstone 3 0 17 0

Moeen Ali 3 0 21 0

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