CWC23 Match 25: Sri Lanka push dismal England closer to World Cup exit

Sri Lanka pushed dismal England to the brink of World Cup elimination on Thursday when they handed the defending champions an eight-wicket thrashing.

Match Summary

England vs Sri Lanka, ICC Cricket World Cup

England 156/10 (33.2 ov)

Sri Lanka 160/2 (25.4 ov)

Result - Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets.

SCORECARD

It was a second win in five games for 1996 champions Sri Lanka.

However, England now have four defeats and just one victory and need to win their remaining four matches to maintain their slender hope of sneaking into the semi-finals.

Chasing just 157 to win, Sri Lanka reached 160-2 with 146 balls to spare thanks to in-form Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama.

Nissanka hit an undefeated 77, his fourth successive fifty at the tournament, off 83 balls with seven fours and two sixes, the second of which ended the contest when he launched Adil Rashid over long-on.

Samarawickrama was 65 not out from 54 balls with seven fours and a six to follow the 108 he made against Pakistan and 91 in the win over the Netherlands.

"It's incredibly tough, an incredibly disappointing tournament. As captain, you feel that a lot," said England skipper Jos Buttler.

"We've been short of our best by a very long way. I'm disappointed for myself and the boys that we've not given a good account of ourselves."

He added: "There's no clear answer. If there was one golden nugget that we're not doing then we'd pick that up."

Earlier Ben Stokes top-scored for England with 43 but even he was unable to perform one of his trademark rescue missions as Sri Lanka ripped through their rivals in just 33.2 overs.

England, who won the toss and chose to bat, started briskly, reaching 45-0 by the seventh over before veteran all-rounder Angelo Mathews struck.

Former skipper Mathews, who was called up to replace the injured Matheesha Pathirana after initially being left out of the 15-man squad, is appearing in his fourth World Cup.

The 36-year-old, bowling in an ODI for the first time since March 2020, had Dawid Malan caught behind after the opener had made 28.

Match Stats

England Fall of wickets: 1-45 (Dawid Malan - 6.3 ov), 2-57 (Joe Root - 9.4 ov), 3-68 (Jonny Bairstow - 13.2 ov), 4-77 (Jos Buttler - 14.5 ov), 5-85 (Liam Livingstone - 16.6 ov), 6-122 (Moeen Ali - 24.4 ov), 7-123 (Chris Woakes - 25.5 ov), 8-137 (Ben Stokes - 30.1 ov), 9-147 (Adil Rashid - 31.6 ov), 10-156 (Mark Wood - 33.2 ov)

Sri Lanka Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Kusal Perera - 1.5 ov), 2-23 (Kusal Mendis - 5.2 ov)

Playing XI

ENGLAND - Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(WK/C), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

SRI LANKA - Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis(WK/C), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madushanka

Match Details

Date - 2023-10-26 08:30:00

Venue - M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

Toss - England elected to bat

Umpires - Adrian Holdstock(South Africa), Chris Brown(New Zealand), Ahsan Raza(Pakistan TV)

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