(Cricket News) The defending champions England continue to dissapoint in this World Cup as they loose four games out of five. Despite being labelled as favorites and having a deep batting depth and various bowling options, England find themselves in the ninth position in the points table.
After making a couple of changes to their squad, Sri Lanka have seemed to crack the code by beating th Netherlands and England in back to back matches. It will be a uphill task for the Lankans to find a spot in the semi-finals and if they do, it’ll the first time since 2014 that they make the knockouts stage of an ICC event.
England won the toss and they decided to bat first. They had a struggling start to their innings as they were 59-2 at the end of the first powerplay. Not a single batsman crossed the fifty landmark with Ben Stokes being the highest scorer – 43 runs. Poor batting, lack of awareness and poor game sense saw England get bowled put for 156 in 33.2 overs. Lahiru Kumara was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers, picking 3 wickets in 7 overs and giving away just 35 runs.
End of first innings: England 156-10; Ben Stokes 43 (73); Johnny Bairstow 30 (31); Lahiru Kumara 7-35-0-3; Angelo Mathews 5-14-1-2.
Sri Lanka chased the target down in just 25.4 overs, with the in-form Pathum Nissanka scoring 77 and Sadeera Samarawickrama scoring 65. With this dominant win, Sri Lanka’s net run rate has been given a boost and their chances to qualify for the semi-finals have increased.
End of second innings: Sri Lanka 160-2; Pathum Nissanka 77 (83); Sadeera Samarawickrama 65 (54); David Willey 5-30-0-2.
