Sri Lanka produced a dominant performance to beat England by eight wickets in Bengaluru on Thursday at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, wrapping up the win with 24.2 overs of their chase to spare.
The result means that England’s defence of their World Cup crown is likely over, with Jos Buttler’s team needing to win all of their remaining results, produce a huge swing in net run rate and see other results go their way to stand any chance of reaching the semi-finals.
And Sri Lanka, who move up to fifth in the standings with the win, have now won all of their last five Men’s Cricket World Cup meetings with England.
As disappointing as the defending champions were in Bengaluru, Sri Lanka were right on the money, ripping through the England attack with some excellent bowling performances from Maheesh Theekshana and the recalled pair of Lahiru Kumara and Angelo Mathews.
And they reached their lowly target of just 157 to win thanks to outstanding half-centuries from Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama.
England were offered a glimmer of hope when David Willey struck twice in the opening Powerplay to remove both Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis.
Willey's impressive opening spell threatened to stunt Sri Lanka's chase, but Nissanka and Samarawickrama counterattacked to leave the Lankans in an exceptionally strong position.
Samarawickrama finished unbeaten on 65* from 54 balls, while Nissanka brought up the win in style with a huge six to end with 77* from 83.
The result means that Sri Lanka have four points and have kept their semi-final hopes alive at the tournament.
