Defending champions England are all but mathematically 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 a 45-run opening stand after England won the toss and elected to bat, only for a flurry of wickets to see Jos Buttler’s side dismissed for just 156 inside 33.2 overs in Bangalore.
Ben Stokes top-scored with 43 in an innings where six players failed to reach double figures, as Lahiru Kumara (3-35), the returning Angelo Mathews (2-14) and Kasun Rajitha (2-36) helped bowl out England 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 guide Sri Lanka to an emphatic victory in the 26th over.
England have yet to be officially eliminated from the competition, despite registering just two points from five matches and being joint-bottom of the table, although would need to win all four of their remaining matches and for several other results to go in their favour if they are to have any chance of reaching the semi-finals.
Adil Rashid was run out for two and failed to take a wicket in England’s latest heavy defeat
More to follow…
What’s next?
The Cricket World Cup continues Friday, as Pakistan face South Africa (9am on Sky Sports Cricket, 9.30am start), before a double-header on Saturday sees Australia take on New Zealand (5.30am on Sky Sports Cricket, 6am start) and the Netherlands play Bangladesh (9am on Sky Sports Mix, 9.30am start).
England are next in action against hosts India on Sunday (8am on Sky Sports Cricket, 8.30am start), where a defeat will officially end their qualification hopes. Sri Lanka are next in action on Monday with a must-win game against Afghanistan (8am on Sky Sports Cricket, 8.30am start). Stream the Cricket World Cup and more top sport with NOW.