England Near Elimination After 8-Wicket Loss to Sri Lanka

Bengaluru: England’s reign asthe 50-over World Cup championsunk into serious jeopardy asresolute fifties by PathumNissanka and SadeeraSamarawickrama along with a setof on-the-money bowlersspurred tenacious Sri Lanka toan eight-wicket victory inBengaluru on Thursday. England,opting to bat first, suffered abaffling batting implosion andwere bundled out for a paltry156, courtesy the five wicketsshared among themselves bycomeback man Angelo Mathews(2/14) and impressive LahiruKumara (3/35). Despite losing acouple of early wickets, Sri Lanka
confidently finished their chaseas Nissanka (77 off 83 balls) andSamarawickrama (65 off 54 balls)led the process with an unbroken137-run stand for the thirdwicket.With just two points from fivematches, England retain a mere
theoretical chance to make it tothe semifinals, while theIslanders, who now have fourpoints, can eye a few stronger
outings in the remaining fourmatches.England might have hoped for amiracle when they dismissed
opener Kusal Perera and Lankancaptain Kusal Mendis through leftarmpacer David Willey to reducetheir opponents to 23 for 2.But Nissanka andSamarawickrama, two of SL’sbest ODI batters this year,combined to produce a solid
partnership to ease Lanka’snerves. The right-handers areapable of elegance but with avictory very much in need the
pair traded flair for compactnessfor a good part of their alliance.Flashes of their naturalbatsmanship, though, were there.Samarawickrama delectablydrove Wiley through the covers,while Nissanka waltzed down the
track and smoked leg-spinnerAdil Rashid over long-on for ahuge six.Nissanka brought up his fifty,
his fourth in the tournament, witha flowing cover drive off pacerMark Wood andSamarawickrama reached hissecond half-century of thisedition with a wristy single tomid-wicket off Chris Woakes.But otherwise, the Lankans
batted within themselves andgathered runs in a determinedfashion to keep England bowlersat bay. And England lackeddetermination on the day. It wasjust a matter of a couple ofbatsmen sticking out in themiddle for the Three Lions toreach a far better and competitivetotal.But none barring Ben Stokes(43) and Dawid Malan (28) did
not even remotely attempt to batwith purpose for a team that wasplaying in a must-win match.There was a bit of spongy bounce on the M ChinnaswamyStadium deck and the Lankanbowlers were accurate but theshambolic way in which theEngland batsmen played couldnot be shielded. Opener Dawid Malan who milked 45 runs with
his partner Jonny Bairstow,could be excused though.Mathews, an injuryreplacement for pacer MatheeshaPathirana, put him in two mindswith a delivery that bounced fromthe length just enough to take anedge off his bat to Mendis behindthe stumps.However, Malan during his 25-ball 28 showed that the pitch isnot a hard one to bat on while
essaying some gorgeous drivesthrough the off-side.Unfortunately, severalsubsequent batters were culpable
of playing really poor cricket.Joe Root got run out whiletaking off for a non-existingsingle, captain Jos Buttler made
an expansive drive outside theoff-stump off Kumara to getcaught behind and Bairstow nevertimed the pull off Kasun Rajithato find Dhananjaya de Silva atmid-on. Liam Livingstone playedthe wrong line off Kumara to get
trapped leg-before. Moeen Aliwent for a cut off Mathews whenthere was no width on offer, andKusal Perera snaffled the simpleoffering at point. These werebatsmen who were expected tolead England’s batting charge and
they failed to respond.Stokes did try on his own. Hehad the assistance of fortune aswell when Samarawickrama
floored a tough chance at pointoff Kumara when the all-rounderwas on 12. England were 86 for 5then.
The left-hander played somearchetypal power-packed shotsthrough either side of the wicket,but the day was not made for aone-man show. His dismissal,caught by substitute DushanHemantha, at deep of Kumara,effectively ended England’schances of posting a challengingtotal.Rashid’s comical run out whilebacking up too far could be taken
as a symbol of England’s drudgeswith the bat on the day. But theinept batting display of Englandshould not rob the Lankanbowlers of the just credit.Kumara has the tendency tobe all over the place but when hehits his lengths correctly, theright-arm pacer is a differentbeast who can hustle the batters.And hustled England were indeed
on the day by a vastly superiorLankan side.

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