ENG vs SL: England’s crushing defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka, almost out of the race for semi-finals

With the crushing defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka in the ICC World Cup 2023, England’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals are almost over. This is England’s third consecutive defeat in the World Cup 2023 and fourth defeat in 5 matches. England’s only win so far was against Bangladesh. Not only this, this is England’s 5th consecutive defeat against Sri Lanka in the history of the World Cup. At the same time, Sri Lanka has kept its hopes alive by registering its second win in five matches and reaching fifth place.

Batting first, the England team collapsed for just 156 runs. In reply, Sri Lanka achieved the target of 157 runs in just 25.4 overs on the basis of unbeaten half-centuries from Pathum Nissanka and Sadira Samarawickrama. There was a partnership of 137 runs for the third wicket between Pathum Nissanka and Sadira. This is Lanka’s third biggest partnership against England in the World Cup.

With this victory, Sri Lanka confirmed its place at 5th position in the points table with 4 points. At the same time, England has fallen to 9th place. This is the first time since 1996 that England has lost three consecutive matches in an edition of the World Cup. At the same time, since 2007, Sri Lanka has defeated England for the fifth consecutive time in the World Cup.

For Sri Lanka, Pathum Nissanka played an unbeaten inning of 77 runs and Sadira played an unbeaten inning of 65 runs. Nissanka managed to score his fourth consecutive 50+ score in the World Cup 2023. This year, he also became the second batsman in the world after Shubman Gill to score more than 1000 runs in ODI cricket.