England vs Sri Lanka: Match No 25
ICC World Cup Match 2023 No. 25
England vs Sri Lanka
26th October 2023: 14.00 IST
M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
England vs Sri Lanka
It was a do or die match for England. England won the toss and elected to bat.
Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan opened the England innings, in the 7th over of the innings, David Malan was out after scoring 28 runs on 25 balls, which included 6 boundaries. England were 45/1 after 6.3 overs. Joe Root was unlucky and ran out after scoring just 3 runs and it was a very big setback for England. England were 57/2 after 9.4 overs.
In the 14th over of the innings, Jonny Bairstow also followed the pavilion route after making 30 runs in 31 balls and England were 68/3 after 13:2 overs.
Except Ben Stokes, none other batsman could face Sri Lankan bowling confidently. Ben Stokes has scored 43 runs on 73 balls.
This was another very poor performance of English batting. They could not even play their allotted 50 overs and were all out for 156 in just 33.2 overs.
For Sri Lanka, Lahiru Kumara has claimed 3 wickets, Kasun Rajitha and Angelo Mathews have claimed 2 wickets each and Maheesh Theekshana has also claimed 1 wicket and 2 batsmen were run out.
England is in the 9th place in the tally and if they have to move up in the table, they have to defend those 156 runs, though it seems difficult. But cricket is a game of a lot of uncertainty and any prediction will be a hurry, till the last ball is bowled, the last run has been scored or 10 wickets have been out.
Sri Lanka is Chasing 157
Sri Lanka is chasing a small total of 156 made by England. The start of Sri Lanka was also not good and their 1st wicket for 9 runs in the 2nd over. Kusal Parera was the batsman who was out for only 4 runs. Star batsman of Sri Lanka Kusal Mendis also could not bat well and he was sent back to the pavilion for 11 runs. Sri Lanka was 23/2 after 5.2 overs.
The 2nd wicket for Sri Lanka was the last happy moment in today’s match for England. In the 18th over of the inning, Pathum Nissanka completed his half century in 54 balls. Both the batsmen, Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarwickrama, were looking very confident and the England team was already looking low in morals.
In the 23rd over, Sadeera Samarwickrama also completed his fifty in 44 balls. England was then 130 after 22.1 overs.
Now, this was just a formality in the match and Sri Lanka had completed the required run in 25.4 overs. Nissanka was not out on 77 and Samarwickrama on 65 runs.
After this match, England are still in the 9th position of the table, while Sri Lanka climbed to 5th position with -0.20 NRR.
Man of the Match: Lahiru Kumara
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