Oh well, how the mighty have fallen. The defending champions, England, are taking on Sri Lanka in a game of no return for two of the World Cup’s stragglers. With disastrous starts to their campaign so far, both teas are scrapping over the most slender of lifelines imaginable, each with a solitary win in four attempts.
Here at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru, the toss proceeds. England won the toss and elected to bat first.
FOLLOW THE ACTION HERE: England vs Sri Lanka ICC World Cup Live Score
This tournament has been nothing less than a nightmare for England. The defending champions came into this tournament as powerhouses and have barely looked the part across four games.
A plethora of changes in their last match against the mighty Proteas proved to be a fatal flaw, as they were dealt with a crushing defeat where the South Africans proved to their world their attacking mettle.
When compared to their opponents today, Sri Lanka had relatively lower expectations set on the, from the others. People were expecting to witness an exciting new crop of young players come up and step up to the plate. Whilst the attacking talent have well and truly stepped up, the team as a whole has struggled to find a certain footing and have let slip multiple matches as a result.
England lost consecutive games in their 2019 WC winning campaign as well and one of those defeats was to Sri Lanka. They turned it around after those losses and went on an unbeaten run to claim the trophy and Jos Buttler would hope for the same. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will hope their four match winning run against England in World Cups continues, they haven’t lost since 1999 even though England hold the edge 6-5 in the competition.
Both teams are tied on 2 points, with Sri Lanka possessing the slightly better NRR and hence are currently place above England.
ICC World Cup: Schedule | Results | Points Table | Most Runs | Most Wickets
Captain’s Comments:
Jos Buttler (ENG): We are going to bat first. Looks a good wicket, little bit drier but we will look to put up a good score. We have been short of our best, we have done enough talking and it is about performing. We have stayed very level as a group, there is some frustration around for not playing as well as we could but there is quality in the team indivdually and collectively. Throughout the team. We have three changes – Woakes, Moeen and Livingstone come in.
Kusal Mendis (SL): Pitch is good and we were looking to bat first as well. I am enjoying the captaincy. There are players who are advicing me and supporting me. The last match we did well with bat and ball. Very important game, we need a good start with the ball and if we get that then we can manage the game. He (Mathews) comes into the team, most experienced guy in the team and hopefully he does well today. Angelo and Kumara are playing.
Playing XIs:
England:
Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w/c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
Sri Lanka:
Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis(w/c), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madushanka
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