England succumbed to their fourth defeat in the 2023 World Cup today (October 26) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, losing to Sri Lanka by eight wickets.
Going into this match, England were eighth in the points table with one win from their first four games of the tournament. They needed a win to maintain their chances of winning six out of nine, but instead lost to Sri Lanka by eight wickets, ending the run chase in less than 26 overs.
England could only field 156 initially as the innings did not last on a normal wicket. Some of the wickets were the result of talent on the field, but many were also due to the self-defeating behavior of England’s batsmen. Joe Root launched himself early in the innings, but Adil Rashid was caught napping on the non-striker late on when Kusal Mendis threw his stumps to the ground and took a catch.
Ben Stokes tried his best to take England to a respectable total, but holed out at deep midwicket for 43, taking England’s eighth wicket in 31 overs. was.
In their reply, Sri Lanka stumbled a bit at the start as David Willie brought some movement into the air. He first deceived Kusal Perera and then his namesake Kusal Mendis to leave Sri Lanka 23-2. Another wicket or two and panic would have set in, but the combination of Pathum Nissanka and Sadheera Samarawickrama got Sri Lanka through without any trouble.
Apart from Willie, none of the other England bowlers made an impact, with Nissanka ending the match with a six-run long hit off Rashid.
With this defeat, England’s chances of reaching the semi-finals became only a mathematical possibility, not a realistic possibility. The team needs to win all four of his remaining games and hope for more results.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, moved up to 5th place with the win, with 4 points from 5 games.
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