What a turnaround, what a match, what a win for Sri Lanka and what a comeback from behind. England v Sri Lanka would be remembered for years for producing such excitement and result which has opened the gate of opportunities for many teams.
England’s next three games are against Australia, India and New Zealand. If they lose all three they may not even reach the semis.
After winning the toss, Sri Lanka decided to bowl first. The start was horrifying as they lost both the openers in space of 3 balls with just 2 runs on the board. A counterattack by the Avishkha Fernando (49) who was playing his first match of the World Cup recovered the Lankans from an early loss. But the star of Sri Lankan innings was Angelo Matthews who finally found the form and scored a well made unbeaten 85, which helped the Lankans to achieve a respectable total of 232 in 50 overs. Wood and Archer took 3 wickets each, while Rashid took 2.
Watch: Sri Lankan Innings
A stoic and unbeaten 85 by @angelo69mathews helped set what would ultimately be a match-winning total for @OfficialSLC.
Watch their best shots here! ?⤵#LionsRoar | #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/Cnfi0cakcu
— ICC (@ICC) June 21, 2019
England too had a poor start, they lost Bairstow on the second ball of the innings when he was caught plumb in front of the wicket off Malinga’s bowling. Malinga took another wicket as Vince was caught at the first slip. However, Root and Morgan steadied the innings for the next 12 overs.
All looked good till 30th over as England was cruising to the victory, but Malinga had other ideas, the Lankan legend dismissed Root and Buttler in space of two over and opened the floodgates of wickets. The panic started in the English camp and they started losing wickets under the pressure of scoring in a run a ball chase. Their only hope was Stokes who remained not out on 82 but didn’t get the support from the other end. The Sri Lankan star, Malinga who 4 wickets, also grabbed the Man of the Match award.
Watch: Fall of Wickets (England Innings)
Lasith Malinga wrote yet another storied chapter of his legendary @cricketworldcup history with a match-winning spell that included his 50th overall wicket.
Re-live the action here! ???#LionsRoar | #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/XyVpLLZfvw
— ICC (@ICC) June 21, 2019
STATS
- Since the 2007 World Cup, England has lost all the matches they played against Sri Lanka in the World Cup, they lost in 2007, 2011, 2015 and now in 2019.
- Malinga has now 51 wickets in World Cup history, only McGrath (71), Muralitharan (68) and Akram (55) have more wickets in the World Cup.
- England has not won a single game against Australia, India and New Zealand in the last 27 years in the World Cup. They have to win 2 out of 3 games against these three teams to qualify for the semis.
