ICC World Cup 2023, SL vs ENG: Nissanka, Samarawickrama fifties propel SL to win

Englands reign as the 50over World Cup champion sunk into serious jeopardy as resolute fifties by Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama along with a set of onthemoney bowlers spurred tenacious Sri Lanka to an eightwicket victory here on ThursdayEngland opting to bat first suffered a baffling batting implosion and were bundled out for a paltry 156 courtesy the five wickets shared among themselves by comeback man Angelo Mathews 214 and impressive Lahiru Kumara 335Despite losing a couple of early wickets Sri Lanka confidently finished their chase as Nissanka 77 off 83 balls and Samarawickrama 65 off 54 balls led the process with an unbroken 137run stand for the third wicketAlso Read ICC World Cup 2023 SL vs ENG Sri Lanka tighten grip as England fall apartWith just two points from five matches England retain a mere theoretical chance to make it to the semifinals while the Islanders who now have four points can eye a few stronger outings in the remaining four matchesEngland might have hoped for a miracle when they dismissed opener Kusal Perera and Lankan captain Kusal Mendis through leftarm pacer David Willey to reduce their opponents to 23 for 2But Nissanka and Samarawickrama two of SLs best ODI batters this year combined to produce a solid partnership to ease Lankas nervesThe righthanders are capable of elegance but with a victory very much in need the pair traded flair for compactness for a good part of their allianceFlashes of their natural batsmanship though were there Samarawickrama delectably drove Wiley through the covers while Nissanka waltzed down the track and smoked legspinner Adil Rashid over longon for a huge sixNissanka brought up his fifty his fourth in the tournament with a flowing cover drive off pacer Mark Wood and Samarawickrama reached his second halfcentury of this edition with a wristy single to midwicket off Chris WoakesBut otherwise the Lankans batted within themselves and gathered runs in a determined fashion to keep England bowlers at bayAnd England lacked determination on the day It was just a matter of a couple of batsmen sticking out in the middle for the Three Lions to reach a far better and competitive totalBut none barring Ben Stokes 43 and Dawid Malan 28 did not even remotely attempt to bat with purpose for a team that was playing in a mustwin matchThere was a bit of spongy bounce on the M Chinnaswamy Stadium deck and the Lankan bowlers were accurate but the shambolic way in which the England batsmen played could not be shieldedOpener Dawid Malan who milked 45 runs with his partner Jonny Bairstow could be excused thoughMathews an injury replacement for pacer Matheesha Pathirana put him in two minds with a delivery that bounced from the length just enough to take an edge off his bat to Mendis behind the stumpsHowever Malan during his 25ball 28 showed that the pitch is not a hard one to bat on while essaying some gorgeous drives through the offsideUnfortunately several subsequent batters were culpable of playing really poor cricketJoe Root got run out while taking off for a nonexisting single captain Jos Buttler made an expansive drive outside the offstump off Kumara to get caught behind and Bairstow never timed the pull off Kasun Rajitha to find Dhananjaya de Silva at midonLiam Livingstone played the wrong line off Kumara to get trapped legbefore Moeen Ali went for a cut off Mathews when there was no width on offer and Kusal Perera snaffled the simple offering at pointThese were batsmen who were expected to lead Englands batting charge and they failed to respondStokes did try on his own He had the assistance of fortune as well when Samarawickrama floored a tough chance at point off Kumara when the allrounder was on 12 England were 86 for 5 thenThe lefthander played some archetypal powerpacked shots through either side of the wicket but the day was not made for a oneman showHis dismissal caught by substitute Dushan Hemantha at deep of Kumara effectively ended Englands chances of posting a challenging totalRashids comical run out while backing up too far could be taken as a symbol of Englands drudges with the bat on the dayBut the inept batting display of England should not rob the Lankan bowlers of the just creditKumara has the tendency to be all over the place but when he hits his lengths correctly the rightarm pacer is a different beast who can hustle the battersAnd hustled England were indeed on the day by a vastly superior Lankan sideThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever