Bouncing back to solidify their hopes of making it to the semi-final of the World Cup, Sri Lanka defeated England by eight wickets on Thursday at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Having decided to bat, England started off well with Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan getting (30) and (28) respectively, but after their wickets, England ‘s batting attack terribly broke down with Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Liam Livingston losing their wickets in a quick succession. Ben Stokes remianed top scorer with his (43) to propel the team. Sri Lanka, in their chase, lost Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis quite early but Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama rescued the team with their big knocks of (77) and (65) respectively. This is the third defeat in a row for England as their chances of making it to the semi-final almost look uncertain.
