Champain moment

BENGALURU: England’s reign as the 50-over World Cup champion sunk into serious jeopardy as resolute fifties by Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama along with a set of on-the-money bowlers spurred tenacious Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket victory here on Thursday.

England, opting to bat first, suffered a baffling batting implosion and was bundled out for a paltry 156, courtesy the five wickets shared among themselves by comeback man Angelo Mathews (2/14) and impressive Lahiru Kumara (3/35).

Despite losing a couple of early wickets, Sri Lanka confidently finished its chase as Nissanka (77 off 83 balls) and Samarawickrama (65 off 54 balls) led the process with an unbroken 137-run stand for the third wicket. With just two points from five matches, England retains 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 matches.

England might have hoped for a miracle when it dismissed opener Kusal Perera and Lankan captain Kusal Mendis through left-arm pacer David Willey to reduce its opponent to 23 for 2.

But Nissanka and Samarawickrama, two of SL’s best ODI batters this year, combined to produce a solid partnership to ease Lanka’s nerves.

The right-handers are capable of elegance but with a victory very much in need the pair traded flair for compactness for a good part of their alliance. Flashes of their natural batsmanship, though, were there. Samarawickrama delectably drove Wiley through the covers, while Nissanka waltzed down the track and smoked leg-spinner Adil Rashid over long-on for a huge six.

Nissanka brought up his fifty, his fourth in the tournament, with a flowing cover drive off pacer Mark Wood and Samarawickrama reached his second half-century of this edition with a wristy single to mid-wicket off Chris Woakes.

But otherwise, the Lankans batted within themselves and gathered runs in a determined fashion to keep England bowlers at bay.

And England lacked determination on the day. It was just a matter of a couple of batters sticking out in the middle for the Three Lions to reach a far better and competitive total.

But 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 must-win match.

There 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 shielded.

Brief scores: England 156 in 33.2 overs (B Stokes 43, L Kumara 3/35) lost to Sri Lanka 160/2 in 25.4 overs (P Nissanka 77*, S Samarawickrama 65*)