ISLAMABAD: A splined half century (77) by opener Pathum Nissanka and terrific 65 runs by, Sadeera Samarawickrama guided Sri Lanka to an easy 8 wicket win against England in the ICC contest being played at Bengaluru, India on Thursday Wednesday. Sri Lanka had already dominated the game in the first session while dismissing England on 156 runs in 33.2 overs.
Chasing a low total of 156, Sri Lankan openers took a steady start. However, England bowlers manage to get the first wicket in the 2nd over when Kusal Perera was dismissed on 4. In the 6th over of England bowling, David Willey strike again to remove the skipper Kusal Mendis on 11.
At the stage Sri Lanka 22 for 2 in 5.2 over. However, when number four batter Sadeera Samarawickrama joined Nissanka they made an easy chase just a cup of tup and took the scoreboard towards the target. Nissanka completed his half century and further consolidated his inning with 1 six and 7 boundaries in total. Later Sadeera Samarawickrama also smashed his half century on 46 balls. England bowlers were helpless to take further wicket on a flat pitch and to depend the lowest total of the ground. Sri Lanka easily won the match by 8 wickets in the 25.4 overs to register second win of the mega event.
This was the fourth defeat of the defending champion England out of five contests that took the side to the end of points table just above the Netherlands. By this win Sri Lanka also deprived Pakistan and occupied the 5th position on points table, pushing Pakistan to number six slot.
From England only David Willey managed to take 2 wickets. Other bowlers including the speedster Mark Wood remained wicketless.
England Batting
Earlier winning the toss England decided to bat first. Where both of their openers took a flying start. However, after the first dismissal their middle and lower order totally collapsed.
The openers Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow took a quick start and drove the score above 40 in the first 6 overs. However, in the 7th over Sri Lankan bowler Methews managed to remove Malan on 30. From there the England batting order started to collapse. In the 10th over Joe Root was also removed on just 3 runs. In the 14th Over Rajitha dismissed Bairstow on 28 when the total reached just 68 runs.
After a couple of overs later the skipper Joss Butler gone for 8. He was followed by Livingston while adding just 1 run to the score board. In the 25th over, when the score reached 122, Methews dismissed Moeen Ali on 15.
In the middle and lower order no batter was able to stay on the crease for long, except Ben Stokes, who showed some resistance. After Moeen Ali Chris Woakes was out for none. In the 31st over Kumara managed to the set batsman Ben Stokes on 43. The other two batters Adil Rashid and Mark Wood were dismissed in no time while scoring just 2 and 5 runs respectively. England was all out on 156 in 33.2 overs, the lowest over total in the ODI at Bengaluru. This is a crucial game for both Sri Lanka and England as both have registered only one win in their four matches each.
From Sri Lanka Lahiru Kumara was the most successful bowler for taking 3 wickets in his 7 over spill. Rajitha and Mathews got 2 wicket each while Theekshana took 1 wicket.
Sri Lanka Team: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (c)†, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Dilshan Madushanka and Lahiru Kumara
England Team: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (c)†, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid and Mark Wood
