In a major upset in ICC World Cup 2019, underdogs Sri Lanka stunned pre-tournament’s favorites England by 20 runs here at Leeds.
Chasing a below-par target of 233 runs, a victory looked inevitable for star-studded England. But events happened otherwise.
England’s cause faced a dent on the very second ball of their innings as Lasith Malinga removed Bairstow.
A few overs later Malinga strike again as he removed Vince.
After two early blows, Morgan and Root tried to stabilize things in the middle. However, Morgan was removed by Udana.
After this, England’s wickets continued to follow at regular intervals. Though Ben Stokes continued to operate strike on a regular basis, wickets continued to tumble on the other end.
In the end, England managed only 212 runs. Malinga picked four wickets while De Silva finished with three.
Earlier, Mathews lifted Sri Lanka to 232 after an early collapse.
Malinga was declared MoM.
After Sri Lanka’s victory, semi-final spots are still wide open. England need to play some serious cricket against Australia, India and New Zealand (their remaining fixtures), not this kind of self-assured.
