The England (ENG) batting unit failed once again in the 2023 World Cup, this time against Sri Lanka on Thursday, October 26 at the batting-friendly M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Jos Buttler and company were skittled out for 156 runs in 33.2 overs after opting to bat first.
Jonny Bairstow (30 off 31) and Dawid Malan (28 off 25) got things going with a 45-run partnership for the first wicket. Angelo Mathews produced Sri Lanka’s first breakthrough, knocking Malan caught behind by Kusal Mendis.
As the defending champions continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, the initial wicket precipitated a collapse. Ben Stokes led the way with 43 runs off 73 balls, including six boundaries.
Sri Lanka’s bowling attack was led by Lahiru Kumara, who finished with figures of 3/35, while Kasun Rajitha and Angelo Mathews both took two wickets. Maheesh Theeskshana grabbed the last wicket, removing Mark Wood, who had been stumped by Mendis.
Fans on X (previously known as Twitter) mocked England’s underwhelming performance versus Sri Lanka, which continued their poor showing in the 2023 World Cup. Ayushmann Khurrana, a Bollywood actor, posted on X:
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Sri Lanka’s unbeaten streak against England in ODI World Cups since 1999
Since their victory by eight wickets in 1999, ENG has yet to defeat Sri Lanka in the ODI World Cups. In subsequent editions of the tournament – 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019 – Sri Lanka emerged victorious against ENG.
ENG, under the captaincy of Jos Buttler, had a rough start to this year’s 50-over tournament with a nine-wicket loss to New Zealand in their opening game. However, they quickly turned things around and secured their first victory in the tournament by defeating Bangladesh with an impressive margin of 137 runs. Unfortunately, ENG faced setbacks in subsequent matches against Afghanistan and South Africa, suffering defeats by margins of 69 and 229 runs respectively.
Meanwhile, despite a brilliant performance with the ball against England, Sri Lanka is also lacking confidence. In their first four matches, the Islanders had only won by five wickets versus the Netherlands.