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Defending champions England continue to continue their horrendous campaign in the ongoing ODI World Cup as they suffered another shocking defeat, this time at the hands of Sri Lanka in Bengaluru on October 26, Thursday.
The eight-wicket loss against Sri Lanka pushed England to the brink of elimination from the World Cup.
The pressing challenge for England now is to secure victories in their subsequent four games, a daunting task but the only route to keep their dwindling hopes of a semifinal berth alive.
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Batting first Jos Buttler-led England could only muster a total of 156 on the board which was easily chased down by Sri Lanka in just 25.4 overs.
Meanwhile, shattered by England's back-to-back defeat skipper Buttler rued team's another embarrassing loss. Buttler said any team doesn't become a bad team onvernight and his brigade has been playing a long way short of their best.
“It's incredibly tough. As a captain you feel that a lot - disappointed with myself and the boys that we've not shown our best. We're playing a long way short of our best. There's a lot of really experienced cricketers in the room. You don't become a bad team overnight. That's the frustration,” Buttler said after England's humiliating loss against Sri Lanka.
On being asked about highlighting reason behind England's big defeat Buttler said,"We've been so far short of our best, and there's no particular reason. Can't put my finger on it. Selection is something you want to be consistent with. Selection hasn't been our problem. We've been short of our standards. Lots of the dismissals - Root's run out - you don't see that kind of mistakes from us. Haven't been building partnerships. Not doing the basic things well with both bat and ball. The biggest thing is personal pride. The standards we set for ourselves. Rest of the matches we want to get back to playing good cricket. Whatever will be will be."
The highlight of the match was undeniably the exceptional batting display from Sri Lanka's top-order stalwarts, Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama. Needing a relatively modest 157 runs for victory, the duo orchestrated Sri Lanka's chase masterfully, leading them to a comfortable 160/2 score with a staggering 146 balls to spare.
Nissanka crafted an unbeaten yet magnificent 77. This marked his fourth consecutive half-century in the ongoing tournament, and he peppered his innings with seven boundaries and a couple of maximums. Complementing Nissanka's brilliance was Samarawickrama, who continued his splendid form, remaining unbeaten on 65 off 54 balls. His innings, studded with seven fours and a soaring six, builds on his previous commendable performances, including a century against Pakistan and a near-ton against the Netherlands.
Ben Stokes remained the top scorer for England with a gritty 43 but to only see his side suffering a monumental batting collapse.
After this loss, England are lurching at ninth place in the points table and will next face Team India on October 29, Sunday. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka are well placed at no.5 in the standings and will be up against Afghanistan on October 30.
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