Sri Lanka needed a definitive win to keep their campaign in CWC 2023, alive. On the other hand, England also needed to lift their game post losses to Afghanistan and South Africa. They received a shock with losing to New Zealand. Later, they won against Bangladesh but shook terribly after previous terribly. Sri Lanka needed to bring their campaign on right path after Netherlands win. They lost three matches on trot and now, Sri Lanka two back-to-back.
England won the toss and elected to bat first in Bengaluru. Many experts expected a huge scoring game. Sri Lanka has brought in Angelo Mathews into the game instead of injured Matheesha Pathirana. This helped them to take wickets in the middle overs. Dawid Malan(28) and Jonny Bairstow(30) gave a steady start but after Malan got out they lost their way, completely. Sri Lanka slow bowlers came into the game in the middle overs.
Except for Ben Stokes(43), no English Batter looked settled and confident to take on Sri Lanka bowlers. They got bundled out for 156 in 33.2 overs. Lahiru Kumara(3/35), Angelo Mathews(2/14), Kasun Rajitha(2/36) and Maheesh Theekshana(1/21) took wickets for Sri Lanka. In the chase, SL needed just 157 runs to win the match.
In the chase, David Willey sent back Kusal Perera(4) and Kusal Mendis(11) in the powerplay. Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka scored 77 and middle order batter Sadeera Samarawickrama(65) completed the match for SL. Sri Lanka scored 160/2 in 25.4 overs. They won by 8 wickets and 146 balls remaining. Sri Lanka has now gone to 5th place ahead of Pakistan. England have effectively been eliminated.