LIVE SCORE - ENG vs SL, ICC World Cup 2023: Toss, Blog, Videos And Updates From Bengaluru

Should we call this an upset? Not really. England turned up just how they have been in the tournament so far. Sri Lanka completely outplayed them. At first, they blew the defending champions with the ball, bundling them at a total of 156 runs. In the second innings, Nissanka and Samarawickrama scored fifties to power Sri Lanka to a massive eight-wicket win.

This should be it for England. They have lost four games with their NRR not good either. 

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka keep their hopes alive, winning their second consecutive match.

We come with the hope of a close game tomorrow when Pakistan go up against South Africa. Join us for that game at the same time and at the same place. Ciao!

SRI LANKA WIN!

Nissanka clubs the ball down the ground for a biggie as Sri Lanka trounce England by eight wickets. 

Sri Lanka are closing this game in style. They want to ensure they better their NRR. It's just a matter of a few balls now and then we will have our winners of this match.

50 FOR SAMARAWICKRAMA!

WHATTAA PLAYER. Another fifty for him in the World Cup and this one will come in a winning cause.

Nissanka 🔥

This partnership is beyond 100 runs and continues to flourish. Match is ending soon as Sri Lanka now need just 33 runs to win.

Looks like Nissanka and Samarawickrama will complete the chase all by themselves. But what a disappointment have England been... From one of the favourites to one of the first teams to get knocked out of the World Cup. 

50 FOR NISSANKA!

This is his fourth consecutive half-century. He is doing the job for Sri Lanka under pressure. The game is sealed now.

ENG🤝PAK

Drinks are taken and meanwhile, Sri Lanka are marching. Only a formality remains as the defending champions sit out on the verge of getting knocked out in the group stage of the 2023 World Cup. We never saw that coming. Right?

Samarawickrama uses his feet to walk down the pitch and powers the ball beyond the boundary ropes to hit Rashid for a six. The leggie is bowling to full and needs to shorten his length a tad bit.

Samarawickrama is hurt!

Wood with his ferocious pace fires in a short ball at Samarawickrama. That hit his right hand and seemed to have hurt his finger. The Sri Lankan physio is giving him a treatment.

STAT ATTACK!

Mark Wood had never conceded runs at an economy of above 10 in his ODI career before this World Cup. In last four matches, this has happened twice.

FACTS!

Powerplay ends!

Sri Lanka are still sitting in the driver's seat. However, England have taken two wickets and it's just not over for them.

SL - 56/2 in 10 overs

Nissanka is batting at some other level. He takes on Rashid and sends the ball into the stands for a six after dancing down the track. Still, the leggie should stick to bowling at that line. He has a decent chance of dismissing Nissanka, I reckon.

Adil Rashid comes into attack. He ideally should create a chance soon. Let's see how this ploy goes.

England must have Nissanka as their next target. He is looking in sublime touch, nailing drives to the tee. Think Buttler should now hand the ball to the spinners.

Willey forging England's turnaround!

The left-armer bowls on the pads. Kusal Mendis tries to flick the ball uppishly but ended up top-edging it. The ball was swirling in the air. But Buttler took it upon himself to take the catch and he did so successfully. GAME ONN!

England staring at an unwanted record!

This should count as a dropped catch. Nissanka pokes at a short ball outside the off stump. Root standing in the slips was late in his reflexes as the ball passes through his hands.

Exactly the start that England needed!

Perera gets dismissed early.  A length ball from Willey. Perera looks to guide it to the leg-side but the ball finds the leading edge off his bat as Stokes holds onto a dolly.

Nissanka brings up a glorious boundary via a straight drive. Woakes bowls full but Nissanka offers a straight bat to attains four runs. Nice way to start the innings.

England players are in the huddle. Buttler must put in energy through his words to make a match out of this. On the other hand, Sri Lanka openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera would be eyeing a NRR boost. The run-chase beckons!

England's World Cup title defense is on the line. This innings could bring the curtains on their chances of going to the semi-finals.

ENGLAND ALL-OUT FOR 156

This has been an embarrassing day for English cricket. The strongest batting line-up, at least on paper, playing on the flattest track in the world - gets rattled out by Sri Lanka. I am literally out of words. The defending champions have been floored. The lowest all-out total at this ground. Also, the lowest total for England against Sri Lanka. Theekshana and Kusal pair up beautifully as Mark Wood gets stumped after trying to dance down the track. 

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Mendis, you made Dhoni proud

Tragedy me comedy. HAHA! Great presence of mind there from Kusal Mendis here. Rashid turned his back for a moment. Mendis collects the ball and throws it at the bowler's end. Hits the stumps at the non-striker's end and Rashid is well short of the crease. He fails to get his bat inside the crease in time and OUT it is. Brilliant awareness from Mendis and this is very sloppy from Rashid. Nine down now and ENG are still 3 runs shy of 150.

Sad moment in the game (for some). Willey, No. 9 batter, smashes the first maximum of the English innings. Willey knows each and every corner of Chinnaswamy! RCB Blood. 

England's last hope is done, Stokes' dusted

Massive wicket for Sri Lanka. It's Kumara again with the breakthrough and Stokes departs. Lahiru Kumara applies the brakes on the Clutch Player. The Miracle Man tried his best, but could not pull England out of trouble this time around. ENG are EIGHT DOWN now!!

Arjun: Ben Stokes needs England or is it the other way around? 

What say, CSK fans? 🤣 🤣

Woakes gone??

Rajitha to Chris Woakes. The batter plays an uppish drive towards backward point. It seems a touch-and-go sort of thing. Sadeera Samarawickarma, at backward point, takes a blinder. But he is not sure whether it carried or not! The TV umpire is having a check. Replays come in. The first angle shows that the ball might have touched the ground, not sure, though. Ahsan Raza wants another angle and the zoomer as well. And he's given OUT!!! The TV umpire took like a zillion years but has given a decision SL's way. It surely was a controversial call, that could have gone either way. Unfortunately, it went against the team who is already struggling in Bengaluru. ENG are seven down now at 123.

Mathews does it again, ENG go deeperrrrrrrrrrr

The comeback man has a golden arm today. A lucky breakthrough for the Lankan pro as Moeen Ali throws his wicket away. Width on offered, the southpaw miscues the cut straight into the hands of the point fielder. 

Just when the partnership was growing, the veteran Angelo Mathews came back into the attack and broke it to push England into deep waters. ENG - 122-6 in 24.4

A small relief for the English in the middle

Mo and Ben are working it out for the reigning champions in Bengaluru. A small but much-needed 34-run partnership for ENG. They are 119/5 in 24 overs.

This picture sums up England's day so far ⤵️⤵️⤵️

Jos Buttler after his dismissal (AP Photo)

Akshaya: Poor shot selection from Stokes. But he is lucky enough to breathe a sigh of relief with any inhaler. Hahah! Nicely explained!

Is it the game, then?

Sri Lankan players leaped in joy to see Ben Stokes given out LBW by the on-field umpire. However, the Englishman went for a DRS, and the replay showed he got a thin inside edge before the ball hit his pads.

The game is not over yet, English fans. Hold your breath!

Ben Stokes survives here

Brilliant effort from Sadeera Samarawickrama, but he failed to hold onto it. Will go down as a dropped catch but it was an extraordinary effort from the fielder at backward point, flying to his right. England are 86-5 after 18.4 overs

Another one bites the dust!!!!!

This is getting darker and darker for England and they have lost half of their side now on a wicket that was expected to assist their strokemakers!! Lahiru Kumara gets his second wicket and Livingstone departs on just one. A sharp in-dipper does the trick this time for Kumara.

A litmus test this now for World Champions and once again, it is upto Ben Stokes to take England out of this rut! England are 85-5!!!

Jos the boss is done by Kumara!!!!

Another massive blow for the reigning champions. The English captain is down!! Lahiru Kumara, wow. Nicked behind and Kusal Mendis takes a wonderful grab! That was some delivery and a wholesome celebration from the speedster. Sri Lanka themselves couldn't believe what they are doing here. Englishmen are annihilating on a flat track of Chinnaswamy. ENG - 77-4 in 15.0 overs.

Bairstow departs

Another blow to England!! Jonny Bairstow tries to break the shackles and hits it straight to Dhananjaya de Silva at mid off. Massive setback for the Englishmen, they are falling like  pack of cards on an absolute road. Oh boy, Kasun Rajitha; that's some celebration! England are 68 for three in 13.2.

Another DRS blunder by Sri Lanka here. Ben Stokes was struck on the pads as Angelo Mathews appealed for a leg before. But the ball was clearly pitched outside the leg stump and Sri Lanka lost a review there. After not opting for the DRS in the first over, they became slightly desperate on this occasion I reckon. 

Joe Root out

Huge breakthrough for the Lankans! After drawing the first blood through his bowling, Mathews shows his fielding skills to run Joe Root out. The Lankan lions are absolutely delighted. Root is way short of the crease and goes back to the dugout. England are crumbling in Bengaluru!!!

Right arm-medium, Angelo Mathews, comes into the attack

Starts with a 115.8 KPH delivery. Would you still call him a medium pacer? A huge appeal and has Mathews provided SL their first blood? I guess, yeah!! Kusal Mendis, the keeper and the captain, takes the review straight away; and that's OUT!!! Mathews gets the reward of dishing in the ball into the channel. The ball brushed the outside edge there. Malan has to walk back after playing a few glorious drives. Brilliant from Sri Lanka as they didn't miss to take the review this time around. ENG - 45/1 in 6.3 overs.

What a ball to end the over. Theekshana was able to almost shave Malan's off-stump. A boundary and two shouts off that over. England are marching at the moment. ENG - 44/0 after 6

Back to back FOURS!!

Malan carries on the party from the other end. Thrashes two deliveries through the covers against Rajitha. Never lend any width to this man. Make a note, bowlers. Jonny joins the party as well, smacks third boundary off the over. 15 runs coming off that over. ENG - 31/0 after 4

First boundary of the match!!

Dawid Malan gets going and would be any better way to open his account? Drives it through the huge gap present between cover and mid-off. Is there any better sight than Malan's extra-cover drive? (Yes, Kohli's cover drive).

Jonny Bairstow & Dawid Malan against Madushanka. Here we go..!!

Starts off with a brilliant in-dipping yorker, Bairstow somehow negates that. Punches it towards mid-on, beats Angelo Mathews there and there is some serious issues with his fitness here. Gives three runs on that occassion, where it shouldn't be more than a single. And it would had hit him on the pad first. That would have crashed onto the middle stump!!!

Arjun: Three changes yet again! Aren't England looking too desperate? That too against Sri Lanka. Why are they showing such vulnerability in this tournament? 

Aashay: I think England have decided to move away from the experiment of going with specialised bowlers and have gone back to their tried and tested combination of filling the team with all-rounders and get as many runs as possible with the bat. 

Yes, changes in each game provide the vibe of an unsettled team but this is probably their best combination and we might see them continuing with this for the rest of the tournament.

Playing XIs

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (c and wk), Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kasun Rajitha, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Lahiru Kumara

England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (c and wk), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

It's do or die time for both England and Sri Lanka as they met each other in Bengaluru on Thursday for Match 25 of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. The English have come onto a stage where they have nothing to lose, thus they'll unleash themselves against the Lankan Lions on Bengaluru's belter of a wicket.