England are on the brink of being eliminated from the Cricket World Cup after suffering an embarrassing eight-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka.
After only winning one match - against Bangladesh - all tournament, England were realistically at the point of no return heading into Thursday's fixture at Bengaluru.
However, the defending champions were never in the contest and were bowled out for 156 in 33.2 overs before seeing Sri Lanka cruise to their target with eight wickets and 146 deliveries remaining.
Historically, it represents one of England's worst defeats at a World Cup, while in the short term, they sit ninth in a 10-nation group with only Netherlands' worse net-run rate stopping Jos Buttler's side from being bottom.
Although Jonny Bairstow (30) and Dawid Malan (28) put on 45 for the opening wicket, the dismissal of the latter led to a shambolic collapse, with Joe Root being run out for just three off 10 balls.
While Ben Stokes did his best to hold the innings together with 43 from 73, no-one else in the lineup scored more than 15, while it took a late David Willey (14) contribution to get England past the 150.
"That is dopey from Adil Rashid, it's absolutely brilliant from Sri Lanka's captain!" 😮
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) October 26, 2023
"No one can believe it!" 😮 pic.twitter.com/PKnOZ4gTva
Kasun Rajitha ((2-36), Angelo Matthews (2-14) and Lahiru Kumara (3-35) all excelled with the ball for Sri Lanka, giving the batsmen every chance of getting their team over the line with minimal fuss.
Willey was able to take two early wickets to restrict their opponents to 23-2, but Pathum Nissanka (77*) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (65*) hit 14 fours and three sixes between them as they took the England bowlers apart.
Buttler's side are now effectively playing for pride, and that bid will start when they play tournament hosts India on Sunday. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka are now fifth ahead of meeting Afghanistan in their next fixture.
Darren Plant
