The Sri Lankan team outclassed England by eight wickets in the ongoing World Cup 2023 clash at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday. Pathum Nissanka and Sameera Samarawickrama starred with the bat with both scoring 77 and 65 respectively, helping their team beat England.

In the crucial match held in Bengaluru, England’s top six batsmen faced a significant collapse within the initial 25 overs. Jos Buttler, the England captain, won the toss and elected to bat first. While they initially had a promising start, Sri Lanka made a strong comeback, largely thanks to the veteran Angelo Mathews, who returned to the Sri Lankan side and took a wicket in the seventh over. Notably, this wicket marked his first in over three years in ODI cricket.

The early wickets tumbled quickly for England, with Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, and Jos Buttler all heading back to the pavilion before the 16th over. Ben Stokes then appeared to be forming a solid partnership with Moeen Ali, but Moeen Ali fell to Mathews after scoring 15 runs at a run-a-ball rate. This partnership came to an end after contributing 37 runs. Shortly after, Chris Woakes was dismissed, thanks to an exceptional catch by Sadeera Samarawickrama. England became heavily reliant on Ben Stokes, however, the England Test captain, Stokes, was also dismissed, scoring 43 runs off 73 balls in the 31st over. Ultimately, England were bundled out for a mere 156 runs in 33.2 overs.

For Sri Lanka, Lahiru Kumara was the star with the ball as he ended up picking three wickets while Rajitha and Mathews scalped two wickets each.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka lost their first two wickets, those of Kusal Perera and captain Kusal Mendis, in the first six overs. However, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Pathum Nissanka provided stability to the Sri Lankan innings by scoring terrific half-centuries. On the back of their innings, the Island nation outplayed the English side.

For England, David Willey was the only one who took two wickets and apart from him, no other bowlers could strike.