CWC 2019: ENG vs SL Review – Spirited Lankans script famous win to down favourites
This is why we love this game. Not given an iota of a chance before the start of the contest, the Lankan lions roared with full force to inflict a major upset against the favourites England. It was a game of extreme emotions, which not only showed off the individual brilliance of some of the players but also seriously exposed some of the flaws which both the teams have in their departments.
As England managed to restrict Sri Lanka to a meagre score of 232/9, logic dictated that it would be a walk in the park for the strongest batting unit on paper. But cricket which it often does, defied logic today as a collective display of team spirit meant that Sri Lanka managed to bowl out the mighty England for 212, sealing a memorable 20 run victory. This allowed them to continue their streak against England at the World Cup, against whom they haven’t lost since 1999.
Pace prevails
For Sri Lanka’s fragile batting order, the pace of the English bowlers proved to be too much of a difficult task to handle. The Sri Lankan batsmen did not display the requisite technique to counter the likes of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes, who were clearly extracting some bounce and movement out of the surface. The match had barely started when the Lankans already found their openers back in the hut with only three runs on the board. Only Avishka Fernando’s enterprising innings of 49 and the experience of Angelo Mathews allowed them to dig themselves out of a hole. Mathews played the role of a veteran to perfection, occupying one end in his gritty knock of 85. He was given some much-needed support out in the middle by Kusal Mendis, who again got a start but perished at the score of 46. For England, the pacy duo of Wood and Archer finished with 3 wickets apiece, restricting the Lankans to a paltry total of 232-9.
Slinga Malinga strikes back!
For the Lankans to have any hope in the game, they needed their spearhead Lasith Malinga to roll back the years and deliver one of the greatest performances of his career. What do they say? Cometh the hour, cometh the man! Malinga was at his lethal best, getting the Lankans off to a flying start with the new ball, sending the dangerous Bairstow to the pavilion for a duck. He followed it up by getting the scalp of Bairstow’s fellow opener Vince for 14. Before England realized what had struck them, we had a match on our hands.
The middle order chips away
After the rocky start, England needed their big guns in the middle order to steady the ship. That’s exactly what Joe Root did, continuing his blistering form in the tournament. He was given good support by skipper Eoin Morgan, as they forged a partnership of 47 to calm the nerves. Root then tried to build the innings back up with Ben Stokes, with a partnership of 54, before he was eventually dismissed by Malinga for 57, to hang the match in the balance.
Stokes the lone warrior as England collapse
Stokes tried his utmost best to dig in deep, but could not get any support from his fellow lower middle-order batsmen. Malinga in vintage form struck again to grab his fourth scalp with the wicket of Jos Buttler for 10. Moeen Ali walked in and tried to counter-attack. He succeeded briefly, before throwing his wicket away going for one shot too many against Dhananjaya de Silva, perishing for 16. It was now a test of England’s tail, which had so much hype behind them before the start of the tournament. They failed to tick as a collective unit today, folding like a pack of cards against some canny Sri Lankan bowling. In the end, Ben Stokes was the last man standing, launching a serious assault at the end, almost taking England over the line. His innings of 82 off 89 deliveries was a treat to watch. It was a perfectly timed knock, with caution at the start which evolved into a crescendo of brutality at the end. Unfortunately for him, as Mark Wood edged a delivery off Nuwan Pradeep, it was all over as the Lankans clinched a famous win.
