England on brink of World Cup exit after heavy loss to Sri Lanka – stay reaction | Cricket World Cup 2023

“It’s incredibly tough,” says Jos Buttler. “Incredibly disappointing tournament. Not just short of our best but a very long way. As captain, you feel that a lot – disappointed for myself and all the boys that we’ve not shown a good account of ourselves…” He manages a wry smile. “Can’t fault the guys’ efforts. It’ starts at the front and I’ve been a long way short of my best. ”

Sri Lanka go up to fifth within the desk, forward of Pakistan. Both these sides have 4 factors from 5 video games, as do Afghanistan. England have two factors from 5 – received one, misplaced 4 – and they’re ninth. Their web run fee is terrible too (-1.63), however fortunately for them the Netherlands’ is even worse (-1.90). So Glenn Maxwell’s massive hitting has no less than saved England off all-time low.

Sri Lanka win by eight wickets with virtually half their overs to spare – 24.2 overs. This has been the shortest match within the 2023 World Cup. And the bottom ebb for England, who have been extensively anticipated to win.

SRI LANKA WIN BY A STREET AND ENGLAND’S MISERY DEEPENS

twenty fifth over: Sri Lanka 152-2 (Nissanka 69, Samarawickrama 65) Chris Woakes, exuding decency as ever, manages to delay the inevitable, however his over nonetheless goes for six. Five wanted to full this thrashing.

twenty fourth over: Sri Lanka 146-2 (Nissanka 66, Samarawickrama 63) It’s get together time now. Samarawickrama goes inside-out to loft Moeen for 4, then reverse-sweeps him for 4 extra.

“Re when England were expected to be this bad (drinks break),” says Smylers, “the 11-year-old recently read Young Wisden, published in 2007, in which England are described as ‘Good at: seam bowling, especially at home; being given newspaper columns’ and ‘Not so good at: one-day cricket’. That all sounds pretty accurate again — maybe you should consider a reprint?” Ha. “or anybody desperate, I see the original is available on Amazon for a mere £105.” Blimey.

Fifty to Samarawickrama!

twenty second over: Sri Lanka 129-2 (Nissanka 63, Samarawickrama 49) Five off the over from Moeen, 28 wanted. England are simply going by means of the motions now.

Hundred partnership!

twentieth over: Sri Lanka 118-2 (Nissanka 57, Samarawickrama 44) Buttler provides Wood a breather and turns to Moeen Ali, so it’s spin at each ends – from two bowlers who weren’t wished within the earlier match. The batters do some milking. What would Eoin do? Bring again Willey, almost certainly.

nineteenth over: Sri Lanka 113-2 (Nissanka 53, Samarawickrama 43) Livingstone continues along with his leg-breaks and induces a false shot, nevertheless it simply plops to the bottom within the no-man’s-land past midwicket. Only three off the over, as if that issues: Sri Lanka want solely 44 extra.

Fifty to Nissanka!

seventeenth over: Sri Lanka 103-2 (Nissanka 44, Samarawickrama 42) Faced with these choices I discussed, Buttler picks Liam Livingstone along with his liquorice all-sorts. His first ball sits up asking to be slapped away for 4 and Samarawickrama is completely satisfied to oblige. Sri Lanka want one other 54.

Drinks: it is all going pear-shaped

sixteenth over: Sri Lanka 95-2 (Nissanka 43, Samarawickrama 35) A uncommon dangerous ball from Wood right this moment, a bouncer that simply wants serving to not far away by Nissanka. The goal shrivels to 62. Buttler has a relatively skimpy set of choices – deliver Woakes again, strive Moeen or Livingstone, deliver Willey again … or persuade Stokes to take up bowling once more.

“This seems so obvious as to be a mundane observation in the extreme, and yet: confidence and momentum are so important, aren’t they?” says Rob Knap. “This group of players has seemed to collectively maintain both for longer than normal, despite the occasional dips. It’s not unusual for such a successful sports team to suffer such a rapid turnaround in fortunes like this, as others have said today. I can understand motivation and intensity dropping as they realise what’s happening – see Adil’s run-out for an example of that. Willey seems to still have some of that intensity at least (perhaps contract-related?).

“I can only imagine they’re extremely aware of what’s happening, whatever they say publicly (God knows every club cricketer of a certain age understands what ‘losing it’ feels like, whether collectively or individually). It must be pretty depressing for them. I hope they get a sympathetic and appreciative send-off as a team, but I suspect that’s unlikely…”

Sri Lanka are previous midway!

Another optimist writes.

14th over: Sri Lanka 75-2 (Nissanka 34, Samarawickrama 24) Wood is bowling fairly properly, however these two batters have gotten their eye in and he can solely draw a half-false shot out of them. An impressive bouncer brings a fence from Samarawickrama, who places his fingers on the road and will get a reduce for his bother. The fifty partnership comes up, off 48 balls, which is precisely the appropriate method to method a small run chase. Buttler belatedly brings in a slip. Let’s have a Test-match discipline!

thirteenth over: Sri Lanka 72-2 (Nissanka 33, Samarawickrama 22) Samarawickrama, going through Rashid, tries a scoop and finally ends up getting it within the neck, however he appears to be OK. This is a greater over from Rashid, simply three from it. But England want eight wickets quick and he doesn’t appear to be getting a couple of or two.

“Just recovering from two cataract operations,” says David Gaskell. “Is it my imagination or were England better when I couldn’t see them?”

twelfth over: Sri Lanka 69-2 (Nissanka 32, Samarawickrama 20) Willey takes a break (5-0-30-2) and Buttler performs the one card left in his hand of seamers: Mark Wood. He merely can’t afford to be in his costly mode, and the center sinks as his first ball is an extended hop, slapped away over backward level by Samarawickrama. Wood recovers properly, touching 151kph and beating the bat within the channel not as soon as, not twice, however thrice. Give him a slip! Or three!

eleventh over: Sri Lanka 64-2 (Nissanka 32, Samarawickrama 15) Rashid too begins properly earlier than giving Nissanka a juicy half-volley, despatched for 4. One purpose England are nonetheless agency favourites to lose this match is the outfield, which is like an ice rink.

tenth over: Sri Lanka 56-2 (Nissanka 26, Samarawickrama 13) Willey will get a fifth over. “He’s fired up,” says Nasser, who is aware of a bit about that. Willey begins this over properly, however then Samarawickrama flicks over his left shoulder and will get 4 for it as somebody I can’t fairly make out slides in and shovels the ball onto the Toblerone.

“I don’t think Max Williams should be too worried about the test team,” says Mark Beadle. “Ben [Duckett] and Zak [Crawley] will be in their prime and have England 150+ off 25 overs. Plus, there is actually some decent young players coming through and maybe even Jofra will be fit.” Are you, by any likelihood, an optimist?

ninth over: Sri Lanka 51-2 (Nissanka 25, Samarawickrama 9) On a seaming pitch, England have picked one seamer fewer than within the final recreation, dropping Gus Atkinson (who might need been price a spot only for his batting). So Buttler brings on Adil Rashid earlier than the top of the Powerplay. Nissanka cashes in with a straight six, the primary one of the day not struck by David Willey.

eighth over: Sri Lanka 43-2 (Nissanka 18, Samarawickrama 8) Willey beats Samarawickrama with the ball that goes straight on throughout the right-hander. If England do one way or the other handle to get out of jail right here, their 156 would be the second-lowest first-innings rating by a successful group in a males’s World Cup. Full record right here: it makes you want that England have been going through themselves.

“The timing of the central contracts was completely misguided,” says John Starbuck. “The best option would have been to wait until the end of this tournament and rewarded players appropriately. Don’t the ECB guys know anything?”

seventh over: Sri Lanka 38-2 (Nissanka 16, Samarawickrama 6) Nissanka is shut to being pinned in entrance by Woakes, however he fights again with a flashing blade – a whip to leg, which Dinesh Karthik thinks is premeditated, after which a reduce with quick fingers to take it previous cowl level. He has determined that assault is the perfect kind of defence, and he’s absolutely proper. This is an efficient contest, for now.

sixth over: Sri Lanka 29-2 (Nissanka 7, Samarawickrama 6) Is Sadeera Samarawickrama bothered? He shouldn’t be. He sees a full one first ball and lotions it by means of the covers. But that was one other important incision from Willey, who has persuaded two good gamers to play dangerous pictures. He has two for 20 off his three overs.

WICKET!! Mendis c Buttler b Willey 11 (Sri Lanka 23-2)

fifth over: Sri Lanka 23-1 (Nissanka 7, Ok Mendis 11) Good once more from Woakes, going for simply two singles. His first three overs have gone for 9, an enormous enchancment on the mayhem of his three earlier appearances. But England want wickets …

4th over: Sri Lanka 21-1 (Nissanka 6, Ok Mendis 10) Willey begins this over properly, swinging the ball in, and Jos Buttler brings in a catcher at a kind of deep quick leg. But then that lifter which practically paid off within the first over goes awry and Mendis upper-cuts it for 4.

Willey is clearly rated by Buttler – he’s been most popular right this moment to Sam Curran. But within the break there was an interview with Rob Key, who stated the purpose of this mass hand-out of central contracts was “to make sure we’ve got the best 29 cricketers in England”. What a slap within the face for Willey to discover that he’s within the first XI (with a couple of accidents, as we all know) and but not within the boss’s high 29. What a method to dent a participant’s morale in mid-tournament.

third over: Sri Lanka 15-1 (Nissanka 6, Ok Mendis 4) A superb over from Woakes! Just two from it. Not that England can win this with thrift – nothing however ten wickets will do.

“This is it,” says Tom van der Gucht. “The moment England stand tall and are counted. The moment they bounce back and launch their attack on the World Cup. The moment they began to believe in themselves. When they lift the trophy in a few weeks, we’ll look back to this day and their unlikely victory as the point they Lit the blue touch paper and went off into the stratosphere.”

2nd over: Sri Lanka 13-1 (Nissanka 4, Ok Mendis 4) And the following ball is a missed likelihood! Kusal Mendis flashed at a lifter and Joe Root, at slip, simply couldn’t get his fingers up quick sufficient. An amazing first over from Willey, who has been handled abysmally this week by the England administration. They handed out central contracts to 29 gamers, together with each single member of this World Cup squad – besides Willey. If he was a Yorkie of an earlier technology, he would have flown house in disgust. As it’s, he hit the one six of England’s innings, didn’t get out, and now has a wicket and a near-miss. Give that man a pay rise!

WICKET! Perera c Stokes b Willey 4 (Sri Lanka 9-1)

1st over: Sri Lanka 5-0 (Nissanka 4, Ok Perera 0) Woakes’s opening over is no less than not a catastrophe. The wheels threaten to keep off when he tries to deliver his second ball again into the right-handed Nissanka and simply succeeds in dishing up a fats legside broad. The subsequent one is straighter however too full, and Pathum Nissanka on-drives it for a good-looking 4. But Woakes recovers properly with some line’n’size.

Nissanka has been in kind, which is greater than you’ll be able to say for any of the Englishmen chosen for this match. Harry Brook was badly missed.

The gamers are on the market and Chris Woakes has the brand new ball. There’s a slip and a gully, when Steve Waugh would absolutely be posting the total cordon.

Here’s a considerate take., despatched to Rob earlier than he handed over. “Like you,” Max Williams writes, “I find it tough to muster much ‘send ‘em to the stocks!’ righteous indignation. A tournament like this was probably inevitable: great teams tend to flame out. Leaving aside the England Test burnouts of 2007 and 2013-14, consider France and Spain exiting the group stages of the 2002 and 2014 World Cups – both sides were World and European champions at the time. It’s hard enough to engineer a perfect exit from individual sports, let alone get a collective of greats to bow out on top. You always think you have one more in you.

”An analogous destiny virtually actually awaits the present England Test group – certainly by no means has a aspect been extra clearly destined to implode spectacularly when their time comes. I’m now extraordinarily nervous for the 2025-26 Ashes tour, when most of the group will likely be deep into their 30s. The Bonfire of Bazball will likely be fairly one thing.” It will! When all of us look ahead to the primary session on the Gabba, England could possibly be all out by lunch.

This pitch ought to swimsuit England’s seamers, because it was providing some motion all through their innings. But they could be too shellshocked to mount a fightback.

Thanks Rob and afternoon everybody. Autopsy? Not simply but. WinViz provides England a 10pc likelihood!

Time for me to hand over to the good Tim de Lisle for the second innings. I can suppose of no person higher to start the post-mortem of England’s World Cup.

Thanks on your firm and emails. Let’s meet up for some lifeless rubber subsequent week.

“I was trying to work out the most inept defence of a World Cup apart from this one,” says Rob Durbim. “Racked my brain very hard, but I think it’s got to be Australia in the 1992 version. They didn’t get out of the pool and managed all that at home as well…”

Yes that was a shocker as a result of going the match they have been successfully each England (holders) and India (hosts and big favourites) forward of this yr’s World Cup. Sri Lanka in 1999 was additionally very poor, although it was overshadowed by England’s Hitchcockian fiasco.

“You said neither of the last two batters deserve this,” says Matt Dony. “Willey and Wood, shafted. Yes, I am a child.”

Johnners can be proud of you. Brian, not Emma.

“I wish this were the correct score,” writes Daniel Storey, screenshotting an entry through which I had England at 1563-9. “Although what would we moan about then?”

Oh we’d discover loads.

England raced to 45 for none, although even then they have been fortunate as a result of Jonny Bairstow ought to have been out to the primary ball of the match. And then it occurred.

I nonetheless don’t know what ‘it’ was, so let’s deal in numbers: England misplaced 10 wickets for 111 in 26.5 overs. Ben Stokes top-scored with a defiant, scruffy 43. While he was on the crease there was a soupçon of hope, nevertheless it by no means felt like one thing sensible may occur.

England’s demise was surprising, although I’m undecided it was stunning. It suits the profile of their match – an incredible group who, in good religion, took on one job too many.

The two run-outs specifically have been a window into England’s soul, and likewise their collective noggin. Let’s not be too harsh or whiny; that is half of an even bigger story. A totally life-afirming story.

WICKET! England 156 all out (Wood st Mendis b Theekshana 5)

thirty second over: England 156-9 (Willey 14, Wood 5) Mark Wood doesn’t deserve this. He picks up the place he left off in opposition to South Africa, blazing Kumara coldly over backward level for 4.

Willey, who additionally doesn’t deserve this, slaps 4 extra over further cowl. If England can get to 220… No.

“Too many people are ready to criticise The Hundred, a fantastic and fun sprint competition that has energised a younger fanbase who find the dull and plodding nature of Test cricket too slow and the time needed to dedicate to a 50 over game too long,” writes Oliver.

“If the point is that this group of cricketers hasn’t played enough 50-over cricket heading into a World Cup, the responsibility falls only at the feet of the ECB for not organising enough ODI before the World Cup. Looking to apportion blame anywhere other than that masks the root of the issue.”

I’d argue it’s extra sophisticated than that. The ODI schedule was compromised as a result of of franchise cricket typically, not a lot the Hundred. But let’s not have this debate now, it’s exhausting.

thirty second over: England 147-9 (Willey 10, Wood 0) This must be mind-blowing, and but it feels more and more logical. As Alex Ferguson as soon as stated: “When it goes, it goes quickly, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“The damage was most likely done over the last two years,” writes Victor Manley. “No consistent attempts to bring in younger players who hang about being excellent in county cricket. Shall we have the central contracts argument, just for fun?”

What’s this argument? I can’t sustain.

Theekshana bowled a leg-side broad to Willey which was collected by the keeper Mendis. He noticed Rashid daydreaming and threw down the stumps on the non-striker’s finish. It’s borderline genius from Mendis however so poor from Rashid, one other reflection of England’s psychological state. (NB: Clip incorporates tons of grownup language and themes. Not the bit I’ve linked to, however the remainder of it.)

WICKET! England 147-9 (Rashid run out 2)

thirty first over: England 144-8 (Willey 10, Rashid 1) Poor David Willey, whose World Cup dream has gone mistaken once more, simply differently. He tooks a defiant six, the primary of the innings.

I discover it arduous to be indignant at this. It’s disappointing, complicated, irritating and unhappy, however this group of gamers have given us so a lot pleasure over the previous decade. Has there ever been a greater England group in any sport? (That query is interrogative, not rhetorical.) If they aren’t the perfect, they’re actually on the high desk, they usually deserve higher than the ‘send them home’ crap. It is not going to stand, man.

“I know we all still love him, but I’m afraid that was yet another disappointing cameMo,” writes Brian Withington. “And as Woakes is deemed ‘out’ then the much-vaunted returning all-rounder triumvirate providing ‘batting depth’ (of despair?) has gone for 16 runs. Never mind being less than Harry Brook’s expected value it’s less than half f what Atkinson scored against South Africa. And he bowled rather well …”

WICKET! England 137-8 (Stokes c sub (Hemantha) b Kumara 43)

thirtieth over: England 137-7 (Stokes 43, Willey 4) The thriller offie Theekshana returns to the assault. He hasn’t taken a wicket – but – however he performed a key position in asphyxiating England after the Powerplay. Four from the over, although it wasn’t significantly comfy for Stokes.

“Hello Rob from sunny Wiltshire,” writes Jack Jarrett. “Thank you for your duty and dedication to the cause – at least the rest of us can turn off this dire spectacle, and forget about it! However, isn’t about time we started to address the elephant in the room? Joe Root perhaps alluded to it, but the Hundred has been a catastrophic indulgence that has done nothing to help England. We’ve reduced amount of 50-over cricket, reduced access for spectators, and all for a form of the game that the rest of the world has essentially laughed off and ignored. I know Sky and the Beeb are in thrall to it, but it’s about time the rest of us stopped drinking the Kool Aid and woke up to the damage it’s inflicting.”

I can’t. I’m not prepared to go there, not once more. Please don’t make me.

Ouch! Okay. Well, there are people who know much more about this than me, however my first thought is that this explicit mess isn’t actually concerning the Hundred. This group of gamers haven’t missed any 50-over cricket as a result of of the Hundred. England’s World Cup marketing campaign is an advanced case – lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-yous.