ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Sri Lanka vs England, Pool A match in Wellington in caricatures

England squared off against Sri Lanka in the Pool A match in Wellington, on Sunday in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. The last time these two sides played, Alastair Cook was the English captain and they lost the 7-match One-Day International (ODI) series to Sri Lanka by 5-2 margin. Sri Lanka having lost their opening game against New Zealand came into the game with two wins, first against Afghanistan and then Bangladesh while England had only one win against Scotland in the last game, after their defeats to Australia and New Zealand earlier on. (ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Full coverage)

Eoin Morgan won the toss and chose to bat first. Surprisingly he went with an unchanged team. England got off to an excellent start with Ian Bell (49) leading the charge before he was bowled out just one run short of his half-century. England then, played a watchful game in the middle overs, keeping their wickets intact. A quick 98-run partnership between Joe Root (121 from 108 balls) and James Taylor (25) along with a fiery innings from Jos Buttler (39 from 19 balls) helped them to reach 309 for six in 50 overs. All the six bowlers used by Sri Lanka were among the wickets. (ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Points Table)

As in the earlier game against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka completed a victory losing just one wicket. Bangladesh with Kumar Sangakkara (117*) scoring back-to-back centuries. Lahiru Thirimanne (139*) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (44) added 100 for the first wicket, and then a match-winning unbeaten 212-run partnership between Thirimanne and Sangakkara sealed the game in the favour of the Lankans. It was a brilliant display of batting from Thirimanne and Sangakkara who thrashed the English bowlers. Sangakkara was adjudged the Man of the Match for his unbeaten knock of 117 runs off 86 balls.

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The win means that Sri Lanka sit second on the points table with six points while England are sixth and in danger of losing out a quarter-final berth should they lose another. Sri Lanka faces co-hosts Australia next on March 8 while England plays Bangladesh on March 9.

Brief scores:

England 309 for six in 50 overs (Joe Root 121, Ian Bell 49, Jos Buttler 39*; Tillakaratne Dilshan 1-35, Angelo Mathews 1-43) lost to Sri Lanka 312 for one in 47.2 overs (Lahiru Thirimanne 139*, Kumar Sangakkara 117*; Moeen Ali 1-50) — by 9 wickets