Sri Lanka stun champs England with 8-wicket win

Sri Lanka managed a remarkable victory by eight wickets against world champions England in the 25th game of the World Cup in Bengaluru.

A 137-run unbeaten stand between Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama provided Sri Lanka an easy win over England keeping 146 balls in hand at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium Thursday.

In reply to 156, Sri Lanka lost two early wickets in 23 runs after 5.2 overs. After that, Nissanka and Sadeera played match-controlling knocks till the end and propelled the team the victory by eight wickets.

Nissanka remained unbeaten on 77 from 83 balls hitting seven fours and two sixes while Sadeera on 65 from 54 balls with seven fours and one six.

Only David Willey was the successful bowler from England taking two wickets conceding 30 runs in six overs.

Earlier, England were bowled out for just 156 runs as no batters could resist Sri Lankan bowlers and they lost their all 10 wickets within just 111 runs after having a 45-run opening stand.

After opting to bat, England got quite a good start taking 45 runs in 6.3 overs in the first-wicket partnership between Jonny Bairstow (30) and Dawid Malan (28).

However, they kept losing wickets in quick succession and at a time they lost five wickets in 85 runs. English all-rounders Ben Stokes (43) and Moeen Ali (15) tried to recover from the collapse making a 37-run stand

No other batters were able to survive long enough before Sri Lankan bowling attack as the world champions stopped at 156 after 33.2 overs.

Lahiru Kumara took the highest three wickets for Sri Lanka while Angelo Mathews and Kasun Rajitha got two wickets each.

England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w/c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis(w/c), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madushanka.