Sri Lanka set to retain WC record against England

Sri Lanka will be England’s opponent in the 13th edition of the global showpiece tournament now being played across Indian cities. That last World Cup encounter at Leeds had been a lowscoring game.

Not to forget the unbeaten 85 by Angelo Mathews and two 40-plus scores from Avishka Fernando (49) and Kusal Mendis (46) which helped Sri Lanka set up a decent target.

Come Thursday, the defending champions must rewrite history, not only to end Sri Lanka’s dominance against them in World Cups but, more importantly, to avert an early exit from their title defence campaign.

They have lost three of their four games, including a 69-run defeat against Afghanistan which has put their campaign on the line. Sri Lanka, while never a favourite, lost three of their four games and are also in a must-win scenario to clinch a semi-final berth.

“It certainly leaves us in a tough position,” said the English Skipper Jos Buttler, following their massive defeat at the hands of the South Africans.

As admitted by Buttler, England has an extremely tough journey in their quest to defend the title as they must win all remaining five qualifying matches. This is a tall order, given that two of their next five opponents are Australia and hosts India who are unbeaten so far in the tournament.

Thus, Thursday’s clash between Sri Lanka and England is crucial for both teams as it will allow the winner to preserve their tournament hopes until they meet their next opponent. The loser will go into their remaining four matches knowing that they are out of contention for the title, even if they win those games. (Champika Fernando in Bengaluru)

(SL beat England by 20 runs in 2019 CWC)