BENGALURU, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka restricted England to a below-par 156 all out in 33.2 overs in a must-win clash between the World Cup's stragglers on Thursday, with only Ben Stokes offering some resistance in a dismal batting display by the defending champions.
Stokes (43) took the attack to Sri Lanka on a dry wicket at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium after England's middle-order collapsed in the face of some incisive bowling, but he holed out to Dushan Hemantha in the deep off Lahiru Kumara (3-35) in the 31st over.
Sri Lanka earlier put the brakes on England's scoring as returning veteran Angelo Mathews (2-14) removed opener Dawid Malan (28) and helped run out Joe Root, before Kumara struck twice to leave the holders in trouble at 85-5.
Sri Lanka, who came into the contest with the same record as England with three defeats in four matches, ran through the tail to lay the platform for a big upset.
Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; editing by John Stonestreet and Christian RadnedgeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons:
Ben Stokes, Stokes, Kumara, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Kasun, Angelo Mathews, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Mathews, Matheesha, snared Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Shrivathsa Sridhar, John Stonestreet
Organizations:
England, Thomson
Locations:
BENGALURU, Sri Lanka, England, Bengaluru