Sri Lanka knocked out of the 2019 Cricket World Cup

July 01, 2019Author - Editor2

Sri Lanka was knocked out of the 2019 Cricket World Cup with two weeks to go as hosts England inflicted the first defeat on India at the ODI showpiece event last night.

England kept their hopes of reaching the World Cup semi-finals in their own hands following a 31-run win over India at Edgbaston. Jonny Bairstow blazed his maiden World Cup century, striking 10 fours and six sixes, in his blistering 111 off 109 balls, sharing an impressive 160-run opening stand with the returning Jason Roy who made 66.

Indian seamer Mohammad Shami produced a brilliant middle-overs spell of 2-3 from three overs to derail England's big hitting but Ben Stokes smashed 79 off 54 balls to set India a daunting 338 for victory.

Despite losing KL Rahul for a duck, India's chase looked on course as Rohit Sharma who scored 102 and Virat Kohli with 66 shared a 138-run second wicket partnership but middle-over specialist Liam Plunkett picked 3-55 to remove the India captain to break the partnership.

Sharma completed his second hundred of the World Cup off 106 balls but was caught behind off Chris Woakes three balls later and World Cup debutant Rishabh Pant departed to a fine catch in the deep three balls later as England restricted India to 306-5.

The victory moved England back up to the fourth, the final semi-final spot, in the World Cup table with 10 points one ahead of Pakistan

Eoin Morgan's side are one point behind New Zealand on 11 points, and England can seal their progression to the knockout stages of the tournament with a win over the Black Caps in their final group game in Durham on Wednesday.

Despite their first loss of the tournament, two-time World Cup champions India remains second in the table on 11 points and a win against Bangladesh tomorrow at Edgbaston will secure their last-four place.