ODI World Cup 2023, Match 25, England vs Sri Lanka Stats Review: Sri Lanka’s dominance over England, Pathum Nissanka’s feat and other stats

Sadeera-Samarawickrama-and-Pathum-Nissanka. (Photo by DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP via Getty Images)

All-round excellence from the bowlers, followed by brilliant fifties from the duo of Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama, helped Sri Lanka beat England by a margin of eight wickets in match No. 25 of ICC ODI World Cup 2023 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

England won the all-important toss and opted to bat first, Jonny Bairstow was lucky enough in the first ball of the game as Sri Lanka missed to take the review.  From there, England got off to a good start as Dawid Malan went on to score a few boundaries contributing 28 off 25 before Angelo Matthews announced his return with a wicket in his third ball.

Sri Lanka chipped in with wickets at regular intervals as they bowled in partnerships. Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow were the only batters to hit the 30-run mark for England. Ben Stokes amassed 43 runs, including six fours, while Bairstow scored 30 runs. For Sri Lanka, Lahiru Kumara picked up three wickets, while Angelo Matthews and Kasun Rajitha picked two wickets each; they eventually bowled out England for 156.

Chasing 157, Sri Lanka lost both Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis early on inside the sixth over as David Willey struck twice to dismiss both batters for four and 11, respectively. From there on, Sr Lanka never turned back in the chase as the duo added a solid 137 runs to ease the chase by eight wickets and over 24 overs to spare.

Pathum Nissanka registered his fourth consecutive half-century while Sadeera Samarawickrama continued from where he left last game, remaining unbeaten on 65 runs, eventually helping Sri Lanka to beat England for a fifth consecutive time in the ODI World Cup.

Meanwhile, let us look at the stats and numbers from the 25th game between Sri Lanka and England:

156 -The total of 156 by England is the lowest total recorded in ODIs in Bengaluru; the previous lowest was 168 by India against Pakistan in 1999.

4 – Pathum Nissanka became the first Sri Lankan opener to hit four consecutive fifties in the ODI World Cup.

5 – Sri Lanka have registered their fifth consecutive win against England in ODI World Cup.

4 – Pathum Nissanka has hit four fifty-plus score in the current World Cup, the joint most by a Sri Lankan opener in a single World Cup season. He shares the spot with Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan, who did the same in the 2007 and 2011 World Cups.

11 – Pathum Nissanka now has 11 fifty-plus scores in ODIs in 2023, the joint most along with Shubman Gill.

137* – The partnership of 137 between Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama is the third-highest partnership for any wicket for Sri Lanka against England in the World Cup. 231* between Upul Tharanga and Tilekaratne Dilshan in the 2011 quarter-finals tops the list, followed by 212* between Kumar Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne in Wellington in 2015.

156 – The total of 156 is the third-lowest first-innings total for England against Sri Lanka in Odis. 88 in Dambulla in 2003 and 143 in Dambulla in 2001 are the first two.