England vs Sri Lanka, Match 27 - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Series: ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Venue: Headingley, Leeds Date & Time: Jun 21, 10:30 AM LOCAL

Jofra Archer bagged three scalps for England © Getty

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Captains speak

Dimuth Karunaratne | Sri Lanka captain: It was a close one. Sometimes we were under pressure and sometimes we were dominating. At the end of the day it was team work - batters, bowlers and fielders. This wicket looked good but when we were batting it was slow. We knew we couldn't get 300, so we wanted to get 250-275 but unfortunately we lost wickets. Angelo batted really well and took responsibility. If we had the score, the bowlers knew what to do on this wicket. When Malinga got a couple wickets we had to keep him for the last overs and then I gave Dhananjaya the ball and he did a good job. Those are the things we want as a team and I am expecting those things as a captain. I think Root's wicket was the turning point. I was not confident (with the review) but still went for it.

Eoin Morgan | England captain: I thought we were really good with the bowl, adapted to the conditions and we restricted Sri Lanka to a chaseable total. Lack of partnerships cost us the game. Couple of individual performances almost took us over the line. It is frustrating in the dressing room. Every game is extremely tough in this tournament, we have talked about this. We will look to bounce back well on Tuesday. Both sides found the conditions challenging. It was a bowler's day. There will be more of those throughout the tournament so we will have to adapt better. It is a tournament where you need to adjust and turn things around. Naturally as a team we tend to come back strongly, that is our strong point. This is a long tournament and we have huge opportunities in every game. We have the chance to bounce back. We have Australia next, it is one of those fixtures which you look first in the fixture list before the start of the tournament. It is always very exciting playing them at the home of cricket. We don't know yet (whether Roy will be fit for the Australia match).

282 - Imran Tahir 216 - Mohd Amir 172 - Oshane Thomas 169 - Jasprit Bumrah 144 - Hamid Hassan 143 - Ben Stokes 136 - Bhuvneshwar Kumar

214 36

Toss and captains speak

Sri Lanka have opted to bat and that is a crucial toss to win. For a team like Sri Lanka, it is perhaps better to set a target and then hope to restrict England based on scoreboard pressure. England have gone in with the same side.

Karunaratne: We'll bat first, looks a batting surface and want to put runs on the board. Hoping to put some scoreboard pressure. We have two changes - Jeevan and Avishka in for Lahiru and Milinda. We have had time to regroup and discuss. Need to do something special against England.

Morgan: We would have batted as well, looks a really good wicket. Best time to bat on. We're playing the same team. The wicket here has assisted turn a bit in recent games, so we have both Adil and Moeen. (On managing fast bowlers' workload) First priority is to get to the semifinals and when/if we do that, we'll decide whom to rest. (On Moeen's 100th ODI) We had a small presentation upstairs. Steven Gerrard sent him (Moeen) a message, so he's buzzing today which is great. He's been a huge part of English cricket for a while now and thoroughly deserves 100 caps.

England (Playing XI): James Vince, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan(c), Jos Buttler(w), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood

Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Dimuth Karunaratne(c), Kusal Perera(w), Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Jeevan Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Isuru Udana, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Pradeep

Dimension analysis and pitch report: "Straight boundaries are larger while the squarer ones are quite small. Definitely better-shaped than Trent Bridge. Looks a good batting pitch which is a bit dry as well. Has been a high scoring surface and whoever wins the toss should bat first." opine Nasser Hussain and Wasim Akram in their inspection.

Prelude:

On February 17, 1982, when Keith Fletcher and Warnapura went out for the toss in Colombo, the oldest nation in Test history, England, and the then newest Sri Lanka locked horns against each other.

It turned out to be a rather keenly-fought game before Emburey and Underwood engineered a collapse to ensure the visitors posted a comfortable victory. Since then, there have been many thrilling contests, sprinkled with controversies between the two sides.

Fast-forward to the 2019 World Cup, where the two sides go head-to-head in Leeds, with the hosts having the clear upper hand. Led by Eoin Morgan, the home side has a powerful batting unit and some serious pace with both Jofra and Wood playing. Morgan himself led from the front with a scintillating 71-ball 48 against Afghanistan.

Can the Dimuth Karunaratne-led Sri Lanka spring a few surprises and catch them off guard? Sri Lanka certainly have to pull their socks as they have only four points from five matches so far.

Here's our preview for the eagerly-awaited contest

Toss and teams in a while...