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England will play Sri Lanka in a crucial World Cup 2015 game at the Westpac in Wellington and you can follow the live blog of this Group A game from 9:00am hours AEDT on Sunday.
When England were pummelled by Australia and New Zealand in their first two games of the tournament, questions were raised about their chances of making the quarter-finals. Some even doubted their ability to defeat Scotland in their third game.
England bought themselves some breathing space with their performance against Scotland.
It wasn’t the most confident and there were chinks that still remained in the English armour, but they will be glad to take the two points out of that game and get themselves on board.
In the end, it was not only the fact they won the game but the fact they beat Scotland by a comfortable 119-run margin that will please the management. However, they could have done a lot better.
For instance, their opening wicket stand was worth 172 from 30 overs. Most teams would have gotten themselves to around 330 from that situation if not more, especially with all their wickets intact.
Instead they were reduced to 303 for eight by a bowling line-up that cannot be ranked one of the best in the world. Any other opposition would have taken advantage of this obvious shift of momentum and probably even made them pay. Scotland just did not have the batting fire-power.
What makes this a vital game for England is that a defeat here will mean they will be left with no option but to overcome Bangladesh and Afghanistan in their final two matches. The Bangladesh match, in particular, could become an even more crucial one if they defeat Scotland, given the extra point they got from the Australia game, which was abandoned in Brisbane.
Sri Lanka almost made a mess of a straightforward chase against Afghanistan after having lost their opening game to New Zealand easily. It was the batting of Mahela Jayawardene and the finishing of Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera that saved the day for them in that game.
They roared back strongly against Bangladesh though.
Egged on by centuries from T Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka compiled 332 for one in their 50 overs and bowled Bangladesh out for 240, registering an easy victory.
Not that they can afford too many losses either, given they have one game against Australia and another against Scotland after this. A win against Scotland can be assumed but what they will also want is to avoid finishing fourth in the table – they could end up playing India or South Africa in that case.
What could work in England’s favour are the conditions in Wellington with the ball expected to hoop around a bit. The match is an 11 am start which should help retain some of the early morning moisture. The team fielding first could have an advantage if they know how to use those conditions and could go on to win the game.
You can follow the live scores & blog of this England v Sri Lanka World Cup 2015 encounter from 0900 hours AEDT on Sunday and post your comments in the section below.
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