Two teams desperate for win to keep semi-final chances alive

 Sri Lanka head coach Chris Silverwood in conversation with Angelo Mathews during a 

practice session at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru

• Sri Lanka take on England today

Two teams with a similar record of one win and three losses and desperate for a win – Sri Lanka and England, confront each other at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru today, in one could be termed a contest where the losing side can virtually kiss goodbye to their chances of qualifying for a place in the Cricket World Cup semi-finals.

The tournament has reached its halfway mark with all the teams nearly playing five matches each.

England, the defending champions will be keen to put behind the thrashing they received at the hands of South Africa, five days ago, when they suffered their heaviest defeat in ODIs by 229 runs, and get their team back on track to where they were a few months ago, having won six of their last 10 matches, which includes two rain-affected No-Results.

Nothing seems to have gone right for England in India, where they have suffered defeats at the hands of New Zealand, Afghanistan and South Africa. Their solitary win was against Bangladesh.

“We are still in the competition, we are still in the tournament,” said all-rounder Moeen Ali assessing England’s chances. “We know it’s a tough one now. We’ve got to win every game. But we know that we can do it. It’s just getting the confidence back as a side and playing the way we know that we can play.”

“We know we have been in this position before, probably not to this degree, but we know everything is a must-win and we have to get our confidence and perform well. Bat, bowl and field better than we have done so far in this tournament.”

England will be coming up against their former coach Chris Silverwood who is now with Sri Lanka and Moeen said, “They have only won one as well, so I know they are going to want to get on this winning run as well as anybody else. I think he will be thinking more about that and his own team. But I’m sure deep down, like everybody else would, you are trying to prove a point or whatever it is. It might motivate him even more. But he is not the one going out to bat and bowl, it’s his team and he will be just trying to get his players ready. He’s a very good coach and he’s a nice guy. I enjoyed him.”

When asked whether England could capitalise on Sri Lanka’s bowling unit that is struggling with injuries, Moeen replied, “We still have to play well and it is international cricket. Even if they are slightly weaker in their bowling, it doesn’t give us confidence. If anything, we’ve got to go out and just perform like we are playing against anybody else, and be ruthless in our batting, which we know we can be and we can do. We need to build our confidence as well as a side. Most teams will lose bowlers and have injuries and things like that, but our job as the opposition is to perform to our capabilities.”Sri Lanka’s bowlers need to be very strict with their lines and lengths at this venue because it is quite small and the wicket is flat and good for batting. It’s one of those grounds where scoring is quick and England batting deep can make a difference.

Former England captain Eoin Morgan described today’s contest as “not just a game”. “It’s a battle for redemption, a chance for England to prove that they can bounce back from adversity and reaffirm their status as one of the cricketing giants.”

Sri Lanka and England have faced each other in 11 ICC World Cup 50-over matches with England having won six and Sri Lanka five. Sri Lanka in fact have won the last four World Cup meetings between the two teams in 2007 (by 2 runs), 2011 (by 10 wickets), 2015 (by 9 wickets) and 2019 (by 20 runs).