ICC World Cup 2019: Match 27, England vs Sri Lanka – Malinga’s magic, Root’s form and more stats

Sri Lanka pulled off what not many would have expected from them; defeating England, the hosts and prime favourites of the tournament. Angelo Mathews anchored the Lankan innings with an unbeaten 85 while Avishka Fernando (49) and Kusal Mendis (46) scored the 40s to push their total to 232/9. An inspired spell of bowling from Lasith Malinga and a late turnaround from Dhananjaya de Silva put Lankans on the top. Ben Stokes kept his fight intact with an unbeaten 82 but England were bowled out for 212 in 47 overs.

All the statistical highlights from Sri Lanka’s stunning victory over England in Leeds:

A streak continues while one comes to an end:

4 – Sri Lanka now has won each of their previous four World Cup matches against England – in 2007, 2011, 2015 and now in 2019. The last instance of England winning against Sri Lanka in a CWC game came in 1999. This was also the first World Cup win for Sri Lanka against England in England. They were defeated by hosts twice in 1983 and once in 1999 previously.

6 – England won their last six ODI matches they played at the Headingley before losing in this game. Their last ODI defeat at this venue also came against Sri Lanka back in July 2011 by 69 runs.

Malinga master-class:

51 – Lasith Malinga became the 4th bowler to bag 50 wickets in the World Cup with his 3rd wicket of the game. Malinga is the quickest to the milestone as he needed only 26 matches. Glenn McGrath and Muttiah Muralitharan needed 30 games apiece while Wasim Akram bagged his 50th CWC wicket in the 34th match.

6 – Lasith Malinga now has six 4-wicket hauls in ICC Tournaments (World Cup, Champions Trophy and T20 CWC); only the 4th player with as many hauls. Imran Tahir and Shahid Afridi have seven 4-fers in ICC tournaments while Muralitharan also has six.

A Lankan surprise:

232/9 – The total of 232/9 is the 2nd lowest total that Sri Lanka has successfully defended in a World Cup game. (Complete 50-over game) They won by six runs against Windies while defending 228/6 during the 2003 edition game in Cape Town.

1999 – Last time England failed to chase down a target as low as 233 in the World Cup was back in 1999. They failed to chase the target of 233 set by India during the game played in Birmingham.

2008 – The last instance of England failing to chase down a target as less as 233 in a home ODI was recorded in 2008. They were bundled out for 160 in response to New Zealand’s 182/10 during the Bristol ODI also played on June 21st.

Jofra continues to shine with the ball:

5 – Number of times Jofra Archer has taken three wickets in a World Cup game; the most by any player for England. Phil DeFreitas had four 3-wicket hauls in his World Cup career for England. Jofra has five such hauls in only six matches.

4 – Archer has taken a 3-fer in each of his last four games in this tournament. He is only the 4th bowler with four consecutive 3-fers in the World Cups. Chaminda Vaas and Brett Lee had this feat in 2003 while Glenn McGrath replicated it in 2007.

Root carries his form:

5 – Number of fifty-plus scores for Joe Root in this tournament; the joint-most by an England batsman in a World Cup edition. Kevin Pietersen in 2007 and Jonathan Trott in 2011 also had five scores of 50+.

Root @ 1000:

1028 – Joe Root became the first England player to score 1000 ODI runs against Sri Lanka. Root completed the milestone when he passed his individual score of 29. Three Sri Lankans scored over 1000 ODI runs against England but Root is the first to do it in the other way around.

Milestones for Morgan and Mathews:

9013 – Eoin Morgan became the 14th player to score 9000 runs in International cricket for England. He got to his 9000th International run for England when on 8.

12084 – Angelo Mathews is now the 8th player to amass 12000 runs for Sri Lanka in International cricket. Mathews needed ten runs prior to the tournament but got only nine in the previous three matches.