World Cup 2019: Michael Vaughan is overly concerned for England after Sri Lanka loss

England is currently ICC’s number-one ranked ODI side and quite expectantly, Eoin Morgan & Co. are being deemed as one of the favorites to win the World Cup at home. They started with a 104-run victory versus South Africa at the Kennington but lost to resurgent Pakistan thereafter at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. The Brits didn’t allow the pressure to mount on them by any means.

The Three Lions took down Bangladesh, the Windies and then Afghanistan without dropping much sweat. Their sixth match was versus Sri Lanka at the Headingley in Leeds. After the Lankan innings, England was faced with chasing down a modest score of 233, something many expected them to achieve without much fuss. However, the old guards — Lasith Malinga and Angelo Matthews — of Dimuth Karunaratne’s Lanka had ideas of folding the top ODI unit.

England stares down the barrel

The Islanders defended the target and won by 20 runs despite a valiant 82 from Ben Stokes, who was stranded as he saw England getting bowled out. In their last two matches of the league stage, England was scheduled to face India and New Zealand, all of whom has had impressive campaigns in the ongoing mega event. The Brits are currently playing Aussies at the Lord’s in London, who are likely to seal a semis spot comfortably.

The Men in Yellow got off to a stupendous start courtesy of a 123-run partnership of 22.4 overs between openers David Warner and Aaron Finch. Under overcast conditions, England decided to attack with the pacers. The likes of Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer created a lot of opportunities, but couldn’t draw first blood a bit early for the team. Moeen Ali eventually snapped Warner.

The Aussie southpaw notched 53 runs off 61 balls and kept the English bowlers at bay for a significant amount of time. In the meantime, Michael Vaughan, the former England cricketer, is a lot concerned. The cricketer-turned-commentator fears that the loss to Sri Lanka may end up becoming detrimental to England’s World Cup journey.

He understands that beating India and New Zealand won’t be a walk in the park for the Three Lions. He took to Twitter and wrote, “The Sri Lankan loss is looking worse & worse by the second …. !! #CWC19,”

Here is Vaughan’s tweet

The Sri Lankan loss is looking worse & worse by the second …. !! #CWC19

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) June 25, 2019