England were strangled into a shock 20-run defeat by Sri Lanka that dented their hopes of reaching the World Cup semi-finals and breathed life into the tournament.
Chasing 233 on an increasingly difficult pitch, the hosts were smothered by a brilliant Sri Lanka bowling performance in a compelling contest at Headingley.
When Ben Stokes was joined by last man Mark Wood, England still needed 47, but Stokes clubbed 24 from nine deliveries to make a deafening crowd believe.
Wood, though, edged Nuwan Pradeep behind to leave Stokes stranded on 82 not out and England 212 all out.
They had earlier restricted Sri Lanka to 232-9, with Angelo Mathews’ painstaking 85 proving to be a match-winning innings.
England stay third in the 10-team table, but their three most difficult group games – against Australia, India and New Zealand – are still to come.
Sri Lanka climb to fifth, only two points behind England, their unlikely hopes of reaching the semi-finals still alive.
You might also like… Police officer killed in Soweto shootout & three suspects arrested
Police in Gauteng have arrested three men in connection with the murder of a young police officer in Soweto. The officer was killed on Thursday during a shootout with alleged car thieves.
Police officers had been on patrol in at the Nancefield Hostel, where they stopped a suspicious vehicle before a shootout ensued.
Constable Nhlamulo Vuyeka, 28, was killed in the shootout. He was stationed at the Moroka Crime Prevention unit. continue reading…
Source – BBC
