New Zealand, England and Australia all finished in Group 1 with 7 points from 5 matches but the Kiwis topped the group with a better NRR. Ben Stokes kept his composure and scored an unbeaten 42 off 36 balls as England reached 144/6 in 19.4 overs when Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat. Sri Lanka could not go on even after beating England, but the islanders made a blistering 52/1 in five overs before ending on a disappointing 141/8.
Opener Pathum Nissenka suffered pain in his sprained ankle and scored 67 to hit England back through his spinners. Adil Rashid was 1-16 and pacer Mark Wood scored 3-26 in his first over after two sixes by Nissanka.
England drenched Sri Lanka in the death overs when Nissanka was dismissed at long on in the 16th over and Wood then took three wickets in his return spell, leaving the islanders to score only 25 runs in the last five overs. England feared injury when David Malan was ruled out after suffering a groin injury.
But England did not feel Malan’s absence after scoring 70 runs in the first six overs from Alex Hales (47) and Jos Buttler (28). Sri Lanka’s premier spinner, Wanindu Hasaranga, ignited the collapse by removing both the batsmen in his successive overs. Harry Brooke and Liam Livingstone then fell cheap and Moeen Ali offered a brilliant catch against offspin from Dhananjaya de Silva (2-24) in covers as Sri Lanka rolled to 111-5 in the 15th over.
But Stokes, promoted to No. 3 in place of the injured Malan, kept calm as wickets fell around him and took England home with two balls to spare.
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