This World Cup has been crying out for a shock, and it has come in the most surprising circumstances: unfancied Sri Lanka have beaten hosts and favourites England thanks to brilliant quick bowling from Lasith Malinga and the unremarkable off-spin of Dhananjaya de Silva.
It was a thrilling game of cricket – the World Cup at its very best.
For so long England have been master chasers, but they have lost twice now in the World Cup batting second.
Such an outcome seemed unthinkable at halfway, when Sri Lanka had posted just 232 with a batting display that was pretty passive.
Led by Jofra Archer, England had bowled impressively to limit them, and were perhaps a little complacent in their chase.
So the group stages remain alive, and England must take points off Australia, India or New Zealand when those games looked set to be little more than warm-ups for the semi-finals.
This was a very careless defeat indeed that included some very careless batting. Sri Lanka have been hopeless at times, but could still qualify.
England’s chase did not feel doomed, though, even when Malinga had taken four of the first five wickets to fall.
For the second time this tournament, Joe Root was in for the innings’ third ball after a Jonny Bairstow golden duck.
He was pinned lbw by Malinga, who, before the powerplay was out, had James Vince – wait for it – caught at slip after a couple of lovely boundaries. Eventually, Vince must take one of these chances.
Root fizzed away for his fifth half-century of the tournament, and looked to be calmly carrying England to victory.
But Malinga came back for a middle-over burst, and had him strangled down the legside for 57, then pinned Jos Buttler in front.
Buttler took England’s review with him, but England had plenty of batting to come.
Malinga had found swing and his customary dip; he is a little tubbier than he once was but remains a unique cricketing sight. There’s a reason he has more than 50 wickets in World Cups.
It was only when Dhananjaya had both Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid caught behind in the 39th over did things suddenly look dire; Moeen Ali had left the door ajar for Sri Lanka by holing out to long-off the ball after hitting a fine six to midwicket.
It was just very silly cricket, and so was Jofra Archer picking out long-on off Isuru Udana, who had earlier taken a brilliant caught and bowled to dismiss Eoin Morgan.
So Malinga had two of the last eight overs left when he returned, and England got through them – but not without a fright.
