ICC World Cup 2019: Twitter Reacts as England Restrict Sri Lanka to 232

England produced a brilliant effort with the ball to restrict Sri Lanka to 232 runs in match 27 of the ongoing ICC World Cup 2019 at Headingley in Leeds. Jofra Archer and Mark Wood was the pick of the bowlers for the host returning with six wickets in total.

An easy win on the cards for England

England pacer Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes wreck havoc after Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne won the toss and elected to bat first. Both Woakes and Jofra generated a hint of swing and extracted a tad bit of seam to dismiss both the openers including in-form Karunaratne. Jofra reaped the reward by dismissing Dimuth with the one that nipped away and Kusal followed him by edging a short and wide ball straight to the fielder positioned at third man.

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Striving at three for two, Avishaka Fernando led the revival putting on a great show at Leeds. He took on Archer with a jaw-dropping on the up drive off the back foot and then pulled him for a six. He also stroked Woakes down the ground for another sublime boundary. Fernando stormed into the 40’s but got out in a disappointing manner. He found the third-man field while cutting one from Mark Wood, thus, missing his fifty by one run.

Kusal Mendis then shared a much-needed partnership with Angelo Mathews taking the score over the 100-run mark. They mainly focused on rotating the strike before Adil Rashid two wickets in two deliveries left Sri Lanka stranded again at 133 for five in 30 overs. Dhananjaya de Silva then joined hands with Mathews to stitch another revival but they couldn’t get going and had to rely mainly on ones and twos.

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Mathews reached to his fifty from 85 balls before Jofra Archer returned to pick Dhananjaya to break the partnership. Although Mathews took Sri Lanka over the 200-run mark but Archer kept England in the hunt with timely wickets. Some late blows from Mathews helped Sri Lanka post 232 runs at the end of 50 overs.

Twitter Reactions

When SL bat the pitch is a bowling pitch and when they bowl its a flat pitch … how do you explain that ??? #Cmon #unfair

— Russel Arnold (@RusselArnold69) June 21, 2019

Sri Lanka had been sorely missing a batsman with the blithe approach of Avishkar Fernando. While he was there, the team looked different. Now it’s back to tentativeness, apprehension, uncertainty, struggle

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) June 21, 2019

Some crisp shots by Avishka Fernando….there’s no dearth of talent in Sri Lankan batting. Waiting for someone to take it to the next level… #EngvSL #CWC19

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) June 21, 2019

The only way ahead today for @OfficialSLC is to put as many runs as they can on the board and then try to put @ECB_cricket under pressure, still would be tough given the form ENG are in.#CWC19 #ENGvSL

— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) June 21, 2019

Fernando's batting is a bit like a very young Inzy. Balance and not much footwork. A few tweaks here and there and he looks set to serve Sri Lanka for a long time. The track has settled down and excellent conditions for batting #ENGvSL

— Bharath Ramaraj (@Fancricket12) June 21, 2019

Finally the World Cup arrives at a Proper venue … And the weather arrives too … !! #Headingley #CWC19 Easy win for Sri Lanka today ??? Great to new stand … We don’t need temporary stands here in Yorkshire !!! @… https://t.co/GvNSnc2v1a

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) June 21, 2019

Play positive cricket believe in yourselves & get on top of your game!good luck Srilanka #CWC19

— Sanath Jayasuriya (@Sanath07) June 21, 2019

I am going crazy after watching every shot from Avishka Fernando. This young guy is batting superbly. #ENGvSL #CWC19

— Vishal Yadav (@VishalY44691113) June 21, 2019

England riding their luck ….I mean cmon… 2 out of 3 caught at third man …unbelievable.

— Russel Arnold (@RusselArnold69) June 21, 2019

England should have benched Archer and Buttler today for India game. We have had enough of one-sided games, badly need close ties and nothing could get bigger than this. Hoping for a great, great contest. #ENGvIND

— Gautam Sodhi (@GautamSodhi1) June 21, 2019

https://twitter.com/AccioTweetX/status/1142054220469686273

It's the penultimate ball of the innings. Jofra Archer hurls a short delivery and Angelo Mathews ducks it.

I am not sure what to make of it#CWC19 #ENGvSL

— Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi (@ahsannagi) June 21, 2019

What is even the point of playing ODIs for 4 years if the selectors are going to select the team based on a domestic competition few weeks before the #CWC19?
Also, this proves how below average our domestic system truly is. But we all know that SLC won’t change a thing.#ENGvSL

— Sakun (@Sakun_SD) June 21, 2019

https://twitter.com/BongwhoBongs/status/1142054850357628928