Match report: Thirimanne, Sangakkara lead England demolition

Sri Lanka took one more stride towards the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup quarter-finals with their third win in a row, this one the most significant because it came against England, chasing 310 at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington. After a ragged first half in the field, where the bowlers were ordinary and Angelo Mathews' captaincy distinctly bland, Sri Lanka were carried by excellent centuries from Lahiru Thirimanne and Kumar Sangakkara, whose 212-run partnership for the second wicket helped seal victory with nine wickets and 16 deliveries remaining. This big win puts Mathews' team in second position in Pool A with six points, behind New Zealand who are on top of the group with eight points, while England remain second from last.

Thirimanne's career-best 139 not out, featuring two sixes and 13 fours, was overall elegant - his cover-drives purred along the grass with Sangakkara-like grace - but he was fortunate to have gotten to three figures. On 3, he was

dropped by Joe Root at first slip off Stuart Broad in the fourth over and then on 99, Moeen Ali spilled a sitter at cover-point. In between those chances, Thirimanne was elegance personified and assured with his footwork and stroke play. He dominated a 100-run opening stand with Tillakaratne Dilshan, whose 55-ball 44 contained two cracking sixes off one Broad over, and once partnered by the effortless Sangakkara, ensured the start was not wasted.

Sangakkara entered when Thirimanne was on 51. He settled in with singles and one boundary off Ali's offspin, but then shifted gears with a flat-batted six off Steven Finn in the 34th over. That prompted the batting Powerplay to be taken, which began with Sangakkara pulling Broad for four before he targetted Finn again, slapping a bouncer over fine leg for six. James Anderson was twice swatted for fours by Sangakkara in the 38th over, and then came Ali's massive drop off the last ball. Moments later, Thirimanne threaded another drive through the covers to reach his century from 117 balls.

Sangakkara joined him too, scampering two off Broad to get there off his 70th delivery faced. Like Thirimanne, he briefly soaked up the applause from the large Sri Lankan presence in the stands, then got back to finishing the chase. He kept bisecting the gaps on the off side with ease, and Thirimanne hit the winning runs by lofting Chris Woakes over cow corner for six.

England should feel deeply hurt not to have won after posting 309 for 6, their sixth-highest total in World Cups, on the back of a splendid innings from Root, who at 24 became England's youngest World Cup centurion. His 121 from 108 balls was an energetic, excellently-paced innings that lifted England from 71 for 2 to 265 for 6, a stage from which Jos Buttler stepped on the pedal efficiently.

Root helped recover the innings from Ian Bell's exit for 49, first putting on 60 in 14.1 overs with Eoin Morgan and then running Sri Lanka ragged with his partnership of 98 with James Taylor. The two maneuvered the batting Powerplay well, with Root's cutting especially striking as he steered and guided Lasith Malinga and Thisara Perera into the gaps. Taylor harried between the wickets after pushing fuller deliveries in front of fielder inside the circle, getting the fluent Root on strike for 18 deliveries in the Powerplay, from which he scored 28 runs. That set England up nicely for a late assault in the final ten, at 203 for 4 after 40 overs.

Root lifted the tempo by squeezing a Malinga yorker to third man for four, then heaved Mathews for six to move to 96. The landmark came next ball, Root steering another four between cover and point. He needed 100 balls. The rest of his innings was a flurry of boundaries, including consecutive walks across the stumps to reverse-paddle Perera for four and six during an over that produced 25 runs.

Taylor went in the next over for a run-a-ball 25, guiding Malinga to backward point for Dilshan's third catch, and then Root fell trying to reverse-sweep the left-arm spin of Rangana Herath. Butter was clanged on the helmet by a sharp bouncer first up, but picked himself up to inject 39 from 18 balls to Englands total. One of his smashes sent Herath off the field during the penultimate over with a bleeding index finger, and the replacement bowler, Perera, conceded four off the last delivery. Buttler toyed with Mathews' poor field placements - third man and fine leg back for the paddle - by crunching a four and six through the vacant offside region off Suranga Lakmal in the last over. A second full toss from Lakmal sent him out of the attack, leaving Buttler to collect six off two balls. At that stage it looked like Sri Lanka were down, but Thirimanne and Sangakkara turned the match into one-way traffic.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 312 for 1 in 47.2 overs (Lahiru Thirimanne 139*, Kumar Sangakkara 117*) beat England 309 for 6 in 50 overs (Joe Root 121, Ian Bell 49) by nine wickets.