ICC Champions Trophy 2013: Five reasons England lost to Sri Lanka

After a string of low-scoring encounters and the odd match that was washed out, the Champions Trophy finally came to life as Sri Lanka put up a magnificent batting performance, chasing down England’s total of 293 runs and exhibiting great determination. It was a match that could have potentially seen the Lankan lions being evicted from a major ICC competition in spite of a fighting performance against the Kiwis; but the crucial win has ensured that they live to fight another day. England, on the other hand, would have considered job half-done as they entered their dressing room with a total of 293 on board riding on the back of a complete team performance. However, Ravi Bopara’s stunning finish to the English innings deserves special mention.

As much as the credit of the win must go to Sri Lanka’s batting performance, the result re-enforced certain observations that have been made about the competition this year. The wickets are not traditional English wickets, and have offered very little assistance to the fast bowlers in terms of swing. The bounce has been consistent; and if it is an encouragement for the bowlers, it is a boon for the batsmen. The other observation that had been made early on this competition was that no target is impossible to chase given the attitude that has been fostered by T20 cricket in modern-day batsmen. Any required run-rate below 10 an over in the last ten overs is considered achievable. Here are five reasons why Sri Lanka emerged dominant yesterday:

5. England’s scoring rate

It is perhaps very harsh that inspite of getting a total of 293 on board, the accusation of getting runs slowly has to be made against England. However, in the modern-day game, scores above 300 are absolutely necessary, and unfortunately that was not the case with England’s batting card. Alastair Cook has been criticized for this element of his game. He took 85 balls for his 59 runs. The English top-order is rather inclined towards the orthodox, and a Test-like batting approach may be an advantage against weaker batting line-ups, but can be a drawback against the high-scoring line-ups like India. Moreover, the lower-middle order slump that saw England go from 218-3 to 254-7 meant that the target – which could have been well over 300 – fell short of the magical number.