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Match Report:

Scorecard

Kumar, Sri Lanka crush England

Kumar Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne score tons in emphatic victory in Wellington

England will try to ignore the World Cup pressure which has been piled on them after succumbing by nine wickets to a relentless Sri Lanka run chase in Wellington.

In another demonstration of Sri Lanka's batting quality, opener Lahiru Thirimanne and run machine Kumar Sangakkara compiled unbeaten centuries as the pursuit cruised to 1-310 against a listless English attack.

They effortlessly knocked off the biggest successful ODI chase in Westpac Stadium's history with 16 balls to spare in front of a crowd of 18,183.

Sri Lanka's third win from four games cements their second placing in pool A, ahead of Bangladesh and fourth-placed Australia, while England remain rooted in second-last spot.

A lone win over bottom-placed Scotland and three losses leaves the English almost certainly needing to win their last two games - both in Australia, against Bangladesh and Afghanistan - to qualify for the quarter-finals.

A washout in either game could well end their hopes of claiming a maiden World Cup title.

England captain Eoin Morgan rejected a suggestion the fragile state of their position will weigh him and his team down.

"It's not even a thought at the moment. (We need) Two games to win to get us into the quarter-finals."

Morgan admits standards dropped in the field, with chances spilled and at least one loose ball bowled every couple of overs by his count.

He thought their score of 6-309 was 25 runs better than "par", built around Joe Root's 121 off 108 balls.

They ultimately paid for some sluggish work through the middle stages on an excellent batting wicket, leaving some late fireworks from Root and Jos Buttler's unbeaten 39 off 27 balls to lift them past 300.

Root and Buttler then combined for a telling mistake in the fourth over when Thirimanne was on 3.

Wicketkeeper Buttler moved towards a snick but pulled away, leaving Root at first slip to make a late grab, which he spilled.

Thirimanne went on to score a methodical 137 off 143 balls, putting on 210 for the second wicket with the sublime Sangakkara, whose 117 took just 86 balls.

Thirimanne later delivered a dagger with his comments at a media conference.

He was asked if England's attack was inferior to Associate nation Afghanistan, who gave Sri Lanka problems in Dunedin.

"To be honest Afghanistan's bowlers did really well but there was a little bit for the seamers on that Dunedin wicket," he said.

"Today was very easy for me."

It was 37-year-old Sangakkara's 23rd century and his second in two games after an unbeaten 105 against Bangladesh in Melbourne on Thursday, which accompanied Tillakaratne Dilshan's 161 not out.

England's bowlers all toiled, with spinner Moeen Ali (1-50) the lone wicket taker, removing Dilshan for 44.

Ali dropped a simple chance offered by Thirimanne on 98, summing up a lacklustre fielding display.

Earlier, Root also survived a snick when he was on two and went on to mirror Thirimanne on two counts. It was his fourth ODI century and the highest score of his career.

He unfurled the reverse sweep to good effect but ultimately fell playing the high-risk shot, trapped lbw by spinner Rangana Herath.