England plummeted to new depths of despair as another miserable batting performance on Thursday forced them to their fourth loss in five matches in the World Cup. Their title defence now looks almost over and only a stroke of luck can see them make the semi-finals from here.

England, opting to bat first, suffered a baffling batting debacle and were bundled out for a paltry 156, courtesy the five wickets shared by comeback man Angelo Mathews (2/14) and an impressive Lahiru Kumara (3/35).

Despite losing a couple of early wickets, Sri Lanka confidently finished their chase as Pathum Nissanka (77 off 83 balls) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (65 off 54 balls) led the process with an unbroken 137-run stand for the third wicket.

England might have hoped for a miracle when they dismissed opener Kusal Perera and captain Kusal Mendis through left-arm pacer David Willey to reduce their opponents to 23 for 2 but Nissanka and Samarawickrama scripted the eight-wicket victory at the Chinnaswamy.

Captain Jos Buttler termed his side’s performance in the tournament so far as “shocking.”

“I think you’re always questioning as captain.

“How you can get the best out of players, how you can get the team moving in the right direction. I certainly have a lot of confidence and belief in myself as a leader and as a player,” Buttler said at the post-match news conference.

“But if you’re asking if I should still be captaining the team that’s a question for the guys above me,” he added.

However, Buttler did not deny the fact that his side failed to deliver on the biggest stage and it has come as a shock for everyone in the team.

“We’re a really good team. So to be sitting here now with the three weeks that I’ve been is a shock. It’s a shock to everyone.

“I’ll walk back to the dressing room after this and look at the players and think how we found ourselves in this position,” he said.

But Butter did not shy away from the fact that England were vastly under par during the whole tournament, not just in terms of defeats but also because of their margins.

“Incredibly disappointing and frustrating. We’re not just losing, we’re losing by a long way and playing a long way short of our best,” he said.

“You get on the plane to come to India and we’re in a really good position as a team. But it has not just worked at all,” said Buttler.

England lacked determination on the day. It was just a matter of a couple of batsmen sticking out in the middle to help them reach a competitive total.

But none barring Ben Stokes (43) and Dawid Malan (28) even remotely attempted to bat with purpose for a team that was playing in a must-win match.

There was a bit of spongy bounce on the surface and the Lankan bowlers were
accurate but the shambolic way in which the England batsmen played could not be shielded.

Opener Malan, who milked 45 runs with his partner Jonny Bairstow, could be excused though.

Mathews, an injury replacement for pacer Matheesha Pathirana, put him in two minds with a delivery that bounced from the length just enough to take an edge off his bat to Mendis behind the stumps.

However, Malan during his 25-ball 28 showed that the pitch is not a hard one to bat on while essaying some gorgeous drives through the off-side.

Unfortunately, several subsequent batters, including the dependable Joe Root and Moeen Ali, were culpable of playing really poor cricket.

Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott, writing in The Daily Telegraph, said Buttler has a “dysfunctional squad of players”. “Poorly selected, poorly prepared, not a settled team, many not sure of their roles, patchy form, confidence wobbly...” Boycott wrote.