Shock defeat raises a major concern for England: will they buckle under the pressure?

Sri Lanka's Dhananjaya de Silva, second left, celebrates with teammates after dismissing England's Chris Woakes, second right, during the Cricket World Cup match between England and Sri Lanka.

It was just the result which the 12th men's World Cup needed to open up the qualifying group. But it was exactly the result which England did not need, because it raised many questions about their collective big-match temperament.

England may have to win only one of their last three games to qualify for the semi-finals, so a victory against any one of Australia, India and New Zealand would probably suffice, given their healthy net run-rate overall.

But England's rivals will smack their lips at the sight of the hosts buckling under pressure, which they did when, in pursuit of a modest target of 233, they folded from 170 for five to 212 all out.

Even before England's collapse, which Ben Stokes could not stave off, their collective reading of the situation was poor. In their previous game, against Afghanistan, England had shown themselves to be the planet's best team at hitting. When chasing down this target, however, what England required was not fearless hitting but intelligent batting, and not nearly enough was forthcoming.

Conditions are all, as King Lear would have said had he played the game. Headingley's conditions – a dry pitch on which the ball did not come on to the bat for driving – demanded a different method from England's normal blasting: the white ball had to be worked into gaps, or pushed short of the infield for quick singles. Instead their batsmen, with few sensible exceptions, went for glory, and let Sri Lanka back into this tournament so that they are now only two points behind England.

Sri Lanka's Nuwan Pradeep, center, celebrates after taking the last wicket to win the Cricket World Cup match against England in Leeds, England, Friday, June 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Such a defeat raises real doubts about whether England can withstand the strain of two knockout matches, assuming they still reach the final. Joe Root held England together by playing soberly and straight until he was caught down the leg side – such a faint tickle that Sri Lanka had to ask for a review – and Stokes picked up his baton. Otherwise, too much buckling.

What is pretty certain is that the remaining pitches are going to present similar challenges to England's temperament and shot selection. If a lot of pitches have been dry during the rain, in accordance with the International Cricket Council's specifications, how much more so will they be now that summer is finally starting?

It would be interesting to replay this game as part of a bilateral series between England and Sri Lanka, with the usual pitch produced nowadays for one-day internationals in England, with more grass left on and more carry, and therefore more encouragement for batsmen who belt the ball. Would England have knocked the runs off at a canter?

When Sri Lanka's 232 for nine seemed completely inadequate, the failure of England's opening batsmen suddenly made it into a game. Herein lies Australia's strength – their opening pair of batsmen as well as bowlers – but not England's, not when Jason Roy is injured.

Jonny Bairstow played across the line to his first ball from Lasith Malinga to be lbw, as did Jos Buttler later, while Eoin Morgan hit a full toss back to the bowler. If only James Vince had chosen this occasion to play his first major innings for England, calamity would have been averted, but his shot selection was over-ambitious at the end of an over in which he had already hit two safe fours.

Root accumulated his singles by steering the ball to third man and did for England what Angelo Mathews had done for Sri Lanka, except Mathews had batted through Sri Lanka's innings. Sri Lanka had also unveiled a noteworthy young dasher, Avishka Fernando, 21, who hit some stunning boundaries at the only time in the game when the ball came on to the bat. Still so much batting talent in Sri Lanka, waiting to be organised.

Sri Lankan cricketers celebrate after winning the Cricket World Cup match against Sri Lanka in Leeds, England, Friday, June 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

With only 63 wanted and 11 full overs to go, and no crisis in the summer's air, Moeen Ali chose to try to clear long-off, having already hit a six in Dhananjaya de Silva's over. As De Silva was bowling off-breaks, the ball was gripping and the long-off fielder was right on the boundary, the shot could hardly have been riskier. Yet Moeen went for it, and De Silva in his next over had Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid caught behind playing anything but straight.

When Jofra Archer also made the erroneous assumption that the best way to help Stokes was by clearing the ropes, not pushing singles to give him the strike, England's last-wicket pair had to find 47 from somewhere, and Stokes summoned up a couple of sixes to make four in all. But Sri Lanka were not flaky. While Malinga may be over the hill in terms of pace, he set the example to his fellow bowlers in keeping his head and letting England's batsmen make the unforced errors – or errors forced by the pressure of the occasion.

At least England's bowling was sharp. Archer and Mark Wood were penetrative at the beginning and end of Sri Lanka's innings, while Moeen and Rashid took two for 85 from their 20 overs. It was Moeen's 100th ODI but, while he bowled with his ever-improving excellence, the way he chose to mark the occasion with the bat was not appropriate.