Morgan's men bid to get better of jinx side Sri Lanka

ENGLAND have the opportunity to exorcise perhaps their most traumatic memory from the 2015 World Cup when they face Sri Lanka at Headingley today.

- Chris Stocks

Victory will take Eoin Morgan’s team to the brink of the semifinals.

However, getting the better of opponents who can be regarded as England’s bogey side in this tournament could also be regarded as a breakthrough moment for the hosts.

In the six World Cups since 1992, England have played Sri Lanka five times, losing four.

The past three meetings have all been pivotal moments for England, with the two-run defeat at the Super Eight stage in Antigua in 2007 the difference between progress and elimination and a 10-wicket quarter-final hammering at Colombo in 2011 sending Andrew Strauss’ team home.

But it was the defeat in Wellington four years ago, a result that expedited their first-round exit, that was perhaps the most painful for England after they were swept aside by nine wickets despite setting Sri Lanka a target of 310 to win.

It was the moment England’s gameplan – the notion that scoring 300 would almost guarantee victory – was brutally exposed as Sri Lanka eased to victory with 16 balls to spare.

Indeed, Morgan looked a broken man when he addressed the media after that humiliating reverse at the Cake Tin, admitting: “To be beaten in that fashion is hard to take.”