Out of the 14 teams which competed in the first round of the ICC World Cup, Sri Lanka has registered the best net run rate of plus 2.582. Kumar Sangakkara and his men collected nine points with four wins, one loss and one no result to secure the second place in Group ‘A’ behind Pakistan which has ten points.
However, the Group ‘A’ table leaders Pakistan (+0.758) and the third-placed defending champions Australia (+1.123) are well behind Sri Lanka on net run rate (NRR). Even none of the Group ‘B’ teams has been able to register a better NRR than Sri Lanka. Group ‘B’ leaders South Africa (+2.026), second-placed India (+0.900) and England (+0.072) are well behind Sri Lanka on NRR after the completion of the semi league qualifying round matches. Each team played six matches in round one.
Sri Lanka will meet England in the fourth quarter final of the ICC World Cup tournament to be played at the Premadasa Stadium on Saturday (March 26). If Sri Lanka beats England in their quarter final game, Kumar Sangakkara and his men will qualify to play the winners of third quarter final between New Zealand and South Africa in the first semi final to be played at the Premadasa Stadium on March 29.