One win in five games: Is England's World Cup title defence the worst of all time?

On Thursday, England faced off against Sri Lanka in their fifth match of the 2023 World Cup at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

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Jos Buttler won the toss and chose to bat first, but after a 45-run opening stand the English batting lineup began to collapse, eventually scraping together a meagre 156 runs. Lahiru Kumara took 3/35 for Sri Lanka.

In reply, the Lankans lost Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis early but Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama put on an unbeaten 137-run partnership to take them to an 8 wicket victory with 24.2 overs to spare.

MORE: 'They have all collapsed as a unit' - Nasser Hussain slams England

One win in five games: Is England's World Cup defence the worst of all time?

England came into the tournament as the defending champions, having lifted the World Cup on home turf in 2019. However, they were thrashed by New Zealand in the opening game, before beating Bangladesh. Since then, they have suffered three humiliating defeats in a row to Afghanistan (69 runs), South Africa (229 runs) and Sri Lanka (8 wickets).

But how have other World champions performed in the past?

Other champions have bowed out in the group stage before, but England have already created history by becoming the first defending champion to lose four of their first five matches.

No defending men's World Cup champions have lost 4 of their first 5 games.
Aus in 1992 and SL in 1999 lost 3 of first 5.
WI 1983, Ind 1987, Pak 1996, Aus 2011 and 2019: lost 1 of first 5.
Aus in 2003 and 2007, India in 2015, won first five.
WI in 1979 won all 4 of their games.

— Andy Zaltzman (@ZaltzCricket) October 26, 2023

Who will win the 2023 World Cup?

India, Australia and South Africa are among the top five favourites for the 2023 World Cup title. The odds from Dafabet are as follows:

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