Champions Trophy: Cook 'not too disappointed' by England defeat

Alastair Cook

Alastair Cook said he was "not too disappointed" by England's seven-wicket Champions Trophy defeat by Sri Lanka.

Kumar Sangakkara's unbeaten 134 at The Oval took Sri Lanka to their target of 294 and left England needing to beat New Zealand on Sunday to advance.

"The difference was an outstanding hundred from an outstanding cricketer," said England skipper Cook.

"Sometimes you can come up short against a guy who plays as well as that and you don't feel quite so bad."

He added: "I'm not too disappointed. We had an opportunity to get into the semi-finals today and we didn't take it. We have another one in our next game."

Opener Cook made 59 in England's total of 293-7, while Jonathan Trott top-scored with 76 and Joe Root hit a brisk 68.

However, when Root became the first of three wickets to fall with the score on 249, England needed Ravi Bopara to smash 28 off the final over to carry them to what looked a competitive total.

"It's amazing how those little periods can change a game," said Cook. "We were pretty satisfied, but now you can say another 20 runs would have been nice.

"I think 293 was about par; 300 wins you a lot of games of cricket."

England's attack struggled to find the reverse swing that had been key in their opening win over Australia and were frustrated to see a ball that was showing signs of movement changed by the umpires.

"The ball was changed because it was out of shape," said Cook. "The umpires make those decisions and you have to accept them.

"Sometimes you don't think they are the right decisions but there's not much you can do about it."

Sangakkara came to the wicket in the third over after the loss of Kusal Perera and shared stands of 92 with Tillakaratne Dilshan and 85 with Mahela Jayawardene.

After they fell, Sri Lanka promoted Nuwan Kulasekara, whose 38-ball unbeaten 58 carried Sri Lanka home in an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 110 with Sangakkara.

Sri Lanka, who would have been eliminated with defeat by England, will now reach the last four if they beat Australia on Monday.

Wicketkeeper Sangakkara said: "England were looking really strong at one point - perhaps heading towards the 300 mark - and it was really important for us to take wickets in the middle.

"We thought we would take momentum into the dressing room, but Bopara put pressure on us.

"But it was a do-or-die situation and Angie [captain Angelo Mathews] brought us together and told someone to stand up to win us the game."