Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara: "The wicket was pretty good and everything I tried came off. But the openers had a great start and that was an exceptional innings by Thirimanne. It was a case of batting and batting long. 300 is always an imposing target - Joe Root batted beautifully - but there are days like this when the batting side has to work hard. I'm getting old, but I'm still enjoying it."

Clearly not. Sri Lanka barely looked in any trouble as they blasted their way to victory. Both Lahiru Thirimanne and Kumar Sangakkara cracked unbeaten centuries. The England bowling was toothless.

So, let's make sense of that hammering shall we? It all seemed so promising when Joe Root's 121 underpinned England's 309-6. Surely England had posted a sporting score?

Chris Manning: Getting beaten is one thing, but three thrashings is harder to take. Broad and Anderson, your time has come.

Surely there's a flaw in the tournament format when England can suffer three massive defeats and still have a chance of reaching the quarter-finals? But that remains the case. Beat Bangladesh and Afghanistan and they should go through.

"Can we come home yet?"

"Nope you've got to stay out there, lads. Bangladesh and Afghanistan next."

Geoffrey Boycott
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

"This is a real shellacking, a demoralising defeat. We haven't really got in the game since we started bowling."

Jonathan Agnew
BBC Test Match Special

"What an absolute hiding that is, another chastening defeat for England in the World Cup. They barely got the ball past the bat. You feel Sangakkara and Thirimanne would have knocked off anything today."

Lahiru Thirimanne smites a six to bring up a nine-wicket victory with 16 balls to spare. England have been well and truly hammered. Just when you think it can't get any worse, it does.

The England fielders can barely make eye contact with each other, while those on the sidelines sit noticeably apart from each other. There's an awkward gap between everyone - Peter Moores, Paul Farbrace, Mark Ramprakash, Alex Hales etc. The team bus won't be stopping on the way back to the hotel. Straight home and lock the door. Six now needed.

Geoffrey Boycott
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

"I think England could get more out of the players that they've got. You can't make new players, but you can swap the order around. I'd have Alex Hales opening with Moeen, Bell at three, then Buttler at five, with Taylor at six and Morgan at seven."

The party is going up a gear in the Sri Lankan part of the ground. And why not? England's day goes from bad to worse when James Taylor drops Thirimanne with a diving effort on the boundary. Thirimanne rubs it in by guiding Chris Woakes for a deft boundary to third man. The target is now just 10 runs away with 24 balls left.

The records continue to stack up as these two bring up their 200 partnership off 163 balls. Sensational.

Geoffrey Boycott
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

"On flat decks where our English seamers don't get movement, they've been found wanting. Defending 300, you'd expect to make a better fist of it."

Bad news for Zimbabwe fans. Everything looked to be going their way as they had kept things tight against Pakistan.

But they are now without their captain Elton Chigumbura. He gave chase as Misbah-ul-Haq flicked one through mid-off, but then stumbled as the ball headed to the boundary. He lands badly on his knee, and is helped off the field.

It is not often a captain limps off injured. Considering what is happening in Wellington, Eoin Morgan may be wanting to take an early exit off the field as well.

Image source, Getty Images

This is not the final nail in England's coffin, but they might want to start measuring up their plot. It's a victory procession for Sri Lanka now, who look as though they can finish it whenever they want. Four more are knocked from the target when Jos Buttler concedes four byes. There are no words.

Dan Palmer:, external This team is a shambles. Cannot defend 300+ and have the most atrocious tactics. Huge changes need to be made. Disgraceful!

Marc Sepetowski:, external This is an utterly dreadful, one dimensional bowling performance again from England. Painful!

Geoffrey Boycott
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

"There's a sameness to England's bowling - they don't have anything different. If you're not blessed with great players at a particular moment, there's nothing you can do about that, but England should still be doing better with the players they have. That's the disappointment."

Kumar Sangakkara is insatiable for runs. He's looking round the field between deliveries and when he takes a single, he immediately shouts instructions to Lahiru Thirimanne. You might remember from earlier that number seven Dinesh Chandimal was padded up. He's seen sense now and taken them off. Brew up instead, Dinesh.

Image source, Getty Images

Andrew Samson
BBC Test Match Special statistician

His fastest ODI century, Kumar Sangakkara's hundred was the joint fifth quickest in World Cup history. The full list...

• 50 balls: Kevin O'Brien, Ireland v England, Bangalore, 2011

• 52 balls: AB de Villiers, South Africa v West Indies, Sydney, 2015

• 66 balls: Matthew Hayden, Australia v South Africa, Basseterre, 2007

• 67 balls: John Davison, Canada, West Indies, 2003

• 70 balls: Paul Stirling, Ireland v Netherlands, Kolkata, 2011

• 70 balls: Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka v England, Wellington, 2015

At least when Brendon McCullum destroyed the English bowling it was a quick death. They are being slowly throttled by the Sri Lankans here, like a hapless deer having the life crushed from it by a boa constrictor. How will they recover from this? They are conceding runs all over the park now. Stuart Broad's latest gambit goes for just the eight.