'England were punished'

England captain Eoin Morgan admitted his side had been "punished" by a rampant Sri Lanka on Sunday in a nine-wicket loss that left them on the brink of World Cup elimination.

Sri Lanka are now on the verge of the quarterfinals after three wins in four games while England's tally of two points means their last-eight hopes are hanging by a thread.

"We were punished today by a very experienced side. We were way off the mark," said Morgan, who has overseen defeats by Australia, New Zealand and now Sri Lanka with just one win, against non-Test Scotland, to show for England's efforts at this tournament.

"When we are bowling well, it's a good attack but you can pick it apart when we're not bowling well and we didn't bowl well."

Morgan's premier seamers James Anderson and Stuart Broad went for none for 48 and none for 67 respectively.

In four matches, Anderson and Broad have only taken two wickets each.

"At 'half-time' we went in thinking we had a more than par score," said Morgan.

"Joe Root was exceptional -- it sums up the year he's had. I was happy at half time."

Morgan however insisted he was still confident of reaching the quarterfinals, despite Sunday's "hard to take" loss.

England's final Pool A matches against Bangladesh and Afghanistan now loom as must-win clashes but Morgan said he had not considered failing to make the last eight.

"It's not even a thought at the moment -- two games to win to get us into the quarterfinal," he said.

Morgan said the fact that England set a competitive 310-run target made the Sri Lanka loss more difficult to accept than the routs against Australia and New Zealand, when they were never in the game.

"When you don't turn up for a race like those first two games, it's scratch. But today, when we turn up and we're beaten in that fashion it's harder to take."