Malinga bagged five wickets for 31 runs to knock over England for 150 for nine in 20 overs as they chased 170 to keep their slim hopes of survival alive.
Malinga made the task near to impossible after dispatching the top three for only 18 runs. And from that point the game was virtually over.
Only a courageous stand of 51 for the eighth-wicket between Samit Patel (67) and Graeme Swann (34) served to delay the inevitable.
England got off to a horrible start after Luke Wright (12), promoted to open the innings, was caught at point off Malinga's third ball.
The right-arm speedster finished his opening over with successive wickets to remove Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales off the fifth and sixth deliveries.
In this second spell a fired up Malinga sent back Joss Buttler and Patel.
Between the Malinga carnage, the Lankan spinners Akila Dananjaya (2-26) and Jeevan Mendis
Nuwan Kulasekara kept up the pressure with wickets.
Sri Lanka topped the Group One on six points and West Indies advance to the semi-finals as the second best team with four points.
They will be joined either by Australia, India, Pakistan and South Africa, who are locked in an intriguing battle in the other Super Eight group.
The semi-finals are on Thursday and Friday in Colombo.
Put into bat, the hosts relied on 38-ball 42 from Mahela Jayawardene and some good lower-order contributions to reach a competitive total of 169-6 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
Stuart Broad bagged three wickets, Swann two and Steve Finn one.
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