The start of the ODI series between England and Sri Lanka will see the Oval in London host the first game on June 28. England go into the series with a Test series win under their belt against Sri Lanka, who then won the one-off T20I rather comfortably.
England v Sri Lanka 1st ODI At Oval Preview: Better Middle-Order, Bowling Should Help Sri Lanka
It was interesting to see that the team which had struggled so much in the rain-affected Test matches, were head and shoulders apart from England in the T20I. Expect the ODIs to go in a similar direction; what with the Lankans having entered the final of the World Cup earlier this year as well. It is a format that the tourists enjoy.
England have a few changes to their squad. Alastair Cook takes over the captaincy, while Craig Kieswetter and Samit Patel return to the set-up. Kieswetter should play this game, but Patel’s position may depend on the decision to play one or two spinners. Graeme Swann should be the automatic choice for the lone spinner’s slot.
Despite his poor performance in this format of the game, James Anderson has been given a place in the squad. However, with Broad, Dernbach, Finn and Woakes knocking around the pace bowling places in the playing eleven, Broad’s place in the eleven is not a certainty.
What is a certainty is that Ian Bell will play. After having been in superlative form in the Tests, he was surprisingly rested for the T20. He should be back in the middle-order with Kieswetter expected to open the innings Ravi Bopara.
What is also a certainty is that this will be Sanath Jayasuriya’s last international game. He had a good bowling spell in the T20 but did not get too many with the bat. He will look to get to a big one.
The more vital question for Sri Lanka is whether Tillakaratne Dilshan will be fit to play this game. After his thumb bust-up in the second Test, he hasn’t had any cricket and even if he makes it to the playing eleven, it will be a difficult return.
Mahela Jayawardene’s sizzling half century in the T20I and Kumar Sangakkara’s consecutive successful innings will hold the top-order in good stead. What Sri Lankan will hope from Thilina Kandamby is that he sticks around in the middle of the innings enough to be able to overcome the soft-middle issues that the side had endured in the World Cup.
Sri Lanka’s bowling has more experience than their English counterparts and that should put them as favourites in this series.
England v Sri Lanka 1st ODI at The Oval on June 28 will start 1300 hours local time. It will be a day-night match.
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