LAST CHANCE
FOR SRI LANKA TO SAVE SERIES
It has been a disappointing series so far for Sri Lanka, and today at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy they will have their final chance to save it against an England side constantly living up to their No.1 status.
Since the first one-day international, which was washed out in Dambulla after just 15 overs, Sri Lanka have been outplayed in whatever play has been possible in between the rain breaks over the next two matches.
In the second ODI again in Dambulla, England racked up 278 for nine in 50 overs before persistent rain shrunk Sri Lanka’s target to 172 from 29 overs.
They fell short of it by 31 runs, after four of their top-five batsmen were dismissed for single-digit scores.
Likewise, in Kandy for the next ODI, the home side were kept to 150 for nine in 21 overs, and England chased that down in 18.3 overs, with their Captain Eoin Morgan scoring his second half century of the series. In short, it’s been all England so far in this series. Sri Lanka need to show some of the fight they displayed in their last home series, against South Africa in August, when after sliding to 3-0, they fought back to end the series 3-2 to take the gloss off the visitors’ victory.
As is expected this time of year, thunderstorms are forecast in Pallekele. The match will likely be interrupted, but Sri Lanka have excellent drainage facilities, and some play should be possible. Squads
Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (Captain), Upul Tharanga, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Thisara Perera, Akila Dananjaya, Dushmantha Chameera, Lasith Malinga, Amila Aponso, Lakshan Sandakan, Nuwan Pradeep, Kasun Rajitha and Kusal Perera.
England: Eoin Morgan (Captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood. (ICC)