Sri Lanka and England clash in series decider

Harry Brook the England captain speaks at a media briefing

Charith Asalanka the Sri Lanka captain clarifies a point with the local media

By M. Shamil Amit

Sri Lanka and England sharing a win each in the three match ODI series will move onto the field with a mission of clinching the series in the third ODI scheduled to be played under floodlights at the R. Premadasa Stadium today.

The deciding match is no doubt going to be an interesting tussle and the host side having won the first match by 19 runs will be looking to make a comeback while England who pulled off a five wicket win in the second match will be seeking to do a repeat.

The middle order batting line-up of Sri Lanka has not been consistent mostly depending on Kusal Mendis who cracked an unbeaten 93 in the first match but was unable to make any headway in the second game.

Apart from Mendis the host side will be depending on all-rounder Janith Liyanage, opener Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dunith Wellalage and Pavan Ratnayake for them to put up a challenging score if they make a decision to take first lease of the wicket.

England on the other hand will bank on the in-form Joe Root whose knock of 75 following his knock of 62 in the first match laid the foundation for England’s win. It will be something for the Sri Lanka bowlers to take note of while Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Jos Butler and all-rounder Jamie Overton can be the deciding factors overall.

For the record Sri Lanka’s last ODI series win was way back in the 2014/15 seven-match series played in the island during the captaincy of Angelo Mathews which they won 5-2.

England was the series winner 3-1 of the five match ODI when the two sides met each other in Sri Lanka in 2018/19 with the side led by Eoin Morgan. But their last series win was 2-0 in 2021 also led by Morgan.

However with the two sides moving into the game in a must-win position, it all points to a closely contested encounter.

The teams:

Sri Lanka: Charith Asalanka (Captain), Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Pavan Ratnayake, Dhananjaya de Silva, Janith Liyanage, Kamindu Mendis, Dunith Wellalage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jeffrey Vandersay, Maheesh Theekshana, Milan Ratnayake, Asitha Fernando, Promod Madushan, Eshan Malinga

England – Harry Brook (Captain), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Jos Butler, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Luke Wood