Sri Lanka and England get their three match series underway in rainy Galle on Tuesday morning with both sides hoping to find enough time between the rain to get enough play in to go one up and take control of the series.
As I said in my outright preview, this feels like an important series for both so this first match should be extremely competitive, as long as the rain allows it to be. Given the rain that is expected to dominate proceedings any result in the series could be decisive.
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Sri Lanka
I would imagine Sri Lanka would struggle not to be motivated given that this match is the last one for one of their legends in Rangana Herath. He will be desperate to go out on a high and they are likely to want to win his final match so it might be that we see the best of them in this match as opposed to the ones which follow it.
We certainly might see them at their most dangerous with the ball in this match although in fairness to Herath and to Sri Lankan cricket they shouldn’t lack for spinners going forward. If it was a top grade seamer retiring that might have been more of an issue. I would suggest that this is the strongest their batting line up has been throughout England’s tour too.
England
This is a big series for England. They have been ridiculously poor overseas for far too long which puts pressure on them for these three matches. England are overwhelming favourites to win the series, potentially stupidly so given Sri Lanka’s recent record especially in their own country. If England are going to win this series they will need to bat well and find a plan to take 20 wickets.
England have struggled with the bat for what seems like an eternity and those struggles usually get highlighted further in Asia. England haven’t played spin all that well for a long while and so that will be their first challenge and the other one will be taking 20 wickets. They have taken three spinners with them but whether they have the quality to win matches remains to be seen.
Team News
Sri Lanka will crown the career of Rangana Herath in this match. Akila Dananjaya is expected to be the second spinner after his success in the ODI series. Angelo Mathews is back to captain the side despite his exclusion towards the end of the ODIs.
England could well hand out two debuts in this opening match of the series. Rory Burns is a near certainty to replace Alastair Cook as the opener while Ben Foakes will get a spot with Jonny Bairstow ruled out. Jack Leach is pushing for a recall.
Galle International Stadium
Sri Lanka have played in all of the 31 previous Test matches on this ground. They have won 18 of them and lost just seven. They have drawn six games at this venue. England have played here on four previous occasions and they are still looking for their first victory here.
First innings scores here are generally on the high side but then the wicket dries out completely and the spinners take over. That said, this pitch is said to be quite dry already so it might not take long for the spinners to come to the fore.
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Betting
As with the series preview I’m not going to get involved in the match betting much either. We know rain is going to be around so I don’t want to have money tied up for the five days without much sign of a chance of a return or with bets being in the lap of the gods. I will take one for the match though.
Moeen Ali should be a key feature for England. He will most likely bat at three and he’ll bowl a lot of overs as well so the 9/1 on him being the man of the match looks decent enough to me. Herath will get much of the attention but he can’t be MOM if England win so I’ll take the chance that England win and if they do it is hard to see Moeen not having a big impact somewhere along the line. He’ll do for a bit of interest.
Tips
Back M.Ali Man of the Match for a 1/10 stake at 10.00 with Bet365
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