The Cricket World Cup descends on Headingley for the first time in the tournament on Friday when the hosts England look to continue their march towards the semi-finals when they take on a Sri Lanka side who aren’t out of the running for the last four themselves.
England look to be getting better with every performance in this competition which is how they will want it while Sri Lanka are flattering to deceive a little and probably have a better record than perhaps they deserve.
AllSportsBetting Podcast
Kev and Steve were in good spirits after delivering a couple of winners between them on Thursday and they are back looking to do likewise on Friday. It is actually Steve who has the most bets for the contest between England and Sri Lanka. Click play below to hear what he has and to get Kev’s reasoning for his.
England
It may only have been Afghanistan that England beat in their previous match but sometimes it isn’t always about who you beat, it is how you do it, especially where England are concerned given that they have made a habit of slipping up against the lower ranked sides in recent times. They were emphatic, dominant and ruthless from start to finish in a performance which wasn’t absolutely tip top but certainly wasn’t very far away.
The one thing which concerned me about England earlier in the tournament was their batting. It looked a touch cautious and shackled which is not what we have come to expect from them, but to their credit they have fired into life recently and we are back to that brutal, powerful order we have become accustomed to. With a bowling attack getting better all the time, England are ticking along nicely as they look to justify tournament favouritism.
Sri Lanka
To be honest, Sri Lanka are getting better results than I thought they would do in this tournament although they have been helped massively by a couple of rained off matches and Afghanistan crumbling under the pressure of chasing a gettable total. All in all they sit with four points and if they can upset the applecart here they would only be a point outside the top four which would be a remarkable turn of events this deep into the competition.
If Sri Lanka are going to do that then they are going to have to bat a whole lot better than they have thus far in the event. They have been wretched with the bat. They went past 210 for the first time in the tournament against Australia but there was little that convinced about that effort. If they don’t get early wickets they are in massive trouble too so the Sri Lankans know where the improvements need to be made.
Team News
Liam Plunkett is said to be fit again after a stomach issue kept him out of the Afghanistan win but whether there is a place in the side for him remains to be seen. England might choose to rest Mark Wood though which will open the door. Jason Roy is still missing with injury.
Sri Lanka are forever tinkering with their side so nobody truly knows in advance who will feature for them. Jeffrey Vandersay might not be a bad option here but it looks likely that Dhananjaya de Silva will continue as the main spinner.
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Betting
I’m finding this a pretty tough match to have a bet on I have to admit. I say that because so many lines need Sri Lanka to be competitive or even better than that and I’m not sure they will be. Some markets would open right up for us if England were to bat first but we won’t know that until the toss has been completed. Given all that, I’ll go with just the one bet for this contest.
That comes in the run line for Joe Root, which looks perfectly achievable at 44.5. Root is in excellent form in this tournament with scores of 51, 107, 21, 100* and 88 and he is playing on his home ground here In just five ODIs on this ground he has a couple of tons and an 84 against Pakistan earlier this summer. He has two tons in ODI cricket against Sri Lanka and another six 50s plus a couple of other scores which would cover this line. There is nothing in this Sri Lanka attack to worry him so on a good batting pitch I fancy 45 runs from him.
Tips
WON – Back J.Root – Over 44.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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