The English international white ball summer gets underway on Wednesday evening when Eoin Morgan and his England side take on Sri Lanka in the first of three T20 internationals, with this opening match coming from Cardiff.
In a normal year these random T20 series might be considered pointless however with a World T20 barely four months away that is certainly not the case for this one and this is another opportunity for both teams to continue their preparation for that event.
England
The last time we saw England in T20 cricket was in India where they went down 3-2 but gave a good account of themselves. They will be expected to deliver a much stronger series result here even though they are missing one of two of their best XI. The big advantage that England have had going into this series apart from playing it in home conditions, is that their entire squad have been playing in the first two weeks of the Vitality Blast so are T20 tuned.
Even though they are currently the number one ranked side in this format of the game, I think it is fair to say that it has been England’s weakest suit for a bit of time. One of the reasons for that is that they rarely took these matches seriously but that excuse can’t be used here. England will look to dominate with the bat but they might be attackable with the ball with a couple of key cogs missing from the bowling attack.
Sri Lanka
The last time we were treated to Sri Lanka in action in the T20 sphere was in the West Indies back in March where they gave a decent enough account of themselves in a 2-1 defeat but in true Sri Lanka style they have responded to that by changing their captain and starting all over again. I guess you could argue that having won only five of their last 19 T20 internationals something had to give but constantly chopping and changing could be the problem.
Kusal Perera is the man who is currently given the task of leading the side. His form at this level hasn’t been great itself so it will be interesting to see how the new leader reacts to having the extra responsibility. If that isn’t enough he is leading a very young and inexperienced side, although there are one or two players dotted in and around their likely XI that could be useful. Sri Lanka will need to bowl very well to get anything out of this match you feel.
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Team News
England are without the injured Jofra Archer and the only just returned to action Ben Stokes from the side which played in India. Moeen Ali is expected to be the all-rounder while Chris Woakes might come in. Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan have been passed fit.
There is no Angelo Mathews or Dinesh Chandimal for Sri Lanka in this series while the likes of Lasith Malinga and Upul Tharanga look to be a thing of the past instead. All eyes will be on the likes of Avishka Fernando and Wanindu Hasaranga to prove they can cut it here.
Betting
Jos Buttler has an excellent record against Sri Lanka in this format of the game averaging 47 against them and I expect him to have a big game here. His form for Lancashire wasn’t fantastic which is a slight concern but I’m not convinced batting at four suited him. He’ll open the batting in this match which is where he is best suited, although I always feel he needs to play well in that position because there is always this talk of where is best for him to bat.
He has a performance line of 35.5 here which just feels a little low to me. He could easily cover this with the bat but if the Sri Lankan batsmen are out of their depth then he could well contribute to the scoring with the gloves as well. Even a catch would slice off a significant part of this target while obviously a stumping would massively help. The international pitches at Cardiff tend to play very well and the short straight boundaries are ideal for Buttler. I think he covers this target.
Tips
Back J.Buttler’s Performance – Over 35.5 points for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Betway
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