England vs Sri Lanka

After a genuinely thrilling opening ODI between England and Sri Lanka at Nottingham on Tuesday, all eyes will be on Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham on Friday when the two sides go at it again in the second match of the series.

Liam Plunkett’s six off the final ball of the first match means the two sides head to Birmingham all square and looking to move ahead in the series for the first time. All the evidence from Trent Bridge is that we’re going to see a much closer series than was touted before a ball was bowled.

England

All looked to be going swimmingly early on for England when they had Sri Lanka labouring midway through their innings but as England sides often do they let their opponents get away from them even though the top order had disappeared and they so very nearly paid the price for that.

When England were 82-6 chasing 286 to win it looked like their race was run but one of the best things about this England side is they bat so deep they are not out of the match at any point and they showed that to battle back and tie off the final ball. Given their top order failed to show in Nottingham they will know they have a lot more to come going forward.

Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankans will be very disappointed that they didn’t win the opening match given the position they were in deep into England’s run chase. Indeed at one point the Sri Lankans were actually celebrating a win but they couldn’t get the job done and that might be a blow that is tough to overcome.

Sri Lanka’s bowling performed much better than many people expected it to in Nottingham and if they can keep that up throughout the series then they might be much more competitive than they were expected to be but you’ve got to think England have the batting to get away from them so can Sri Lanka keep doing it with the bat? That will decide the series.

Team News

England are set to be unchanged for this match with Steven Finn released to play for Middlesex in the NatWest T20 Blast on Thursday night being a pretty strong guide that he won’t be playing in this one. Chris Jordan and James Vince are likely to remain on the sidelines.

Sri Lanka have a major fitness concern over their captain Angelo Mathews after he aggravated a hamstring injury in the first game. He has been rated as a 70% chance to play in this match but given the important of the game you would think he will play even if not completely 100% fit.

Edgbaston

There have been 52 previous ODIs on this ground with 46 of them generating a positive result. This is a fortress of English cricket down the years and that is the case in this format too. They have played 36 times here with 20 wins to 13 defeats and three no results. Sri Lanka have only played here twice and have a win and a defeat to their name.

Generally this is a good cricket wicket and England certainly enjoyed it last year when they ran up a score of 408/9 and won by 210 runs against a dangerous New Zealand side. In the only 50 over game here this season Warwickshire chased down 237 for the loss of one wicket with nine overs left so expect a good batting wicket.

Betting

At the prices I was going to give Sri Lanka a go in this match and I still might do but I would need official confirmation that Angelo Mathews plays before I pull the trigger on them. He is pivotal to their chances both with the bat and his canny overs with the ball.

Until he is confirmed as a starter I will head for the same two bets I took in the first match where the sixes line is very low at 8.5. England covered this and some in the ODI here last year and when you think this line was covered despite England’s top order getting shot out we can see how much potential overs has here.

With the likes of Perera, Buttler, Hales, Roy, Morgan, Chandimal, Bairstow and Ali all having failed to register a six at Trent Bridge but all being big hitters there is a lot more to come from both sides in terms of six hitting so I’m happy to climb all over the overs again in this match.

I’m also going to give Seekkuge Prasanna another chance. Only Angelo Mathews outscored him in the previous match and there is a chance he might not play in this game so even though Prasanna’s price has predictably come in since the first game there is still just about enough margin in it to merit having a second go in the hope he can go one better than he did in the opening game.

Tips

WON – Back Over 8.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral

Back it here:

Back S.Prasanna Top Sri Lanka Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 16.00 with NetBet

Back him here: