A big few weeks of 50 over cricket begins for Sri Lanka on Friday when they play host to Afghanistan in the opening match of a three game ODI series which will act as a warm up for the ICC World Cup qualifier later in the month.
Afghanistan have no need to worry about that qualifier but if Sri Lanka are going to be in India later in the year they have to find some form before they reach Zimbabwe for what could be a real test of their credentials.
Sri Lanka
The fact that Sri Lanka have to go to the ICC World Cup qualifier tells us everything we need to know about their recent 50 over form. It hasn’t been very good at all but they need to find it in themselves to come up with a big six weeks or so. It remains to be seen what they can get out of this series given that conditions in Sri Lanka are nothing like what they are going to encounter in Zimbabwe later in the month, but they do have the chance to win some matches and go there with some confidence.
In the main Sri Lanka go ok with the bat in 50 over cricket and I think they will be fine when they get to Zimbabwe but they can sometimes be cannon fodder with the ball, especially when they are missing some key men which tends to be the case quite often, and that is where they need to find significant improvement if they are going to come out on top in this series and then go on and qualify for the World Cup.
Afghanistan
If you had said at the end of the last ICC World Cup that Sri Lanka would be going to qualifying for the World Cup and Afghanistan would already be there you probably wouldn’t have got many people believing you but that is how it is and as such you wonder how important this series will be for the tourists. On one hand they don’t get to play the big boys much in 50 over cricket but on the other hand other than preparing for a tournament which is still four months away there isn’t much on this.
Afghanistan may have every chance of being a threat in this series. They tend to be more dangerous on slower wickets which can have a bit of turn in them and as this series goes on, with all three matches at the same venue, they are likely to get conditions to suit. Afghanistan will know that they drew a series the last time they were in Sri Lanka so that will give them plenty of confidence heading back there for this one.
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Team News
Sri Lanka have recalled Dimuth Karunaratne and Dushmantha Chameera for this series but they are going to be without Kusal Perera who is injured. The status of Wanindu Hasaranga is unknown but Angelo Mathews is expected to be fit.
Afghanistan will be without their talisman Rashid Khan for the opening two matches as he is nursing an injury he sustained in the Indian Premier League. Fellow IPL players Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Noor Ahmad and Fazalhaq Farooqi are all expected to be involved.
Betting
Generally matches in Hambantota are high scoring and with no Rashid Khan in the Afghanistan team I expect that to be the case in this series opener. It might be that the longer the series goes on the scoring will come down, especially with the hot temperatures forecast and the three matches in fairly quick succession but you would imagine that the pitch will play well here so I fancy a few runs to be scored while bowlers get up to speed with surroundings.
The run line for this contest is 526.5 which feels quite low when you consider that a large part of the two teams have been in T20 mode over recent weeks but also because the last three series first innings on this ground have been over 300. If the first innings here follows suit then the other team are only going to need to bat the majority of their overs for the over to land. Both sides could be without their gun bowler for this one so it just feels like that run line isn’t high enough. I’ll take the over.
Tips
Back Over 526.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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