England take on their first assignment of a relatively busy winter on Wednesday when they go up against Sri Lanka in a five match ODI series to begin their tour of the island. With matches beginning to run out before the World Cup this should be an important series for both sides.
Although both will be looking to win this series it might be that looking ahead to the big tournament next summer takes a bigger priority over the next couple of weeks as the series goes around Sri Lanka.
Schedule
1st ODI: Oct 10 at Dambulla
2nd ODI: Oct 13 at Dambulla
3rd ODI: Oct 17 at Kandy
4th ODI: Oct 20 at Kandy
5th ODI: Oct 23 at Colombo
Sri Lanka
This will be the first outing for Sri Lanka since their disastrous Asia Cup campaign and to say that they have a point to prove would be something of an understatement. They were shocking in that tournament and in truth they have been in ODI cricket for quite some time. You have to go all the way back to 2016 for the last time they won a bilateral series and that was only against Ireland. It is three years since they have won one against an established nation.
It is never good when a team is struggling with the bat and with the ball and that is the issue for Sri Lanka. They have home advantage at their disposal here which they will need to capitalise on but for a team who are clearly in some transition this is going to be a tough ask unless their senior players stand up and are counted.
England
Whether this series will tell us anything about England when it comes to their chances of winning the World Cup remains to be seen but the one thing it will do is give them a chance to get together and continue their positivity towards the tournament. Conditions in this series will be nothing like what they will encounter in the World Cup but there is no substitute for winning matches and England will be expected to do that here.
We know all about the England batting power and if they can display that on these pitches then they really will send a marker down for the World Cup but it will be interesting to see how they go with the ball. You would expect their spinners to go well but if they are going to win the World Cup their seamers need to be spot on. This will be a good test for them.
Head to Head
These two nations have met in 11 bilateral ODI series in the past and although the first one was drawn there hasn’t been a level one since. Sri Lanka have won six of the other 10 with England triumphing on four occasions. Sri Lanka have won four of the six series in their country with a draw and an England win making up the other two.
Sri Lanka are much more dominant when it comes to the individual match wins as they have 24 to England’s 15 in bilateral play. There has also been a no result and a tie in that time so history at least is very much on the side of the hosts.
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Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets in the series. I expect England to win it but they are no price and there is no point in taking the correct score market on because the rain is bound to intervene at some point. From an England point of view though the 9/2 on Moeen Ali to be the top England bowler looks decent enough. You would think in these conditions the seamers will be rotated throughout the series so it should be a two horse race between Moeen and Adil Rashid. There are a lot of left handers in the Sri Lankan batting line up so I’ll take Moeen especially as he’s a bigger price.
Speaking of the Sri Lanka batsmen, Upul Tharanga looks a standout in a side that is either new to this level or completely out of form and as such I think he is a good bet to be the leading run scorer in the series for the home side. Tharanga has had plenty of success against England in the past and averages 51.84 against them with three centuries and three 50s from just 15 innings. He’ll get as much time at the crease as he is good for and looks the bet to me.
Tips
Back M.Ali Top England Series Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 5.50 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Back U.Tharanga Top Sri Lanka Series Batsman for a 3/10 stake at 4.50 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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