England have concluded the first part of their tour of Sri Lanka and on Saturday the second part of it takes place on Saturday when the two nations meet in a lone T20 international in Colombo in what is the final white ball match prior to the Test matches.
Generally when there is a gulf as clear as the one we saw when the ODI series was live the shorter the format should see the most competitive action so it will be interesting to see if that rings true over the course of the afternoon.
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Sri Lanka
They say a struggling side should be the most competitive in the 20 over sphere but that particular memo has not got to Sri Lanka just yet because they have won just four of their last 15 T20 internationals. They did win their last outing though against South Africa a couple of months ago and if they can repeat that here they might yet come out with a victory.
Seven of the last eight T20 matches involving Sri Lanka have been won by the chasing side whether they have won or lost which suggests that they might need to win the toss and send England into bat if they are going to come out on top here. That would probably ring true because their batting is very much the stronger of the two suits at the present time.
England
While England are one of the best ODI sides in the world, if not the best, their record in this format of the game is a little sketchy at best. They have lost seven of their last 11 T20 internationals which is quite an incredible record when you consider the level of star talent they have not just in their starting XI but in reserve as well.
England have one of the most powerful and ferocious batting line ups in world cricket but for some reason in this format it rarely fires and when it does their bowling disappears around the park. If England didn’t take this format seriously then it would account for it but there have only been one or two occasions they have made wholesale changes for the T20 matches. They make none here in terms of their squad so this will be an acid test.
Team News
Sri Lanka have been rocked by the news that Akila Dananjaya will miss this match through injury. Kusal Perera remains injured so the hosts will be without a couple of key players. Lasith Malinga is expected to get the nod.
England are going to give Joe Denly his international return in this match but he is set to play in the middle order with Jos Buttler continuing to open the batting. Chris Jordan has been added to the squad and is expected to play.
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Betting
If Akila Dananjaya was fit I might have trusted Sri Lanka to get the job done here but the fact he isn’t is a big concern. That said recent history would suggest that the toss is going to have a big say on the contest so this isn’t necessarily the easiest match to bet on anyway in truth. I will take one bet though.
Jos Buttler had a horrible time of it in the ODIs but he’ll go up the order here and that freedom can see him play some of his expansive shots and score well. Since he was pushed up to open in the summer he has registered scores of 61, 69, 14 and 34 so opening agrees with him. I think he can cover a 24.5 run line in this one.
Tips
Back J.Buttler – Over 24.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
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