The T20 World Cup heads to Florida for the first time in the middle of the three matches on Tuesday where we head back to Group D for the important clash between the winless Asian pair of Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Nepal have only played one match in this tournament but they lost it to the Netherlands so are going to need to beat at least two of the three full member nations in the competition. Sri Lanka will be hoping that South Africa dominate the group and they can sneak through by winning their last two matches.
Nepal
It feels harsh to judge Nepal on their opening outing against the Netherlands in Dallas because conditions there were never really going to suit them but the one thing that they can take from the defeat is that they were competitive. They now go up against a better side but they have had eight days since the loss to the Dutch to take stock of where they are, to have watched the other games and look to have put some plans in place to give them the best chance of winning.
The big problem that Nepal had in their opening game is they couldn’t get a partnership going. They were a little slow out of the blocks with the bat and rather than build their way into their innings to be able to flourish at the back end of it, they panicked a touch and paid the price for it. They pushed hard with the ball in fairly good batting conditions but the damage had been done so they either need to get off to a quicker start with the bat or bat smarter in the middle overs.
Sri Lanka
After two defeats in their opening two matches the game looks to be up for Sri Lanka in terms of making it through in this competition, particularly as the first loss was by the margin it was. Two matches might not be enough to turn their net run rate around sufficiently but even if it is they will need one of the Netherlands or Nepal to beat Bangladesh to give them a chance. Ultimately, they have paid the price for a questionable decision in their first game.
They won the toss against South Africa in that opener but for some reason on a completely fresh pitch at a ground which was being used competitively for the first time they chose to bat which was totally the wrong decision. To compound it they never once assessed the conditions during their innings and just fell in a heap. They then collapsed with the bat in their second game against Bangladesh and while their bowlers almost salvaged the situation, the damage was already done.
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Team News
It looks like Nepal could have Sandeep Lamichhane available for their two matches in the Caribbean to come after this one but he isn’t allowed into America at present so they could be unchanged for this encounter.
Sri Lanka have to do something with their batting order after two failures. The number four position looks to be sorted with Dhananjaya de Silva there but the number six spot is an issue. Pushing Dasun Shanaka up as a pinch hitter could be their next move.
Betting
It looks like we are going to have to dodge some of the Floridian storms which come along at this time of the year so I’m not going to go too mad on this game but we do really need to start bringing in the situation of the group into play and use that potentially to our advantage and here we have a Sri Lanka side who are still alive at the minute after Bangladesh lost on Monday. They need to win their last two and win them big and hope Bangladesh slip up somewhere.
The first part of the equation is Sri Lanka have to win and sort their net run rate out along the way so they will be delighted to be in Florida should the rain subside because this is a ground where runs come nice and freely and the boundaries can be targeted. First innings scores here are often upwards of 160 so this is a good ground for runs and with Sri Lanka having to put two scores up now I think the over 5.5 sixes is a good bet. They let me down against Bangladesh in their last game in Dallas but to be fair they hit two sixes and on a much bigger ground three more landed on the half volley of the rope. This place is smaller, the pitch is better for batting and having played two warm up matches here Sri Lanka will know the conditions in advance. You can get after this Nepal attack and with Sri Lanka having to do it I’ll take them to clear the ropes half a dozen times.
Tips
Back Sri Lanka – Over 5.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
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