England had a bad start to the 2021 summer as they suffered a 1-0 defeat to New Zealand in a 2-test match series but followed it up with a convincing 3-0 win over Sri Lanka in the recently concluded 3-match T20I series.
Many fans criticized the decision of resting key players Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow whilst Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer were missing due to injury. The wicket-keeper duo of Buttler and Bairstow returned for the limited-overs format squad as an almost full-strength English team clean swept Sri Lanka in the shortest format of the game.
Since Kusal Perera has been named as the skipper of Sri Lanka, the Lankans have lost 2-1 to Bangladesh in ODIs and 3-0 to England in T20Is. The southpaw would be eager to avoid an unwanted hat-trick of series losses with a 3-match ODI series scheduled next against World Champions England.
The first One Day International between England and Sri Lanka will be played at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street, Durham on 29th June.
Full Squads
England head coach Chris Silverwood has picked a 16-member squad with the batting contingent similar to the squad picked for the T20Is. The red-ball skipper Joe Root returns for the ODI series whilst Buttler has been ruled out of the entire Sri Lanka series after the first T20I win due to a calf injury with David Malan named as the replacement.
The fast-bowling contingent has taken a bit of a hit with Stokes, Archer, Saqib Mahmood, Olly Stone, and Reece Topley not available for the series due to their respective injuries. Sussex left-arm fast bowler George Garton has been included in the squad as an understudy for David Willey and the 24-year old stands a chance to make a debut against Sri Lanka.
Squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, George Garton, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
Sri Lanka has a 24-member touring party in England and Dushmantha Chameera impressed many pundits as he went through England’s top-order in the 2nd T20I. Binura Fernando, Lakshan Sandakan, and Dasun Shanka are slowly finding their feet making the Lankan bowling attack a force to reckon with in the near future.
Sri Lanka players celebrating a wicket
Squad: Kusal Perera (c), Kusal Mendis, Danushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Pathum Nissanka, Niroshan Dickwella, Dhananjaya De Silva, Oshada Fernando, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Ramesh Mendis, Chamika Karunaratne, Dhananjaya Lakshan, Ishan Jayaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Isuru Udana, Asitha Fernando, Nuwan Pradeep, Binura Fernando, Shiran Fernando, Lakshan Sandakan, Akila Dananjaya, Praveen Jayawickrama
Form Guide
England: L/W/L/L/W/L/L
The World Champions don’t have a particularly good record in their last few ODI matches as they recently lost an ODI series 1-2 to India and also lost 1-2 to Australia in home conditions, albeit without the presence of supporters in the stands. England’s last series win was against Ireland when the Eoin Morgan-led squad beat his birth nation 2-1 at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.
Sri Lanka: W/L/L/L/L/L/W
Sri Lanka has lost five of their last six ODI fixtures with the only win coming against Bangladesh when they had already lost the 3-match ODI series. Before the Bangladesh series, Sri Lanka was embarrassingly clean-swept 3-0 by the West Indies but the Lankan lions had beaten the Caribbean side 3-0 at their home before the Covid-19 pandemic halted the sporting action across the whole world.
Predicted XIs
England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan ©, Sam Billings, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
Sri Lanka: Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Perera ©, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Isuru Udana, Binura Fernando, Lakshan Sandakan, Dushmantha Chameera
Prediction
By clean sweeping the Sri Lankan side in the T20I series, England has tipped the scales in their favor ahead of the 3-match ODI series. The Three Lions are missing Buttler’s services for the upcoming series but England has enough talent in their ranks to trouble the Lankan lions in the longest format of limited-overs cricket
Morgan and co. are expected to defeat Sri Lanka in Durham on Tuesday as per Parimatch’s prediction.