Must-win game for Sri Lanka at Pallekele

Sri Lanka-England 3rd ODI

By Shamseer Jaleel 

Both England and Sri Lanka moved to the Central Hills the last few days and will battle it out in the third One Day International at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium today in a day-night encounter.

At present England lead the series 1-0 after the first match was washed out due to heavy rain in Dambulla. Dinesh Chandimal and company will need a win to keep their hopes of a series win alive. 

However, hope of this faded further when Kusal Janith Perera suffered a quad strain, allowing Sadeera Samarawickrama to play in only his fourth One day International. England will miss out on Leon Dawson who is out of the series, making way for Joe Denly.

Action out in the middle could be abbreviated with thunderstorms predicted to arrive in the afternoon. The last few days have seen continuous rain batter the Central Province. The usual Pallekele pitch favours batting but there does tend to be something in the surface for new-ball bowlers. Sri Lanka has lost its last five matches at this venue.

Sri Lankan squad (probable): Upul Tharanga, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dinesh Chandimal (Capt.), Dhananjaya De Silva, Dasun Shanaka, Thisara Perera, Akila Dananjaya, Lakshan Sandakan, Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Pradeep.

England (probable): Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (Capt), Ben Stokes, Jos Butler (wk), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran or Tom Curran, Adhil Rashid and Olly Stone.

Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Reveendra Wimalasiri (SL)

TV umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS)

Match Referee: Richie Richardson (WI)