Key events
We’ve got just under ten minutes until the start of play/ the ‘travelling circus rolls on’.
England will need to take some early wickets with the new ball and keep their target manageable.
Teams:
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka (c) , Janith Liyanage, Pavan Rathnayake, Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, Jeffrey Vandersay, Asitha Fernando
England: Rehan Ahmed, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Will Jacks, Sam Curran, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid
Sri Lanka field the same XI from the first match, England have the one change, Jacks in for the injured Crawley. We’ll have to wait to see Rehan Ahmed carving it up at the top of the order for England, he has done the job before for Leicestershire, last summer he scored 203 runs at 67.66 a makeshift opener for a few matches when teammate Rishi Patel was out with injury. He’s certainly got all the shots, girds loinded for that later on.
Taha Hashim is our man on the ground in Colombo. I imagine he’s looking sumptuous in linen as I type this in my crumb flecked joggers.
This was penned before Crawley did his knee, still counts.
Sri Lanka win the toss and will bat first
Harry Brook just can’t catch a break eh… the coin falls Charith Asalanka and Sri Lanka’s way and they will have first use. It will be trial by spin for England later on once again.
Preamble
James Wallace
L L L L L L L L W L L W L L
England’s ODI results away from home since the 2023 World Cup reads the name of an obscure Welsh village. Under Milk Wood? Under A Cloud more like.
Harry Brook’s side need a win, not least to keep this three match series alive after a 19 run loss in the first match. There’s already some bad news from the ground though as Zak Crawley is out of the match with a knee injury meaning Will Jacks comes into the side and Rehan Ahmed is carded to open the batting. As ever with this group of players and with this coach, it won’t be dull.
The toss is incoming and play begins in a little over half an hour – join us!