(Cricket news) England are a win away from securing a place in the semi finals, they face a Sri Lankan squad that are coming off a disappointing loss to South Africa. The last time England faced Sri Lanka in a T20 series, they steam rolled past them winning the series 3-0 but this Lankan squad have played with far more flair and aggression in this year's World Cup and may spring an unwanted surprise.
England have been the most dominant side in this year's World Cup, their side even without the likes of Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and Sam Curran still look very balanced. For England, in these three matches their top order batsmans have given them blistering starts which in turn puts less pressure on the likes of Eoin Morgan and Liam Livingstone who are out of form with the bat. The England spinners have been right on the money with Livingstone acting as the third spinner, England can bowl 12 overs of quality spin bowling which can be an advantage at Sharjah. The concern going into the match could be the fact that they haven’t batted first in any matches and also Sri Lanka are more accustomed to Sharjah as they have played their three matches here.
Sri Lanka will be under pressure to perform after a fairly disappointing loss to South Africa, although they have played some good cricket occasionally, they have found it difficult to maintain the level of consistency in the side's performance, and fine margins are costing them crucial games. For Sri Lanka, Kusal Perera and Pathum Nissanka need to give their side a solid start as England this tournament have the most number of powerplay wickets (10), the batsmen need to be wary and mainly preserve their wicket for the middle order batters to end with a flourish. The Sri Lankan spinners Hasaranga and Theekshana will be key as both of them are in fine form and also the slowish wicket of Sharjah will give them a lot of assistance. Sri Lanka might get Dhananjaya de Silva in place of Avishka Fernando in the playing XI.
Head to head: England 8 – 4 Sri Lanka, (3-1 in T20 World Cups)
Pitch and weather report: The surfaces at Sharjah have been the slowest and batting seems very tricky at this venue. Spin to win has been the mantra on this pitch as we are seeing it since IPL, any captain winning the toss will most likely bowl as the par score at this venue has been 140+. The temperature is going to hover around 40 degrees with no chance of rain.
Interesting facts:
- Eoin Morgan needs nine runs to reach 500 in T20 World Cups. Only Kevin Pietersen (580) has more for England at the tournament,
- With 31 T20I wickets for 2021, Wanindu Hasaranga is second only to Tabraiz Shams
- Johnny Bairstow is just one six away from completing 50 sixes in T20 internationals
- Lahiru Kumara needs four wickets to complete 100 wickets in international cricket.
- Liam Livingstone needs seven runs to complete 4000 T20 runs.
Also read: England eye semifinal spot, Sri Lanka look for survival
Probable XI for England:
1 Jason Roy, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Eoin Morgan (capt), 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Tymal Mills/Mark Wood.
Probable XI for Sri Lanka:
1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Kusal Perera (wk), 3 Charith Asalanka, 4 Dhananjaya de Silva, 5 Bhanuka Rajapaksa, 6 Dasun Shanaka (capt.), 7 Chamika Karunaratne, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Dushmantha Chameera, 10 Maheesh Theekshana, 11 Lahiru Kumara / Akila Dananjaya
