[Lord Snooty]

Sri Lanka v England

The 6th ODI match
Saturday December 13th
at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy.
starting at 10:00 local time, 04:30 GMT.

So the series is still alive, with two matches left, England need to win them both and Sri Lanka just the one.
The home side have called Dimuth Karunaratne into the squad and dropped Kusal Perera and Ajantha Mendis. Skipper Angelo Mathews has hinted that Suranga Lakmal and Lakshan Sandakan could get their chance.
The England team looks quite well balanced at the moment and would probably only be bettered if Alex Hales replaced Alistair Cook as opener. But with Cook being the inspirational leader, that is unlikely to happen. James Taylor has certainly justified his inclusion. More to the point is can the selectors justify their leaving him out for so long, when his form at Nottinghamshire has been exceptional.
Neither of these two teams look anywhere near good enough to win the World Cup next year. It has to be a straight choice between Australia and India, with the South Africans bottling it again. England's best hope is to avoid either of them and hope to make it as far as the semis. Can't see it myself, but you never know.


England squad: Alastair Cook ©, Moeen Ali, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler (w), Steven Finn, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Taylor, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes.

Sri Lanka squad: Angelo Mathews ©, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (w), Mahela Jayawardena, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeevan Mendis, Dilruwan Perera, Dhammika Prasad, Thisara Perera, Lahiru Gamage, Lakshan Sandakan, Ashan Priyanjan, Suranga Lakmal, Sachitra Senanayake, Dimuth Karunaratne.

Scorecard