3 days ago
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5th over: Sri Lanka 17-1 (Nissanka 8, Mendis 1) The key man for Sri Lanka - Kusal Mendis - arrives at first drop. His 93 not out anchored his side to victory in the first match. He punches a single into the covers off Overton to get off the mark.
WICKET! Kamil Mishara c Duckett b Overton 5 (Sri Lanka 16-1)
Soft dismissal but England won’t care a jot, they’ve got an early one. Mishara picked Overton off his pads for a boundary at the start of the over but then plinked a catch to Duckett in the covers, who takes the catch at the second attempt.
4th over: Sri Lanka 12-0 (Nissanka 8, Mishara 1) Curran hasn’t got his line right yet, he’s picked off for a couple of twos through the off side by Nissanka and spears down a leg side wide to boot.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 7-0 (Nissanka 4, Mishara 1) A decent maiden from Overton who beats a driving Mishara with one that jags away late off the seam. Bright sunshine beating down in Colombo, it looks a scorcher. If England have to chase leather for 50 overs they could be a bit cooked later on.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 7-0 (Nissanka 4, Mishara 1) Sam Curran zips in from t’other end. He starts with a wide outside off and then is too straight, flicked off the hip by Mishara for a single.
1st over: Sri Lanka 5-0 (Nissanka 4, Mishara 0) Oh. Don’t bowl there Jamie old son. Overton serves up a full and wide half volley with a little Alice in Wonderland label saying ‘HIT ME’ and Nissanka duly does, spanking a drive away through the covers for four off the first ball of the game. Overton tightens up for the rest of the over but does send down a leg side wide. Five off the first.
Shout out to my pal Nick who *might* be tuning in through the fug of early fatherhood. What more could you want after a sleepless night than Jamie Overton thundering in and hammering away back of a length on a biscuit coloured Colombo wicket? These truly are the days my friend. Well, better than white noise at least?
Righto, the players are out there. It’s 30 degrees in Colombo, only 23 degrees warmer than here in deepest Sussex. Pah! Jamie Overton is going to start with the new ball, Pathum Nissanka and Kamil Mishara open up for the hosts. Play!
I’ve just read this and am now exhausted. Puts your piffling Saturday morning Park Run in to perspective doesn’t it?
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!
