12 Jun 2019
England may have won the one-day series in Sri Lanka, but a humbling defeat in the final match surely tips the balance in the favour of the home side heading into the Test series. The tourists have three matches before the first Test in Galle to get their confidence back, starting with a one-off T20 international in Colombo on Saturday.
Stunning Start Stalls
It was all going so well for England - 3-0 up in the one-day international series and seemingly flying. It therefore came as a shock to see Trevor Bayliss&rsquo side suffer their heaviest ever defeat in one-day cricket on Tuesday. The margin of victory was a massive 219 runs, with just two England batsmen scoring higher than 10 runs.
Slumping to 4-3 early on in their innings, England limped to 132-9 when rain eventually stopped play. When the ninth wicket fell, the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern par score went up to 351. With the rain unrelenting, Sri Lanka&rsquos 366 runs in the first innings were enough to hand England a 219-run defeat.
Morgan the Missing Ingredient
The tourists made three changes for the final match, with captain Eoin Morgan among those rested. How England missed their in-form skipper, who hit 195 runs in the first four ODIs and was dismissed just once in those four innings. If Morgan comes back into the side for the T20 match, back him to be England&rsquos top run scorer at 17/4.
Fear of the Unknown
England could face ambidextrous spinner Kamindu Mendis on Saturday after he was selected in Sri Lanka&rsquos squad for the Twenty20 international. The 20-year-old is in line to make his full debut in Colombo and will test England&rsquos batsmen with his versatility – equally comfortable bowling right and left handed. His accuracy is impressive and many of the away team will not have faced anything like Mendis in their career. Genting Casino has the hosts 7/4 outsiders to get the win, but Mendis&rsquo unpredictability is set to play a factor and he could make an instant impact. With fellow slow bowler Akila Dananjaya taking four wickets last time out, England need to shore up their defence against Sri Lanka&rsquos formidable spin attack.
Surrey&rsquos Finest
In a game where England could take few positives, one high point was Tom and Sam Curran becoming the first brothers to play for England in 19 years. The last to do so were Ben and Adam Hollioake who, like the Currans played for Surrey and achieved the feat in Sri Lanka. Sam, the younger of the two, had a hugely successful summer for England with both bat and ball. At 12/1 to be England&rsquos leading batsman he’s got to be worth a look.
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