England will kick-start their tour of Srilanka with a one-day practice match at P Sara Oval in Colombo against Srilanka XI. They will be playing five ODIs, one T20 and three tests in the tour. England, coming after a successful one day and test series against India will be high on confidence with all their regular players available for the series.
Srilanka, on the other hand, have plenty of things to sort out as they come up against one of the best ODI teams. The team is going through a rough patch in the last couple of years. They have lost 30 out of 41 matches since 1st January 2017. Many players were at the helm of leadership trying to bring back the team to the winning ways. Their exit from Asia cup 2018 in the first round was the final hit the team went through. Captain Angelo Mathews has been sacked soon after the series left things even worst in the current scenario and he is not part of current ODI squad selected for England series.
England won’t be taking the tour lightly and will be looking forward to sharpening their ODI skills as the world cup is just a few months away as they have players filling in the proper roles and need to refine every bit of their game. Jason Roy and Bairstow form a solid opening pair capable of providing a quickfire start at the top. The middle order comprising Hales, Root, Morgan, Stoke, and Buttler will be a nightmare for any team. The young star Sam Curran, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes will add depth to their batting in any given situation. The bowling combinations also look perfect with Adil Rashid joining the fast bowlers in the lineup. England will be looking forward to getting familiar to the subcontinent conditions after a long summer back home and expected to have the frontline player giving it a go in the first practice match.
Chandimal will lead the Srilanka XI which will also feature star players Dimuth Karunaratne, Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis. Chandimal is expected to carry out the wicketkeeper duties as well in the match. The second practice match will be played on 6th October 2018 at P Sara Oval Stadium before the team moves on for the first ODI at Dambulla on 10th of October.
