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| England vs. Sri Lanka, 5th ODI |
With the series tied at 2-2 heading into the fifth and final ODI at Edgbaston, England and Sri Lanka have it all to play for in this day-night encounter.
Match: England vs. Sri Lanka, 5th ODI
Date: June 3, 2014
Time: 2 p.m. BST
TV Information: Sky Sports 1 (UK)
Weather: The BBC are forecasting a day of clouds and a chance of rain. But there should be enough of a window to get a match in.
Overview:
There is an argument, posed here by George Dobell of ESPNcricinfo that it could actually be better for England to lose this match.
With the World Cup less than nine months away, England's tactics are not aligned with those that they will meet in Australia and New Zealand. If England were to lose, it may force the management to make more drastic changes with the World Cup in mind.
However, more specifically, England will be buoyed by the brilliance of Jos Buttler in the fourth ODI where he scored the fastest ODI century by an Englishman, and indeed Ravi Bopara, whose fifty assisted Buttler in making the match as close as it was.
All eyes will be focused on England's top order, however, who failed to get England off to a strong start, and then floundered in the middle overs, not hitting a single boundary for 130 balls between the ninth and 31st over.
Sri Lanka's strategy is certainly more settled, although they may be perturbed by the overcast conditions forecast which could see the ball swing around considerably. Admittedly, it is worth bearing in mind that it was England who capitulated to 99 all out in the second ODI in such conditions.
It should also be noted the Edgbaston pitch is expected to take a bit of turn and that will suit Sri Lanka.
The conditions seem as if they will be difficult for batting, thus the more acclimatised England top order could be key despite being the source of much debate recently.
Key Men:
Alastair Cook (England)
England's captain Cook has not scored more than 30 once this series, and in the last 12 months, his statistics don't make for pretty reading. Him leading from the front and getting England off to a strong start could be pivotal, especially in difficult batting conditions.
Senanayake had the legality of his action reported on the day prior to this match so eyes will be focused on off-spin bowler. On a pitch that is expected to be conducive to turn, whether he can continue to perform at his usual level under pressure will go a long way to dictating the nature of the middle-overs.
Squads
England
AN Cook*, JM Anderson, GS Ballance, IR Bell, RS Bopara, TT Bresnan, JC Buttler†, MA Carberry, HF Gurney, CJ Jordan, EJG Morgan, JE Root, JC Tredwell and CR Woakes
Sri Lanka
AD Mathews*, HDRL Thirimanne, LD Chandimal†, PC de Silva, TM Dilshan, DPMD Jayawardene, KMDN Kulasekara, RAS Lakmal, SL Malinga, BAW Mendis, MDKJ Perera†, NLTC Perera, KTGD Prasad, SMA Priyanjan,KC Sangakkara and SMSM Senanayake
Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan put on 172 for the second wicket to lift Sri Lanka to 300 in the fourth ODI against England at Lord's
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