FANTASY
Follow UsSri Lanka’s disappointing tour of England has reached its conclusion as the two teams clash in the final One-Day International (ODI) at County Ground, Bristol. England, who had completed a 3-0 whitewash in the T20 Internationals (T20I) have also taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ODI series. The Kusal Perera-led side will look to salvage some pride by registering at least a win on what has been a disastrous tour for them.
The two teams have played 77 ODIs against each other, with England winning 38 of them, while Sri Lanka re not too far behind at 36. In the last five matches too, England have a slender 3-2 advantage.
ODI head-to-head
Overall: Matches 77 | England wins 38 | Sri Lanka wins 36 | Tie/No Result 3
Last five matches: England 3 wins | Sri Lanka 2 wins
Suggested teams
While you could go for the above team, you also have the option of choosing your own team from Cricket.com’s Fantasy Research Centre. Based on algorithms, we have come up with one team.
Ground details and team combination
The pace seems to be the way to go at the County Ground, Bristol as the fast bowlers have picked up almost 64% of the wickets at this venue in ODIs since 2019. Both fast bowlers (Econ 6.5) and spinners (Econ 7.2) have been expensive in this time period. However, the pacers have fared slightly better when it comes to the balls per wicket ratio (44.2) and runs per wicket (48.1) compared to the spinners whose corresponding numbers are 42.8 and 51.2 respectively.
As the fast bowlers have picked up a high percentage of wickets, it would be advisable to stock your team with them, but at the same time, having a spinner or two won’t do much harm either.
Safe to say it is a batsman-friendly wicket, which is largely skewed due to the fact that England chased down 359 in their previous match here. However, if the recent Women's ODI is anything to go by, batting could be slightly tough early on as India managed just 201. England however chased it down with eight wickets and 91 balls to spare. The captain winning the toss will mostly be tempted to bowl first.
There could be some interesting match-ups as well.
Joe Root has played Dushmantha Chameera well so far this series and even overall, the England batsman boasts of a superior record over the Sri Lankan quick. Chameera, who has been Sri Lanka’s best bowler on this tour has dismissed the Root just once in the three innings they have come up against each other in ODIs. What’s more impressive is the fact the England Test captain has struck at 102.8 against Chameera.
Five out of Kusal Perera’s eight dismissals in ODIs since 2020 have come up against left-arm pacers. Even in the first two ODIs, he was dismissed by similar bowlers – David Willey in the first game in Chester-Le-Street and Sam Curran in the second match at The Oval. Including the wicket in the first ODI, Willey has gotten the better of the Sri Lanka captain on two more occasions and has conceded 54 runs from 55 balls against the southpaw in five innings.
Captain suggestion
Joe Root has had a near-perfect series so far, scoring an unbeaten 87-ball 79 in the first match. In the second game, he scored 68 not out off 87 deliveries and stitched an unbroken 140-run stand for the third wicket with Eoin Morgan to take his side home. Don’t be surprised if Root continues his good form in this game as well as England look to complete a clean sweep. Root has an average of 73 and 41 against pace and spin respectively in England in ODIs since 2020. We could see him dominate them once again in this game.
Our Criclytics player projection predicts Root could score 34-52 runs in this match.
X-Factors
Sam Curran picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in ODIs, that too at his home ground on Thursday (July 1). He will look to add to his tally of wickets in this game, after going wicketless in the first. Curran’s swing early on troubled the Sri Lankan batsmen early on and he made full use of that. If needed, Curran could be a handy batsman down the order had he has proved on more than a few occasions in international cricket.
Our Criclytics player projection predicts Curran could score 13-19 runs and pick up 1-2 wickets in this match.
Dhananjaya de Silva scored a run-a-ball 91 in the second ODI after coming in when his team was tottering at 6 for 2 and in a matter of a few minutes, were further reduced to 21 for 4. De Silva played a few sublime shots, which included some gorgeous cover drives off the fast bowlers on his way to a run-a-ball 91. He was perhaps the only batsman who looked comfortable against swing and also some quick deliveries from Mark Wood. The fact that he can also chip in with the ball is an added bonus.
Our Criclytics player projection predicts de Silva could score 22-32 runs and pick up 0-1 wickets in this match.
Dushmantha Chameera went wicketless for the first time on this tour in the previous ODI. He has been the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka on this tour. He gave Sri Lanka a glimmer of hope with his spell of 3 for 50 in the first game, despite not having many runs to play with. After picking up six wickets in the three T20Is, the expectations from Chameera have gone up. Only Mustafizur Rahman (15) has more ODI wickets than Chameera since 2020, a further indication of the Sri Lankan fast bowler’s consistency.
Our Criclytics player projection predicts Chameera could pick up 2-3 wickets in this match.
