Pitch and weather: There is only an outside chance of rain. The surface will be worn – two matches have been played on it already. This should suit the spinners, of whom Sri Lanka has a superior contingent. England’s quicks know how to take the pace off the ball too, though.
England vs Sri Lanka Highlights today. 39th Match, Group 1 (N), Sydney Cricket Ground, Saturday 5-11-2022, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.
Toss: SL will bat first.
Dasun Shanaka lands a psychological first blow. He reckons that a worn surface could suit Sri Lanka’s spinners. “First game we played here against NZ there was some turn so we hope it’ll be the same,” he says. Karunaratne does come back in for SL, in place of Pramod Madushan.
Buttler confirms an unchanged XI for England, and also that he would have preferred to bat first. “We need to play our best cricket to try to get through to the next round.”
England team: 1 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Harry Brook, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Mark Wood, 11 Adil Rashid
Sri Lanka team: 1 Kusal Mendis (wk), 2 Pathum Nissanka, 3 Dhananjaya de Silva, 4 Charith Asalanka, 5 Bhanuka Rajapaksa, 6 Dasun Shanaka (capt), 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Chamika Karunratne, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Kasun Rajitha, 11 Lahiru Kumara
Head to Head In T20I’s: 13
England Won: 9
Sri Lanka Won: 4
England T20I Rankings: 2nd
Sri Lanka T20I Rankings: 8th
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 Points Table
Form guide
(last five completed T20I’s, most recent first)
England WLWWW
Sri Lanka WLLWW
Match Timings: 08:00 AM GMT | 07:00 PM Local
Umpires – Paul Reiffel, Paul Wilson
TV Umpire – Nitin Menon
Match Referee – Andy Pycroft
Reserve Umpire – Chris Gaffaney
Match number – T20I no. 1867
