England v Sri Lanka – 5th ODI - http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 to meet in series decider at Old Trafford – Match Preview
England and Sri Lanka will go head to head in the last One Day International (ODI) of the five-match series at the Old Trafford, Manchester in England on Saturday, July 9, 2011.
Both teams have won two games each in the series until now and will be eying a strong show in the decider.
Sri Lanka will be hoping for a bright http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sundeep-Bhupendra-Patel-c91815 day and a dry pitch, which will suite them. Their batsmen are not used to playing on seaming wickets and the bowling attack is also spin-heavy, which will be useful on a dry surface.
On the other hand, the hosts have been doing well on pitches, which have offered some assistance to their seamers. England have won both their games on bowling friendly wickets whereas were below par once there was no assistance for the bowlers.
Although there are not many similarities between the two teams, they have one thing common. Both have new skippers, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tillakaratne-Mudiyanselage-Dilshan-c93947, who will be looking forward to their maiden series victories.
There was a question mark over Cook’s appointment as an ODI captain, as he failed to impress in limited-over cricket in the earlier part of his career and was struggling for a spot in the side as a batsman.
However, the youngster has proved his worth as a batsman to the team, scoring runs with consistency in the series until now. He scored 95 runs off 75 balls in his team’s success in the fourth ODI at Trent Bridge, proving that he is fully capable of scoring
runs at a quick pace as well.
Cook’s counterpart didn’t have anything to prove as a player to his side, as he had been a consistent member of the national team in all three formats of the game. However, he will be eager to prove his leadership skills by winning the series on England’s
home soil.
On paper, the hosts look like the ideal team to win the series, as they are a complete unit with the advantage of playing in front of their home crowd.
England have some very useful players at the top of their order, who can play aggressive cricket and bat for longer periods. Wicketkeeper batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/C-Kieswetter-c1206, has returned to the squad and has played some impressive knocks in the series until now.
The team also has some aggressive batsmen like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gordon-James-Muchall-c60376 affective against any opposition. Both have the ability to play spinners and pacers equally well, which makes them deadly dangerous.
There are also likes of Cook, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ian-Jonathan-Leonard-Trott-c63890, who bring solidity to the team and can bat well under pressure situations.
The Poms are also backed up by a very good bowling attack, as they have good seamers like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GP-Swann-c1501, who is also a wicket-taking option.
On the other hand, the Lankan http://www.senore.com/Cricket/LD-Chandimal-c1831.
The 21-year-old has played just seven games and has already scored two centuries, one of which came in the ongoing serires.
The visitors will rely heavily on their pace http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Separamadu-Lasith-Malinga-c89197, to lead the bowling attack, as they don’t have many options available. However, if the pitch has some assistance for the spinners, it will give an edge to Sri Lanka, as they have a couple
of wily spinners in their line-up.
All in all, it will be a good competition between two extremely talented teams and the fans will be looking forward to a thrilling finish to the series.
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