Sri Lanka vs England - 1st Test - Toss Report - Jayawardene opts to bat first
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has won the toss and opted to bat first in the opening Test of the two-match series starting shortly at the Galle International Stadium, Galle today, March 26, 2012.
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AJ-Strauss-c964, said that he would have also decided to bat had he won the toss. However, after being put into bowl, Strauss feels taking wickets early and putting the batting line-up under
pressure is the best way to start the series.
The major team news from Galle is that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RS-Bopara-c2373, who is recovering from a side strain he had sustained
during the opening warm-up match against Sri Lanka Board President XI in Colombo. Though injured Bopara could have played as a specialist batsman in the side but the English selectors felt they need another bowling option in the spin friendly sub-continent
conditions.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 on the other hand have fielded an attack comprising two spinners,
Suraj Randiv and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/HMRKB-Herath-c1559, and two seamers in
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ranasinghe-Arachchige-Suranga-Lakmal-c83928 and Chanaka Welegedera. Prasanna Jayawardene returns to the team to take his place behind the wickets, after an injury layoff of five months.
Whilst the Islanders are searching for an elusive Test series win in the post-Muralitharan era, England go into the series at the back of a disastrous Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 earlier this year, which the
Poms had lost 3-0.
In the build up to the series, Andrew Strauss’ men played two warm up matches against Sri Lanka Board XI and Sri Lanka Cricket Development XI, winning both of them.
Playing XI:
Sri Lanka 1 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TT-Samaraweera-c2712, 6
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/HAPW-Jayawardene-c1529 (wk), 8 Suraj Randiv, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Suranga Lakmal, 11 Chanaka Welegedera .
England 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Prior-c1984 (wk), 7 Samit Patel
8 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Monty-Panesar-c2024.
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