England vs Sri Lanka Match Preview, 3rd Test

Sri Lanka will enter the third Test against England at the Kennington Oval in London on September 6 to fight for their lost confidence. The visitors were thumped in the first Test by five wickets and were outdone in the second by a whopping 190-run margin. Incidentally, the Lankan Lions’ morale was down prior to the curtain raiser as the England Lions had handed them a seven-wicket loss in a sole warm-up game.

Whenever the Dhananjaya de Silva-led side managed to hold the upper hand in the series, Joe Root was the roadblock they could not surpass. The veteran is the highest run-grosser in the series with 350 runs in four innings at an astonishing average of 116.67. Moreover, he hammered Sri Lanka’s hopes of a victory in the Lord’s Test, smashing centuries in both innings. Dimuth Karunaratne admitted that Root was the man between them and a victory.

Also Read: Joe Root consolidates his lead as top Test batter in latest ICC rankings

If the top five batters in the series are taken into consideration, Kamindu Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal feature in the second and fourth spot respectively. But the team’s dismal performance comes as a bitter pill to swallow given Asitha Fernando, Prabath Jayasuriya, and Milan Rathnayake occupy first, fourth, and fifth spots in the highest wicket-taker’s list.

Karunaratne quipped that English conditions are tough but the hosts have also borne the brunt of not building partnerships in the top order. It is true but if the number of runs in the partnerships in the top order is considered, Sri Lanka’s opening pair has failed to get off the mark four times in the series. 

Match Details:

ENG vs SL Playing XIs

England:

The home team has made one change to their lineup with Josh Hull to debut, replacing Matthew Potts.

Playing XI

Dan Lawrence, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Olly Stone, Josh Hull, Shoaib Bashir. 

Sri Lanka: 

The visitors, on the other hand, have gone with a pace-heavy attack with Prabath Jayasuriya sitting out. The other change includes Kusal Mendis coming in for Nishan Madushka. 

Playing XI

Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Kamindu Mendis, Milan Rathnayake, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Asitha Fernando.