***England vs Sri Lanka*** 2nd of 5 ODI Live

Friday, July 1, Headingley
Start time 10.45am (0945 GMT)

Brief as per cricinfo...

Stuart Broad is under pressure for his place like never before. His stock within the England dressing-room remains as high as ever, but compared to the angry mongrel who hassled and hurried all batsmen in 2010, this season he has been disturbingly toothless. Despite possessing (in the opinion of England's bowling coach, David Saker) the "best bouncer in world cricket", his short balls have lacked venom of late, as if he no longer trusts a body that broke down on him twice in the winter - once at Adelaide during the Ashes, and again in Chennai during the World Cup. A haul of wickets would help settle his mind, but they remain elusive for now.

Tillakaratne Dilshan's comeback from a broken thumb was so brief it was hard to ascertain whether his form has elapsed in the interim. His innings was only two balls old when he wafted an Anderson short ball to fine leg and trudged off for a single, and he didn't bring himself on to bowl either. Sri Lanka need him to return to his explosive best, although at least, having been through two stand-in captains in Kumar Sangakkara and Thilina Kandamby, the team is finally back with the appointed leader at the helm.

Team news
There's no real reason for England to tinker with a winning combination. Craig Kieswetter produced a diligent 61 from 56 balls to answer his critics at the top of the order, and with the exception of Broad, all of England's front-line bowlers chipped in with wickets in the Oval victory. With Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan looking in ominous form, the engine-room of the batting is in fine fettle as well.

England (probable) 1 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 2 Alastair Cook (capt), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Tim Bresnan, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 James Anderson, 11 Jade Dernbach.

Jayasuriya's retirement creates a vacancy at the top of the Sri Lankan order, which is likely to be filled by Mahela Jayawardene, after his return to form in that position in the Bristol Twenty20. Dinesh Chandimal could be restored to the middle order, while the bowling attack will once again be spearheaded by Lasith Malinga.

Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt) 2 Mahela Jayawardene, 3 Dinesh Chandimal, 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Nuwan Kulasekera, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Suraj Randiv, 11 Lasith Malinga,

Pitch and conditions
England's mini-heatwave may have s


Your say......

Think Stuart Broad hasn't recovered from the heavy defeat in T20 against the Lankans...his first as captain

Broad hasn't recovered from the test series..

Thoughts?

England will probably be unchanged, unless conditions call for two spinners, in which case one of the seamers will miss out. England seem keen to bowl Broad back into form, so it's most likely to be Bresnan or Dernbach. Reallistically, England will probably rotate their seamers through the series anyway. The top 6 won't change, hope Cook can score a few as he was a bit unlucky the other day.

SL's batting still looks a bit weak (depth-wise) to me, get past Dilshan, Jayawardene and Sangakkara and there's not much else (though those three are awesome). Not seen much of Chandimal, but Matthews isn't really a n°6 and Kandamby was awful the other day. Is Matthews fit enough to bowl? Otherwise they need to get through ten overs of Mendis and Dilshan. Also, I semi-expect them to change their spinner, as Randiv was pretty horrendous on tuesday.

England to win.

Liam_Main wrote:Broad hasn't recovered from the test series..

More to the point he hasnt recovered his form since his injury.
He hasnt bowled well in the tests (aprt from some short bursts), T20, or ODI. If the side were being picked purely on peformance this summer theres no question he wouldnt be in it, which doesnt mean he shouldnt be. A lot of people were wetting themselves over Woakes a coupel of months ago, he was possibly even worse in teh T20 than Broad.
Broad has the armoury to be succesful again, he just needs to get back to using it. If playing in a one day series against Sri Lanka is a better way of doing that than going back to his county is open to debate. If hes still out of sorts when India come Id be dissapointed to see him start.

Don't think this will be as one-sided as the previous... sunshine , decent looking pitch... Reckon Sri Lanka will post a decent total and it will be interesting to see if England bat as well chasing : certainly the Sri Lankan attack ,even with Malinga , doesn't look too menacing so they will probably need a BIG score to really test England.

Anderson has started rather tidily...

Top fielding from Broad ! (Won't hurt his confidence)

Pretty awful running though...

Mahela offered a chance that wasn't taken, England should be concerned.

Stupid **** Swann.



Great another run out, that gets us back in the game. :-)

Seems Lanka is intent on running themselves to disaster. Chandimal runout, poor running.

Not an easy chance at all actually. And anyway I wouldn't be worried.

Sri Lanka's batsmen seem to have a death wish today ...another daft run out ! Short single to Anderson of all people
How to waste a good batting pitch..

Looks like it could be a big total for Eng to chase.

Looks a good pitch.

the sl commentator reckoned eng would'nt be able to get it if sl get past 250.

Hi trebell...

All opinions at this stage but I fancy England would be happy enough chasing up to 280 ...pitch shouldn't change much.

Jaya hits an easy 50 but could have been out.
well played to him.

Jaya's 100 up, Sanga past 50. 177/2 after 34 overs. Looks like it's going to be a very decent score. 300+ surely?

Should be a good chase for England and I wouldn't put it beyond them.

eng need to get off to a very good start if they are to make it. sets up an good match anyway.

poor old yorkies keep seeing england lose against sl. about time they got to see a win.

I believe England could chase up to 290 considering it's a flat pitch but SL are heading for 320ish. We need quick wickets - their batting depth isn't too good.

Englands old problem, they dont have bowlers who take wickets against quality batsmen in ODIs. Could do with Malinga !

Why does Jade Dernbach have to bowl some many slower balls? They are so eas to pick!

sl always follow a pattern now.

either their top few settle in and then you're stuffed, you can't move them and they hammer you, or they get out and the veyr poor middle and lower order lose it for them.

it's the former today and it's there day it seems.

Swanny!!!!

Broad is having one of his worst overs ever right now ...full tosses either side of the wicket, lordy

Should Broad take a spell out of International cricket? His form is terrible at the moment. Bresnan or Finn could come into the test team, while Finn or Woakes could come into the one day international team.

When the sun is out, England's one dimensional bowling attack is dreadful.

Bresnan isn't International standard, a few cheap Test wickets vs Australia proves nothing.

Masked Magician wrote:When the sun is out, England's one dimensional bowling attack is dreadful.

Bresnan isn't International standard, a few cheap Test wickets vs Australia proves nothing.

Abussing every England player without regard to facts doenst prove much either. We get the idea, you have serious anger issues. Deal with it elsewhere.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

Masked Magician wrote:When the sun is out, England's one dimensional bowling attack is dreadful.

Bresnan isn't International standard, a few cheap Test wickets vs Australia proves nothing.

Abussing every England player without regard to facts doenst prove much either. We get the idea, you have serious anger issues. Deal with it elsewhere.

You want a tissue to wipe those tears?

Anderson, Bresnan, Dernbach and Broad are all buffet bowlers.

They need doctored green tops and overcast skies to look anything other than village.

Masked Magician wrote:When the sun is out, England's one dimensional bowling attack is dreadful.

Bresnan isn't International standard, a few cheap Test wickets vs Australia proves nothing.

looking like one of the 606 wums with a new name.

Masked Magician - Anderson is the best bowler going around in World Cricket at the moment with the possible exception of Swann. Your posts just show you have no cricketing knowledge or are a WUM - take your pick.

Good innings from Jaya.

Swanns drop was very very costly.

I think the score is out of Englands reach now sadly. Our batting tends to be ropey when the pressure is on.

Pitch is flat but we always find a way to mess up somehow in this form.

Wait and see trebs - depends on how England get going. If they lose a few early then it could get ugly but I have a feeling they can put some runs on the board too.

Looks a different game with Jayawardene out doesn't it? That was some innings !

Sri Lanka lost a bit of momentum since that very profitable power play ... I thought it was going to be 330 for a few minutes there but they might have to settle for 300-310.

Which is good. But gettable on this road...

True linebreaker. They have to start well though i think.

the key for sl will be slingo.

i don't see how any batsmen can pick the ball up the way he "bowls" to be honest. could make life very tough for our lot.

anyway, i think that score is too high. Needed to be less than 300.

6.2 required. Gettable if those clouds stay away and the openers get settled.

Its not going to be an impossible total to chase down, but 300+ is never going to be easy. Malinga takes a couple of early wickets, Trott closes up and refuses to score at even a Boycott rate for 10 overs, then no chance.
England have given Sri Lanka a lot of runs and never pressed for wickets, it wasnt just about Mathews and Jayawardene batting very well.
Without the eary run outs this could have been a huge target.

Afternoon lads, missed the SL innings as i was travelling. Looks like they did very well indeed. Very tough chase for England but England have the batters that can chase this. Should be very interesting

afternoon Billy. Yep, well summarised mate.

You have to wonder about a side that has 5 specialist bowlers and an all rounder...then opens the bowling with a batsman with a broken finger.
Seems Sri Lanka have the opposite problem to England, too many bowling options not enough quality batsmen.

England don't have enough bowling options?

They have more options than they have at any time in my life to be honest.I just don't think they've settled on their best ones for this form.

Afternoon trebs. Its going to be a very difficult chase. KP and Mogs will be key again i feel

Wow, Kieswetter has started with intent

trebellbobaggins wrote:England don't have enough bowling options?

They have more options than they have at any time in my life to be honest.I just don't think they've settled on their best ones for this form.

In the side,. They have front line bowlers and two very part time ones who are nto wicket taking threats bby anyones imagination. Dilshan and Mathews are in another league as bowlers to KP and Trott.

That doesnt mean Id want to see Luke Wright in the side, its just an observation that England dont have a genuinly good all rounder worth selecting or batsmen who are decent bowlers (with the possible exception of Bopara) since collingwood declined. Its true of limited overs and tests where the 4 bowlers have no real support. Sri Lanaka and India conversly have a lot of batsman who can bowl effectivly in limited overs to give the variation.

yeah but Swann, Anderson, Broad, Bresnan are certainly 4 very good ones though Broad isn't performing right now. Dernbache has yet to prove himself.

It would be nice to see Patel get his act together. He could easily bat in the top 6 when on form and is very useful, if not overly threatening with the ball.

Bright start from England

Long way to go yet of course but this is the way you want to start off when you're chasing 310 ...

ah all rounders. Yep we probably lack one. I'd say Bresnan is getting there.

I would like to see Kieswetter get a decent score. I honestly feel he will be a great ODI opener for England,

Costly fielding errors make it a tougher target for them to chase.

Maybe the batters can make up for the poor fielding and some lax bowling today.
Six an over makes for a hard chase a t ' Headingley .

eirebilly wrote:I would like to see Kieswetter get a decent score. I honestly feel he will be a great ODI opener for England,

Long way to go I feel. Think he has a lot of work to do against spinners and swing bowlers, although his reaction to getting dumped after last summer's ODIs has been very impressive.